Around twenty miles outside the center of London on an unassuming industrial estate, one of the UK and Europe’s biggest robot suppliers is busy packing robots and robot parts. It's a bustling and slightly chaotic workplace for a small but growing team.
CGTN Photo
Robots of London supplies various robots, which are sourced from China, Japan, and Russia among other places. The company was founded just two years ago by Adam Kushner, who told CGTN that he realized following a business trip to Japan, “that it was something that in the future, at some point, people would want.”
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Around twenty miles outside the center of London on an unassuming industrial estate, one of the UK and Europe’s biggest robot suppliers is busy packing robots and robot parts. It's a bustling and slightly chaotic workplace for a small but growing team.
Robots of London supplies various robots, which are sourced from China, Japan, and Russia among other places. The company was founded just two years ago by Adam Kushner, who told CGTN that he realized following a business trip to Japan, “that it was something that in the future, at some point, people would want.”
Kushner anticipates a 400-percent increase in growth over the next few years and says he takes calls daily from robot manufacturers in China, wanting to do business. But China is not only interested in the UK as a marketplace for its robots. It keeps a close eye on promising new artificial intelligence (AI) startups in the UK, as Beijing plans to become the world leader in AI by 2030. It’s estimated that a new AI start-up has been launched in the UK every week for the past three years. For British companies, close collaborations with Chinese partners offer opportunities to gain market access and financial backing.
Illumr founder Jason Lee estimates it will be around a year before the company is ready to scale up, however, he said he’s delighted to have already been in contact with the CSC group, who has promised to introduce him to big Chinese corporations.
China-Britain Business Fusion (CBBF) is a London-based consultancy group dedicated to bringing the China-UK AI sector together with a summit in China planned for 2018, following a successful event in London.
Having seen much of the competition, the supplier this year also decided to work on its own robot. Alfie, a somewhat life-like looking face on a robotic human body, is a work in progress, but it is hoped that one day he could compete with the robots being imported from Asia and beyond.
Robot parts lying around the Robots of London office. /CGTN Photo
Kushner anticipates a 400-percent increase in growth over the next few years and says he takes calls daily from robot manufacturers in China, wanting to do business. But China is not only interested in the UK as a marketplace for its robots. It keeps a close eye on promising new artificial intelligence (AI) startups in the UK, as Beijing plans to become the world leader in AI by 2030. It’s estimated that a new AI start-up has been launched in the UK every week for the past three years. For British companies, close collaborations with Chinese partners offer opportunities to gain market access and financial backing.
Illumr is an AI startup that has created a unique data analysis platform which can turn large data sets into three-dimensional patterns. The idea is that humans and AI can work together to identify never seen before patterns that will reveal new insights. Illumr has already benefited from an accelerator program part-funded by China’s third-largest private equity firm, CSC group, which aims to fuse UK technology with the Chinese market.
Robots of London staff working on Alfie. /CGTN Photo
Illumr founder Jason Lee estimates it will be around a year before the company is ready to scale up, however, he said he’s delighted to have already been in contact with the CSC group, who has promised to introduce him to big Chinese corporations.
“When we’re ready we’ve got already established links… it’s such a difficult market to enter, but when you’ve got that help at a senior level, it should be really good for us,” Lee told CGTN.
Adam Kushner, co-founder of Robots of London, examines a singing robot. /CGTN Photo
China-Britain Business Fusion (CBBF) is a London-based consultancy group dedicated to bringing the China-UK AI sector together with a summit in China planned for 2018, following a successful event in London.
"The future is very bright for the UK and China to collaborate. China has got a huge budget and that budgets mean that they can spend money into acquiring technology around the world but that technology is driven by the talents and that is what the UK can offer,” said Syrus Lohrasb, the founder of CBBF.
A view of the data analysis 3D pattern, an example of the work of Illumr. /CGTN Photo
LONDON (AP) — Olympic organizers unveiled their strategy Friday to use artificial intelligence in sports, joining the global rush to capitalize on the rapidly advancing technology.
The International Olympic Committee outlined its agenda for taking advantage of AI. Officials said it could be used to help identify promising athletes, personalize training methods and make the games fairer by improving judging.
“Today we are making another step to ensure the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and the relevance of sport. To do this, we have to be leaders of change,” IOC President Thomas Bach said at a press event in the velodrome at the Olympic Park in London, which hosted the summer games in 2012.
"We are determined to exploit the vast potential of AI in a responsible way,” Bach said.
The IOC revealed its AI master plan as it gears up to hold the Paris Olympics, which are set to kick off in just under 100 days.
The IOC's AI plans also include using the technology to protect athletes from online harassment and to help broadcasters improve the viewing experience for people watching from home. The IOC earns billions of dollars through the sale of broadcast rights for the games.
Some AI projects will be rolled out at the Paris games and the IOC has set up a working group on the technology to further drive its adoption in sport, Bach said, without being more specific.
The local organizers of the Paris games have sparked controversy with their plans to use artificial intelligence for security, with a video surveillance system that includes AI-powered cameras to flag potential security risks such as abandoned packages or crowd surges. Digital watchdog groups fear that a proposal to legalize smart surveillance systems, even if only temporarily, will infringe on privacy, though the French government insists the systems won't use facial recognition technology.
Asked about the concerns, Bach told reporters it's up to the authorities in the host country, not the IOC, to decide on ”the best tools to apply to secure the games."
“What we have seen from the French government and from the authorities is that the efforts to ensure security in Paris are really, on a very wide scope, very professional. So we have all confidence in the French authorities,” he said.
Skier Lindsey Vonn said she was envious of the AI-powered tools that weren't available when she was starting out.
Vonn said back in the day she took notes by hand in her performance diary on how different skis, boots and the temperature affected her performance. Nowadays, tablets are used to instantly crunch much more data, as well as give a side-by-side video comparison of the best racing line. AI can supercharge those analytical tools, she said.
“It’s not replacing athletes, it’s not replacing coaching. But I think it’s just another tool that can be used in a positive way to perform better,” Vonn said.
The IOC has partnered with Intel to scout out potential athletes in overlooked places. The tech company took its equipment to Senegal, where they visited five villages and analyzed the athletic ability of a thousand children, by measuring how high they could jump and how fast they could react.
Using AI to analyze the results, "we found 40 that are really promising," said Christoph Schell, Intel's chief commercial officer.
The shortlisted kids' results were then run through an algorithm that recommended what sports they'd be good at, he said.
Olympic officials are also aware of AI risks. Bach warned against allowing machines to be the ultimate arbiter of a young athlete's career. Someone who's a “great athlete in wrestling must still have the chance to play tennis and cannot be sorted out” by the algorithms, he said.
AP videojournalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this report.
Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Intel Corporation Christoph Schell is interviewed at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024. They will be presenting the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport, and how the IOC intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Lindsey Vonn, Olympic Skiing Champion speaks at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024. The IOC will be presenting the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport, and how the IOC intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Lindsey Vonn, Olympic Skiing Champion and Christoph Schell Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Intel Corporation, speak at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024. The IOC will be presenting the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport, and how the IOC intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Thomas Bach, IOC President speaks at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024. The IOC will be presenting the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport, and how the IOC intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Lindsey Vonn, Olympic Skiing Champion, smiles as she is interviewed at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024. They will be presenting the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport, and how the IOC intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Thomas Bach, IOC President speaks at the International Olympic Committee launch of the Olympic AI Agenda at Lee Valley VeloPark, in London, Friday, April 19, 2024. They will be presenting the envisioned impact that artificial intelligence can deliver for sport, and how the IOC intends to lead on the global implementation of AI within sport. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
