Week 1: Assignment B1

As engineering students we all have some deep desire to discover the future. I think we find the future of computers particularly interesting as millennials. Artificial intelligence is one of the futuristic leaps computers have made. In the 1940's scientists thought artificial intelligence was magical and way to far in the future to even think about it [1]. However in our lifetimes we have seen google translate, image recognition, speech recognition, and many more technological advances improve with artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the ability for computers to learn from experience and use that knowledge to make decisions much like a human.

In the past couple years A.I. has been used in our everyday lives without us even realizing it. From blocking spam emails to pre-organizing your photos, artificial intelligence is more common today than it every was before. This coming year it will become more main stream in the business world. For example, engineering firms might begin using A.I. to determine where bridge failures will occur based off of the sounds cars make as they drive across [2]. Even automobile industries such as Tesla Motors are using A.I. to move towards self-driving cars [2]. Te cars make decision based off of information they have learned, like how far to stop behind a car to avoid a collision. We heard in class that the success of A.I. is the ability of a human to talk to the computer and not know that they are talking to a computer. I think we are moving towards this.

Although we have moved into a future where our smart phones suggest apps we might use based off of our location, I doubt that we have moved into the future most Americas dreamed about in the 1940's. I think we won't reach that point until our computers can talk to us just like humans as scary as that seems.

[1] Lewis-kraus, Gideon. "The Great A.I. Awakening." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Dec. 2016. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html>.
[2] Shankland, Stephan. "Artificial Intelligence Has a Big Year Ahead." CNET. N.p., 14 Dec. 2016. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. <https://www.cnet.com/news/2017-artificial-intelligence-mainstream-businesses-adopt-ai/>.

Comments to Other's Posts:

Maissoun Ksara: I think it is so interesting to see the actual numbers behind drones constructing buildings. To be 10 times cheaper and 5 times faster, I wouldn't see a reason to not continue to improve this function of drones. I think it is important to note the loss of jobs. Construction workers account for a large amount of our population and that would make them unnecessary. 

Peter Dannemann: Quicabot is a robot I have never heard of and I'm so glad I read your post. I think it is so interesting that it can inspect a building faster and better than a human. As a coop I inspected a few buildings with an experienced coworker and it is not a very thorough process. It is easy to miss a vital flaw or to focus on something that isn't too important. I think the only question I may have about Quicabot is how it would handle a malfunction and what that might look like in a building inspection report. 

Egla Qori: I found your post very interesting. I was unaware that 3D printing was printing real concrete structure, I had no idea it had moved past models. This would be particularly helpful by using 3D printing to construct materials before getting to the job site saving time and labor costs. I think 3D printing takes the human error out of construction projects allowing engineers to design with a lower factor of safety, saving money in the long run.