One Stop Systems CEO David Raun makes a formal corporate presentation. Afterwards, he is joined by CFO John Morrison and Noble Capital Markets Senior Research Analyst Joe Gomes for a Q & A session. Research, News, and Advanced Market Data on OSS Information on upcoming live virtual roadshows One Stop Systems, Inc. (OSS) designs and manufactures innovative AI Transportable edge computing modules and systems, including ruggedized servers, compute accelerators, expansion systems, flash storage arrays and Ion Accelerator™ SAN, NAS and data recording software for AI workflows. These products are used for AI data set capture, training, and large-scale inference in the defense, oil and gas, mining, autonomous vehicles and rugged entertainment applications. OSS utilizes the power of PCI Express, the latest GPU accelerators and NVMe storage to build award-winning systems, including many industry firsts, for industrial OEMs and government customers. The company enables AI on the Fly® by bringing AI datacenter performance to ‘the edge’, especially on mobile platforms, and by addressing the entire AI workflow, from high-speed data acquisition to deep learning, training and inference. OSS products are available directly or through global distributors. For more information, go to www.onestopsystems.com.

Friday, September 17, 2021

TAAL Distributed Information Technologies (TAALF)
Preliminary 3Q21 Revenue well In Excess of Estimate

Taal Distributed Information Technologies Inc delivers value-added blockchain services, providing professional-grade, highly scalable blockchain infrastructure and transactional platforms to support businesses building solutions and applications upon the Bitcoin SV platform, and developing, operating, and managing distributed computing systems for enterprise users.

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Preliminary 3Q21 Revenue. Yesterday, TAAL Distributed Information Technologies announced preliminary 3Q21 revenue guidance of $11.5 million to $12 million. The preliminary guidance represents an approximate 70% sequential increase from $6.7 million in 2Q21. The guidance is significantly above our projected 3Q21 revenue estimate of $8.0 million and exceeds our 4Q21 revenue projection of $11.0 million. We will update our model once the Company releases full 3Q21 operating results (which was in November last year).


Outperformance Drivers.  The revenue increase was driven by strong transaction processing performance and capacity increases. More transactions and larger volumes benefited the quarter. Significantly, transaction fees exceeded block subsidy rewards on several blocks on the BSV network during August, validating the Company’s thesis of building the transaction processing and indexing infrastructure …

This Company Sponsored Research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary.  Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Comtech Comments on Director Nominations Notice

 

MELVILLE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 9, 2021– 
September 9, 2021— Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL) today confirmed receipt of notice from Outerbridge Capital Management of its intention to nominate three individuals to stand for election to Comtech’s Board of Directors at the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which the Board anticipates will be held in December 2021.

The Company issued the following statement:

Comtech’s Board and management team maintain regular, open dialogue with investors and value their input. As part of this engagement, Comtech’s Chairman and CEO, President and COO, CFO, and members of the Board met with Outerbridge several times since June when it first issued a public letter to the Company’s Board. During these interactions, Outerbridge has exhibited little understanding of Comtech’s business and the significant strategic actions the Company has taken to enhance shareholder value while successfully navigating the impact of the pandemic on the business and its end markets.

Nevertheless, Comtech representatives listened closely to Outerbridge’s views and the Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee initiated a fair and thoughtful evaluation process in August when Outerbridge proposed two individuals as director candidates. As recently as last week, Comtech was engaged in good faith dialogue with Outerbridge about those individuals. Having invested considerable time and effort in this process, Comtech has now been presented with completely different candidates that Outerbridge has never mentioned before despite numerous discussions on the topic, which is not the path to a constructive resolution.

The Comtech Board is committed to sound corporate governance practices and maintaining the right mix of skills, experience, diversity and viewpoints through ongoing refreshment. Its Nominating and Governance Committee will review the newly proposed candidates in accordance with its standard procedures. The Board will then present its recommended slate of director nominees in Comtech’s definitive proxy statement, which will be published prior to the 2021 Annual Meeting.

About Comtech

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. is a leading global provider of next-generation 911 emergency systems and secure wireless communication technologies to commercial and government customers around the world. Headquartered in 
Melville, New York and with a passion for customer success, 
Comtech designs, produces and markets advanced and secure wireless solutions to customers in more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.comtechtel.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this press release contains statements that are forward-looking in nature and involve certain significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking information. The Company’s 
Securities and Exchange Commission filings identify many such risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking information in this press release is qualified in its entirety by the risks and uncertainties described in 
Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Media Contact:
Kekst CNC
[email protected] / [email protected]
(212) 521-4800

Investor Contact:
[email protected]
(631) 962-7005

Source: 
Comtech Telecommunications Corp.

