Google is using machine learning to teach robots how to grasp random objects

Using your hand to grasp a pen that’s lying on your desk doesn’t exactly feel like a chore, but for robots, that’s still a really hard thing to do. So to teach robots how to better grasp random objects, Google’s research team dedicated 14 robots to the task.
The standard way to solve this problem would be for the robot to survey the environment, create a plan for how to grasp the object, then execute on it. In the real world, though, lots of things can change between formulating that plan and executing on it.

Google is now using these robots to train a deep convolutional neural network (a technique that’s all the rage in machine learning right now) to help its robots predict the outcome of their grasps based on the camera input and motor commands. It’s basically hand-eye coordination for robots.
The team says that it took about 3,000 hours of practice (and 800,000 grasp attempts) before it saw “the beginnings of intelligent reactive behaviors.”

“The robot observes its own gripper and corrects its motions in real time. It also exhibits interesting pre-grasp behaviors, like isolating a single object from a group,” the team writes. “All of these behaviors emerged naturally from learning, rather than being programmed into the system.”
Google’s researchers say the average failure rate without training was 34 percent on the first 30 picking attempts. After training, that number was down to 18 percent. Still not perfect, but the next time a robot comes running after you and tries to grab you, remember that it now has an 80 percent chance of succeeding.
 

Govt to digitally connect rural post offices by March 2017

   
The backbone of the Indian communication system from years is the post offices. The interconnection between the post office is the key between the improvement of the communication. The Government plans to digitally connect all rural post offices by March 2017 as per reports by ET.
The announcement was made in the Parliament by Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who said that the Government would connect 1,29,232 ‘Gramin Dak Sewak’ post offices in rural areas under the Department of Posts’ IT Modernisation Project.
The initiative is expected to cost Rs 4,909 crore for the digitization of around 1,55,000 post offices overall. The project is currently in the implementation stage; handheld computing devices, connected with SIM cards and with the ability to recharge using solar power, are being provided in rural post offices.
Indian post is adopting the new ways to connect with the customers as few months back Indian Post launched service called ‘My Stamps‘ in which user can create photo post ticket and immortalized himself.
Back in 2011, India Post launched an ecommerce portal the E-Post Office. As of now, it offers users ‘Post Office on the Desktop’ with a 1990’s web interface and options to buy stamps, track speed posts, pay for postal life insurance etc.