Derby the dog has a new lease on life thanks to the hard working team at 3D Systems. Known for its 3D digital design and fabrication solutions, 3D Systems is no stranger to 3D printing. The company made headlines last year when it developed and printed a pair of prosthetic legs for Derby, a rescue dog that was born with a disability. Recently, the company improved upon its first doggy legs, providing Derby’s owner with a high-tech pair of 3D-printed legs that helps him walk, run, and even sit like a normal dog.
Derby was born with a deformity that affected his two front legs, which end just past the elbow joint and have no paws. Though he still could move using the remaining portions of his legs, he was forced to move in a slumped position with his head towards the ground. Needless to say, walking was tough and vigorous, and playful running was out of the question. Following his adoption from Peace and Paws Rescue, Tara Anderson of 3D Systems wanted to help Derby live a more healthy life using the technology and the talented staff of the 3D printing company.
To help improve his gait, Anderson and her colleagues from 3D Systems used their 3D-printing expertise to develop a set of prosthetic legs that allowed Derby to walk and even run in a more comfortable position. The disc-shaped prosthetic was designed to keep him in a semi-slumped position, allowing him time to get used to wearing the legs while still keeping his unusual, yet familiar, gait.
Though practical for the interim, the short legs were not an ideal long-term solution for the dog. After testing several designs, version two of the prosthetics increased the length of the legs using a figure-eight design. The new prosthetic legs evened out Derby’s posture, giving him a straight back and approximately equal-length legs. Going forward, Derby can walk and run with minimal strain on his back. He even can sit, something his disability previously prevented him from doing.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.
Military working dogs charge into places the rest of us would flee. So, I understand why anyone would want to breed tougher, healthier dogs for the job.
Warhound, a new startup from Colossal Biosciences co-founder Ben Lamm and Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey, has stepped out of stealth with $200 million to clone and gene-edit working dogs for American troops, police departments, and emergency services (via TechCrunch).
AI can describe a picture, identify objects, and answer questions about what a camera sees. But when a blind user needs a quick answer, getting an entire spoken essay about the scene isn't exactly helpful. Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have found that AI-powered visual assistance can leave blind users doing too much work to get the information they actually need.
The study, titled Say It My Way: Exploring Control in Conversational Visual Question Answering with Blind Users, examined how people interact with Be My AI, an AI-powered feature of the Be My Eyes app. The researchers found that users often received lengthy descriptions that didn't adequately address their immediate goals, forcing them to ask follow-up questions or find ways to steer the AI towards a more useful answer.