Thursday, September 09, 2021

Comtech (CMTL)
Outerbridge Starts a Proxy Contest; Nominates 3 for Board Election

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. engages in the design, development, production, and marketing of products, systems, and services for advanced communications solutions in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Telecommunications Transmission, Mobile Data Communications, and RF Microwave Amplifiers. The Telecommunications Transmission segment provides satellite earth station equipment and systems, over-the-horizon microwave systems, and forward error correction technology, which are used in various commercial and government applications, including backhaul of wireless and cellular traffic, broadcasting (including HDTV), IP-based communications traffic, long distance telephony, and secure defense applications. The Mobile Data Communications segment provides mobile satellite transceivers, and computers and satellite earth station network gateways and associated installation, training, and maintenance services; supplies and operates satellite packet data networks, including arranging and providing satellite capacity; and offers microsatellites and related components. The RF Microwave Amplifiers segment designs, develops, manufactures, and markets satellite earth station traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA) and broadband amplifiers. Its amplifiers are used in broadcast and broadband satellite communication; defense applications, such as telecommunications systems and electronic warfare systems; and commercial applications comprising oncology treatment systems, as well as to amplify signals carrying voice, video, or data for air-to-satellite-to-ground communications. The company serves satellite systems integrators, wireless and other communication service providers, broadcasters, defense contractors, military, governments, and oil companies. Comtech markets its products through independent representatives and value-added resellers. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Nominates 3 Candidates For Board. Yesterday, Outerbridge Capital Management took the next step in its quest for a review of strategic alternatives with the nomination of three candidates for election to the Company’s Board of Directors. The nominees, Wendi Carpenter, Sidney Fuchs, and Jonathan Wackrow, possess deep operational, financial, and strategic experience within the government, satellite, law enforcement, and public safety sectors, according to their bios.


June Letter.  Recall, in its June letter seeking a review of strategic alternatives, Outerbridge Capital stated it believes that while “Comtech continues to be a market leader with best-in-class products and strong growth prospects, the Company…remains significantly undervalued.” Outerbridge valued CMTL shares in the $32-$40 range. In yesterday’s letter, Outerbridge stated that its “due diligence …

This research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary.  Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Thursday, September 09, 2021

Comtech (CMTL)
Outerbridge Starts a Proxy Contest; Nominates 3 for Board Election

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. engages in the design, development, production, and marketing of products, systems, and services for advanced communications solutions in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Telecommunications Transmission, Mobile Data Communications, and RF Microwave Amplifiers. The Telecommunications Transmission segment provides satellite earth station equipment and systems, over-the-horizon microwave systems, and forward error correction technology, which are used in various commercial and government applications, including backhaul of wireless and cellular traffic, broadcasting (including HDTV), IP-based communications traffic, long distance telephony, and secure defense applications. The Mobile Data Communications segment provides mobile satellite transceivers, and computers and satellite earth station network gateways and associated installation, training, and maintenance services; supplies and operates satellite packet data networks, including arranging and providing satellite capacity; and offers microsatellites and related components. The RF Microwave Amplifiers segment designs, develops, manufactures, and markets satellite earth station traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA) and broadband amplifiers. Its amplifiers are used in broadcast and broadband satellite communication; defense applications, such as telecommunications systems and electronic warfare systems; and commercial applications comprising oncology treatment systems, as well as to amplify signals carrying voice, video, or data for air-to-satellite-to-ground communications. The company serves satellite systems integrators, wireless and other communication service providers, broadcasters, defense contractors, military, governments, and oil companies. Comtech markets its products through independent representatives and value-added resellers. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

Joe Gomes, Senior Research Analyst, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

Refer to the full report for the price target, fundamental analysis, and rating.

Nominates 3 Candidates For Board. Yesterday, Outerbridge Capital Management took the next step in its quest for a review of strategic alternatives with the nomination of three candidates for election to the Company’s Board of Directors. The nominees, Wendi Carpenter, Sidney Fuchs, and Jonathan Wackrow, possess deep operational, financial, and strategic experience within the government, satellite, law enforcement, and public safety sectors, according to their bios.


June Letter.  Recall, in its June letter seeking a review of strategic alternatives, Outerbridge Capital stated it believes that while “Comtech continues to be a market leader with best-in-class products and strong growth prospects, the Company…remains significantly undervalued.” Outerbridge valued CMTL shares in the $32-$40 range. In yesterday’s letter, Outerbridge stated that its “due diligence …

This research is provided by Noble Capital Markets, Inc., a FINRA and S.E.C. registered broker-dealer (B/D).

*Analyst certification and important disclosures included in the full report. NOTE: investment decisions should not be based upon the content of this research summary.  Proper due diligence is required before making any investment decision. 

Comtech Comments on Director Nominations Notice

 

MELVILLE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 9, 2021– 
September 9, 2021— Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL) today confirmed receipt of notice from Outerbridge Capital Management of its intention to nominate three individuals to stand for election to Comtech’s Board of Directors at the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which the Board anticipates will be held in December 2021.

The Company issued the following statement:

Comtech’s Board and management team maintain regular, open dialogue with investors and value their input. As part of this engagement, Comtech’s Chairman and CEO, President and COO, CFO, and members of the Board met with Outerbridge several times since June when it first issued a public letter to the Company’s Board. During these interactions, Outerbridge has exhibited little understanding of Comtech’s business and the significant strategic actions the Company has taken to enhance shareholder value while successfully navigating the impact of the pandemic on the business and its end markets.

Nevertheless, Comtech representatives listened closely to Outerbridge’s views and the Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee initiated a fair and thoughtful evaluation process in August when Outerbridge proposed two individuals as director candidates. As recently as last week, Comtech was engaged in good faith dialogue with Outerbridge about those individuals. Having invested considerable time and effort in this process, Comtech has now been presented with completely different candidates that Outerbridge has never mentioned before despite numerous discussions on the topic, which is not the path to a constructive resolution.

The Comtech Board is committed to sound corporate governance practices and maintaining the right mix of skills, experience, diversity and viewpoints through ongoing refreshment. Its Nominating and Governance Committee will review the newly proposed candidates in accordance with its standard procedures. The Board will then present its recommended slate of director nominees in Comtech’s definitive proxy statement, which will be published prior to the 2021 Annual Meeting.

About Comtech

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. is a leading global provider of next-generation 911 emergency systems and secure wireless communication technologies to commercial and government customers around the world. Headquartered in 
Melville, New York and with a passion for customer success, 
Comtech designs, produces and markets advanced and secure wireless solutions to customers in more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.comtechtel.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this press release contains statements that are forward-looking in nature and involve certain significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking information. The Company’s 
Securities and Exchange Commission filings identify many such risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking information in this press release is qualified in its entirety by the risks and uncertainties described in 
Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Media Contact:
Kekst CNC
[email protected] / [email protected]
(212) 521-4800

Investor Contact:
[email protected]
(631) 962-7005

Source: 
Comtech Telecommunications Corp.

 

Voyager Virtually Opens The Market

 

TORONTO, Sept. 7, 2021 /CNW/ – Stephen Ehrlich, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Voyager Digital Ltd. (“Voyager” or the “Company”) (TSX: VOYG), and his team joined Karoline Hunter, Head, TSX Company Services, to celebrate the Company’s listing on Toronto Stock Exchange and open the market.

Voyager is one of the fastest-growing, publicly-traded cryptocurrency platform founded in 2018 to bring choice, transparency, and cost efficiency to the marketplace. Voyager offers a secure way to invest and trade in over 60 different crypto assets, with zero commissions, using its easy-to-use mobile application, and earn rewards up to 12 percent APY on more than 30 cryptocurrencies. Through its subsidiary Coinify ApS, Voyager provides crypto payment solutions for both consumers and merchants around the globe. To learn more about the company, please visit https://www.investvoyager.com.

SOURCE Toronto Stock Exchange

 

Voyager Digital Partners with Football Star Rob Gronkowski to Expand Crypto Platform & Support Gronk Nation

 

Gronk Becomes Voyager Brand Ambassador, Shareholder, and VGX Token Holder

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – Voyager Digital Ltd. (“Voyager” or the “Company”) (TSX: VOYG) (OTCQX: VYGVF) (FRA: UCD2) the fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platform in the United States, announced a market-leading partnership with four-time Super Bowl champion and the greatest tight end in history, Rob Gronkowski (Gronk). Gronk will become a brand ambassador, Voyager shareholder, and holder of the Voyager Token, VGX, which recently completed one of the largest token swaps in history and powers the Voyager Loyalty Program. Starting today, Gronk and Voyager are launching a series of campaigns designed to bring crypto investing to the mainstream–making it accessible, useful, engaging, and entertaining.

“Rob Gronkowski is a great athlete, and an even greater human being. He‘s someone we all want to be friends with,” said Stephen Ehrlich, CEO and Co-founder of Voyager. “I can‘t think of a better person to have as our brand ambassador. When people hear something from Gronk, they know they‘re getting the real deal. We also know that by working with Gronk, we are going to get our message out there and have a lot of fun.” 

“The Voyager app is so easy to use right from the start. It has a big selection of over sixty different coins and pays up to 12% annual rewards, depending on the coins you hold,” said Rob Gronkowski. “When I looked at the competition, it seemed like a no-brainer. Together, Voyager and I are bringing crypto to everyone.”

In March, Gronk was the first professional football player to launch his own series of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain featuring his iconic Super Bowl moments. Now, Gronk and Voyager have reached a deal which will make Gronk Voyager‘s brand ambassador. As a result of the agreement, Gronk now has a stake in Voyager and will be participating in the Voyager Loyalty Program through his ownership of the Voyager Token, VGX.

Today, Gronk and Voyager kick off the first of a series of campaigns across various social media channels, including Twitter and Instagram. The premier campaign is called “New Best Friend” and features Gronk going about his day with a dog that most notably is not his well-known French bulldog, Ralphie. Instead, Gronk is playing in the yard, watching movies, and paddling around the pool with a Shiba Inu, the dog breed closely associated with Dogecoin and the Shiba Inu coin, meant to symbolize crypto in general. Voyager created the campaign with Omnicom‘s digital agency Organic.

Gronk and Voyager will be releasing additional videos, including “Crypto Clues” later in the year, as well as hosting a livestream event, and releasing an NFT through Voyager for Good to benefit the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation.

This partnership is a continuation of a series of professional sports relationships Voyager is putting together. In June, the company announced a sponsorship deal and partnership with NASCAR driver and crypto enthusiast Landon Cassill that was paid entirely in cryptocurrency. In July, Voyager added the Shiba Inu coin to the hood of Cassill‘s race car following an uprising in demand from that coin community engaging online with Voyager and Cassill.

About Voyager Digital Ltd.
Voyager Digital Ltd. (TSX: VOYG;OTCQX: VYGVF; FRA: UCD2) is the fast-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platform in the United States founded in 2018 to bring choice, transparency, and cost efficiency to the marketplace. Voyager offers a secure way to invest and trade in over 60 different crypto assets, with zero commissions, using its easy-to-use mobile application, and earn rewards up to 12 percent annually on more than 30 cryptocurrencies. Through its subsidiary Coinify ApS, Voyager provides crypto payment solutions for both consumers and merchants around the globe. To learn more about the company, please visit https://www.investvoyager.com.

The TSX has not approved or disapproved of the information contained herein.

Press Contacts

Voyager Digital, Ltd.
Michael Legg
Chief Communications Officer
(212) 547-8807
[email protected]

Voyager Public Relations Team
[email protected]

SOURCE Voyager Digital (Canada) Ltd.

 

Voyager Digital Partners with Football Star Rob Gronkowski to Expand Crypto Platform & Support Gronk Nation

 

Gronk Becomes Voyager Brand Ambassador, Shareholder, and VGX Token Holder

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – Voyager Digital Ltd. (“Voyager” or the “Company”) (TSX: VOYG) (OTCQX: VYGVF) (FRA: UCD2) the fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platform in the United States, announced a market-leading partnership with four-time Super Bowl champion and the greatest tight end in history, Rob Gronkowski (Gronk). Gronk will become a brand ambassador, Voyager shareholder, and holder of the Voyager Token, VGX, which recently completed one of the largest token swaps in history and powers the Voyager Loyalty Program. Starting today, Gronk and Voyager are launching a series of campaigns designed to bring crypto investing to the mainstream–making it accessible, useful, engaging, and entertaining.

“Rob Gronkowski is a great athlete, and an even greater human being. He‘s someone we all want to be friends with,” said Stephen Ehrlich, CEO and Co-founder of Voyager. “I can‘t think of a better person to have as our brand ambassador. When people hear something from Gronk, they know they‘re getting the real deal. We also know that by working with Gronk, we are going to get our message out there and have a lot of fun.” 

“The Voyager app is so easy to use right from the start. It has a big selection of over sixty different coins and pays up to 12% annual rewards, depending on the coins you hold,” said Rob Gronkowski. “When I looked at the competition, it seemed like a no-brainer. Together, Voyager and I are bringing crypto to everyone.”

In March, Gronk was the first professional football player to launch his own series of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain featuring his iconic Super Bowl moments. Now, Gronk and Voyager have reached a deal which will make Gronk Voyager‘s brand ambassador. As a result of the agreement, Gronk now has a stake in Voyager and will be participating in the Voyager Loyalty Program through his ownership of the Voyager Token, VGX.

Today, Gronk and Voyager kick off the first of a series of campaigns across various social media channels, including Twitter and Instagram. The premier campaign is called “New Best Friend” and features Gronk going about his day with a dog that most notably is not his well-known French bulldog, Ralphie. Instead, Gronk is playing in the yard, watching movies, and paddling around the pool with a Shiba Inu, the dog breed closely associated with Dogecoin and the Shiba Inu coin, meant to symbolize crypto in general. Voyager created the campaign with Omnicom‘s digital agency Organic.

Gronk and Voyager will be releasing additional videos, including “Crypto Clues” later in the year, as well as hosting a livestream event, and releasing an NFT through Voyager for Good to benefit the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation.

This partnership is a continuation of a series of professional sports relationships Voyager is putting together. In June, the company announced a sponsorship deal and partnership with NASCAR driver and crypto enthusiast Landon Cassill that was paid entirely in cryptocurrency. In July, Voyager added the Shiba Inu coin to the hood of Cassill‘s race car following an uprising in demand from that coin community engaging online with Voyager and Cassill.

About Voyager Digital Ltd.
Voyager Digital Ltd. (TSX: VOYG;OTCQX: VYGVF; FRA: UCD2) is the fast-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platform in the United States founded in 2018 to bring choice, transparency, and cost efficiency to the marketplace. Voyager offers a secure way to invest and trade in over 60 different crypto assets, with zero commissions, using its easy-to-use mobile application, and earn rewards up to 12 percent annually on more than 30 cryptocurrencies. Through its subsidiary Coinify ApS, Voyager provides crypto payment solutions for both consumers and merchants around the globe. To learn more about the company, please visit https://www.investvoyager.com.

The TSX has not approved or disapproved of the information contained herein.

Press Contacts

Voyager Digital, Ltd.
Michael Legg
Chief Communications Officer
(212) 547-8807
[email protected]

Voyager Public Relations Team
[email protected]

SOURCE Voyager Digital (Canada) Ltd.

 

Voyager Virtually Opens The Market

 

TORONTO, Sept. 7, 2021 /CNW/ – Stephen Ehrlich, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Voyager Digital Ltd. (“Voyager” or the “Company”) (TSX: VOYG), and his team joined Karoline Hunter, Head, TSX Company Services, to celebrate the Company’s listing on Toronto Stock Exchange and open the market.

Voyager is one of the fastest-growing, publicly-traded cryptocurrency platform founded in 2018 to bring choice, transparency, and cost efficiency to the marketplace. Voyager offers a secure way to invest and trade in over 60 different crypto assets, with zero commissions, using its easy-to-use mobile application, and earn rewards up to 12 percent APY on more than 30 cryptocurrencies. Through its subsidiary Coinify ApS, Voyager provides crypto payment solutions for both consumers and merchants around the globe. To learn more about the company, please visit https://www.investvoyager.com.

SOURCE Toronto Stock Exchange

	Image Credit: Tesla

Elon Musk’s Tesla Bot Raises Serious Concerns – But Probably Not The Ones You Think

 

Elon Musk announced a humanoid robot designed to help with those repetitive, boring tasks people hate doing. Musk suggested it could run to the grocery store for you, but presumably it would handle any number of tasks involving manual labor.

Predictably, social media filled with references to a string of dystopian sci-fi movies about robots where everything goes horribly wrong.

As troubling as the robot futures in movies like I, Robot, The Terminator and others are, it’s the underlying technologies of real humanoid robots – and the intent behind them – that should be cause for concern.

 

Initial plans call for the Tesla Bot to stand 5 feet, 8 inches and weigh 125 pounds. Courtesy Tesla

 

Musk’s robot is being developed by Tesla. It’s a seeming departure from the company’s car-making business, until you consider that Tesla isn’t a typical automotive manufacturer. The so-called “Tesla Bot” is a concept for a sleek, 125-pound humanlike robot that will incorporate Tesla’s automotive artificial intelligence and autopilot technologies to plan and follow routes, navigate traffic – in this case, pedestrians – and avoid obstacles.

Dystopian sci-fi overtones aside, the plan makes sense, albeit within Musk’s business strategy. The built environment is made by humans, for humans. And as Musk argued at the Tesla Bot’s announcement, successful advanced technologies are going to have to learn to navigate it in the same ways people do.

Yet Tesla’s cars and robots are merely the visible products of a much broader plan aimed at creating a future where advanced technologies liberate humans from our biological roots by blending biology and technology. As a researcher who studies the ethical and socially responsible development and use of emerging technologies, I find that this plan raises concerns that transcend speculative sci-fi fears of super-smart robots.

 

A Man with Big Plans

Self-driving cars, interplanetary rockets and brain-machine interfaces are steps toward the future Musk envisions where technology is humanity’s savior. In this future, energy will be cheap, abundant, and sustainable; people will work in harmony with intelligent machines and even merge with them; and humans will become an interplanetary species.

It’s a future that, judging by Musk’s various endeavors, will be built on a set of underlying interconnected technologies that include sensors, actuators, energy and data infrastructures, systems integration and substantial advances in computer power. Together, these make a formidable toolbox for creating transformative technologies.

Musk imagines humans ultimately transcending our evolutionary heritage through technologies that are beyond-human, or “super” human. But before technology can become superhuman, it first needs to be human – or at least be designed to thrive in a human-designed world.

This make-tech-more-human approach to innovation is what’s underpinning the technologies in Tesla’s cars, including the extensive use of optical cameras. These, when connected to an AI “brain,” are intended to help the vehicles autonomously navigate road systems that are, in Musk’s words, “designed for biological neural nets with optical imagers” – in other words, people. In Musk’s telling, it’s a small step from human-inspired “robots on wheels” to humanlike robots on legs.

 

Easier Said than Done

Tesla’s “full self-driving” technology, which includes the dubiously named Autopilot, is a starting point for the developers of the Tesla Bot. Impressive as this technology is, it’s proving to be less than fully reliable. Crashes and fatalities associated with Tesla’s Autopilot mode – the latest having to do with the algorithms struggling to recognize parked emergency vehicles — are calling into question the wisdom of releasing the tech into the wild so soon.

This track record doesn’t bode well for humanlike robots that rely on the same technology. Yet this isn’t just a case of getting the technology right. Tesla’s Autopilot glitches are exacerbated by human behavior. For example, some Tesla drivers have treated their tech-enhanced cars as though they are fully autonomous vehicles and failed to pay sufficient attention to driving. Could something similar happen with the Tesla Bot?

 

This article was republished with permission from  The Conversation, a news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It represents the research-based findings and thoughts of Andrew Maynard, Associate Dean, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University

 

Tesla Bot’s ‘Orphan Risks’

In my work on socially beneficial technology innovation, I’m especially interested in orphan risks – risks that are hard to quantify and easy to overlook and yet inevitably end up tripping up innovators. My colleagues and I work with entrepreneurs and others on navigating these types of challenges through the Risk Innovation Nexus, an initiative of the Arizona State University Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and Global Futures Laboratory.

The Tesla Bot comes with a whole portfolio of orphan risks. These include possible threats to privacy and autonomy as the bot collects, shares and acts on potentially sensitive information; challenges associated with how people are likely to think about and respond to humanoid robots; potential misalignments between ethical or ideological perspectives – for example, in crime control or policing civil protests; and more. These are challenges that are rarely covered in the training that engineers receive, and yet overlooking them can spell disaster.

While the Tesla Bot may seem benign – or even a bit of a joke – if it’s to be beneficial as well as commercially successful, its developers, investors, future consumers and others need to be asking tough questions about how it might threaten what’s important to them and how to navigate these threats.

These threats may be as specific as people making unauthorized modifications that increase the robot’s performance – making it move faster than its designers intended, for example – without thinking about the risks, or as general as the technology being weaponized in novel ways. They are also as subtle as how a humanoid robot could threaten job security, or how a robot that includes advanced surveillance systems could undermine privacy.

Then there are the challenges of technological bias that have been plaguing AI for some time, especially where it leads to learned behavior that turn out to be highly discriminatory. For example, AI algorithms have produced sexist and racist results.

Just Because We Can, Should We?

The Tesla Bot may seem like a small step toward Musk’s vision of superhuman technologies, and one that’s easy to write off as little more than hubristic showmanship. But the audacious plans underpinning it are serious — and they raise equally serious questions.

For instance, how responsible is Musk’s vision? Just because he can work toward creating the future of his dreams, who’s to say that he should? Is the future that Musk is striving to bring about the best one for humankind, or even a good one? And who will suffer the consequences if things go wrong?

These are the deeper concerns that the Tesla Bot raises for me as someone who studies and writes about the future and how our actions impact it. This is not to say that Tesla Bot isn’t a good idea, or that Elon Musk shouldn’t be able to flex his future-building muscles. Used in the right way, these are transformative ideas and technologies that could open up a future full of promise for billions of people.

But if consumers, investors, and others are bedazzled by the glitz of new tech or dismissive of the hype and fail to see the bigger picture, society risks handing the future to wealthy innovators whose vision exceeds their understanding. If their visions of the future don’t align with what most people aspire to, or are catastrophically flawed, they are in danger of standing in the way of building a just and equitable future.

Maybe this is the abiding lesson from dystopian robot-future sci-fi movies that people should be taking away as the Tesla Bot moves from idea to reality — not the more obvious concerns of creating humanoid robots that run amok, but the far larger challenge of deciding who gets to imagine the future and be a part of building it.

 

Suggested Reading:

Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Cathie Wood Drop Bombshells at Bitcoin Conference

Why the Feds are Investigating Tesla’s Autopilot

The Future of Electric Vehicles

Raw Materials and Scalability of Tesla’s Vision

 

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	Image Credit: Tesla

Elon Musk’s Tesla Bot Raises Serious Concerns – But Probably Not The Ones You Think

 

Elon Musk announced a humanoid robot designed to help with those repetitive, boring tasks people hate doing. Musk suggested it could run to the grocery store for you, but presumably it would handle any number of tasks involving manual labor.

Predictably, social media filled with references to a string of dystopian sci-fi movies about robots where everything goes horribly wrong.

As troubling as the robot futures in movies like I, Robot, The Terminator and others are, it’s the underlying technologies of real humanoid robots – and the intent behind them – that should be cause for concern.

 

Initial plans call for the Tesla Bot to stand 5 feet, 8 inches and weigh 125 pounds. Courtesy Tesla

 

Musk’s robot is being developed by Tesla. It’s a seeming departure from the company’s car-making business, until you consider that Tesla isn’t a typical automotive manufacturer. The so-called “Tesla Bot” is a concept for a sleek, 125-pound humanlike robot that will incorporate Tesla’s automotive artificial intelligence and autopilot technologies to plan and follow routes, navigate traffic – in this case, pedestrians – and avoid obstacles.

Dystopian sci-fi overtones aside, the plan makes sense, albeit within Musk’s business strategy. The built environment is made by humans, for humans. And as Musk argued at the Tesla Bot’s announcement, successful advanced technologies are going to have to learn to navigate it in the same ways people do.

Yet Tesla’s cars and robots are merely the visible products of a much broader plan aimed at creating a future where advanced technologies liberate humans from our biological roots by blending biology and technology. As a researcher who studies the ethical and socially responsible development and use of emerging technologies, I find that this plan raises concerns that transcend speculative sci-fi fears of super-smart robots.

 

A Man with Big Plans

Self-driving cars, interplanetary rockets and brain-machine interfaces are steps toward the future Musk envisions where technology is humanity’s savior. In this future, energy will be cheap, abundant, and sustainable; people will work in harmony with intelligent machines and even merge with them; and humans will become an interplanetary species.

It’s a future that, judging by Musk’s various endeavors, will be built on a set of underlying interconnected technologies that include sensors, actuators, energy and data infrastructures, systems integration and substantial advances in computer power. Together, these make a formidable toolbox for creating transformative technologies.

Musk imagines humans ultimately transcending our evolutionary heritage through technologies that are beyond-human, or “super” human. But before technology can become superhuman, it first needs to be human – or at least be designed to thrive in a human-designed world.

This make-tech-more-human approach to innovation is what’s underpinning the technologies in Tesla’s cars, including the extensive use of optical cameras. These, when connected to an AI “brain,” are intended to help the vehicles autonomously navigate road systems that are, in Musk’s words, “designed for biological neural nets with optical imagers” – in other words, people. In Musk’s telling, it’s a small step from human-inspired “robots on wheels” to humanlike robots on legs.

 

Easier Said than Done

Tesla’s “full self-driving” technology, which includes the dubiously named Autopilot, is a starting point for the developers of the Tesla Bot. Impressive as this technology is, it’s proving to be less than fully reliable. Crashes and fatalities associated with Tesla’s Autopilot mode – the latest having to do with the algorithms struggling to recognize parked emergency vehicles — are calling into question the wisdom of releasing the tech into the wild so soon.

This track record doesn’t bode well for humanlike robots that rely on the same technology. Yet this isn’t just a case of getting the technology right. Tesla’s Autopilot glitches are exacerbated by human behavior. For example, some Tesla drivers have treated their tech-enhanced cars as though they are fully autonomous vehicles and failed to pay sufficient attention to driving. Could something similar happen with the Tesla Bot?

 

This article was republished with permission from  The Conversation, a news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It represents the research-based findings and thoughts of Andrew Maynard, Associate Dean, College of Global Futures, Arizona State University

 

Tesla Bot’s ‘Orphan Risks’

In my work on socially beneficial technology innovation, I’m especially interested in orphan risks – risks that are hard to quantify and easy to overlook and yet inevitably end up tripping up innovators. My colleagues and I work with entrepreneurs and others on navigating these types of challenges through the Risk Innovation Nexus, an initiative of the Arizona State University Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and Global Futures Laboratory.

The Tesla Bot comes with a whole portfolio of orphan risks. These include possible threats to privacy and autonomy as the bot collects, shares and acts on potentially sensitive information; challenges associated with how people are likely to think about and respond to humanoid robots; potential misalignments between ethical or ideological perspectives – for example, in crime control or policing civil protests; and more. These are challenges that are rarely covered in the training that engineers receive, and yet overlooking them can spell disaster.

While the Tesla Bot may seem benign – or even a bit of a joke – if it’s to be beneficial as well as commercially successful, its developers, investors, future consumers and others need to be asking tough questions about how it might threaten what’s important to them and how to navigate these threats.

These threats may be as specific as people making unauthorized modifications that increase the robot’s performance – making it move faster than its designers intended, for example – without thinking about the risks, or as general as the technology being weaponized in novel ways. They are also as subtle as how a humanoid robot could threaten job security, or how a robot that includes advanced surveillance systems could undermine privacy.

Then there are the challenges of technological bias that have been plaguing AI for some time, especially where it leads to learned behavior that turn out to be highly discriminatory. For example, AI algorithms have produced sexist and racist results.

Just Because We Can, Should We?

The Tesla Bot may seem like a small step toward Musk’s vision of superhuman technologies, and one that’s easy to write off as little more than hubristic showmanship. But the audacious plans underpinning it are serious — and they raise equally serious questions.

For instance, how responsible is Musk’s vision? Just because he can work toward creating the future of his dreams, who’s to say that he should? Is the future that Musk is striving to bring about the best one for humankind, or even a good one? And who will suffer the consequences if things go wrong?

These are the deeper concerns that the Tesla Bot raises for me as someone who studies and writes about the future and how our actions impact it. This is not to say that Tesla Bot isn’t a good idea, or that Elon Musk shouldn’t be able to flex his future-building muscles. Used in the right way, these are transformative ideas and technologies that could open up a future full of promise for billions of people.

But if consumers, investors, and others are bedazzled by the glitz of new tech or dismissive of the hype and fail to see the bigger picture, society risks handing the future to wealthy innovators whose vision exceeds their understanding. If their visions of the future don’t align with what most people aspire to, or are catastrophically flawed, they are in danger of standing in the way of building a just and equitable future.

Maybe this is the abiding lesson from dystopian robot-future sci-fi movies that people should be taking away as the Tesla Bot moves from idea to reality — not the more obvious concerns of creating humanoid robots that run amok, but the far larger challenge of deciding who gets to imagine the future and be a part of building it.

 

Suggested Reading:

Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Cathie Wood Drop Bombshells at Bitcoin Conference

Why the Feds are Investigating Tesla’s Autopilot

The Future of Electric Vehicles

Raw Materials and Scalability of Tesla’s Vision

 

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