News Lock

  Human hands let us solve a wide variety of tasks. For the past 60 years of robotics, hard tasks which humans accomplish with their fixed pair of hands have required designing a custom robot for   each task . As an alternative, people have spent   many decades trying to use general-purpose robotic hardware , but with limited success due to their high degrees of freedom. In particular, the hardware we use here is not new—the robot hand we use has been around for the last 15 years—but the software approach is. Since May 2017, we’ve been trying to train a human-like robotic hand to solve the  Rubik’s Cube . We set this goal because we believe that successful training such a robotic hand to do complex manipulation tasks lays the foundation for general-purpose robots. We solved the Rubik’s Cube in simulation in July 2017. But as of July 2018, we could only  manipulate a block  on the robot. Now, we’ve reached our initial goal.

LISA MARIE PRESLEY ,  the singer whose blues-tinged voice carried across three albums and the only child of Elvis Presley, died on Thursday at the age of 54. “It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” her mother, Priscilla Presley, said in a statement, according to  The Associated Press . “She was the most passionate, strong, and loving woman I have ever known.” The announcement came just hours after her mother had confirmed she was rushed to a local hospital earlier Thursday. Presley had suffered  cardiac arrest  at her home in Calabasas, the L.A. County Fire Dept. confirmed to  Rolling Stone . Just days before the incident, Presley attended the Golden Globes alongside her mother, Priscilla, where  Austin Butler, who portrayed Elvis in the biopic about the musician, was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. “Lisa Marie, Priscilla, I love you forever,” Butler said during his accepta

  The Ivy League think tank where lawyers found classified materials linked to the Obama White House is a patronage mill for the Biden administration, raising suspicions among critics that its establishment attracted tens of millions in donations from anonymous Chinese donors. The Department of Justice is currently probing how  “a small number” of classified documents  from President Biden’s years as vice president ended up at the Washington, DC, think tank that bears his name, the White House confirmed Monday. A second batch of papers were  found at an additional location , it was reported Wednesday. The University of Pennsylvania received more than $30 million from Chinese donors shortly after the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which functioned as an office for Joe Biden before he was elected president, was announced in 2017, according to public records. “The Penn Biden Center is a dark money, revolving door nightmare where foreign competitors like China donat

  Russia's mercenary Wagner Group has claimed control over the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine - but Kyiv says its soldiers are holding out. Russia's media carried a statement purported to be by the Wagner head, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who said Ukrainians were now encircled in the city centre. Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar earlier said that "heavy fighting is continuing". The claims by both sides have not been independently verified. In the reported statement late on Tuesday, Mr Prigozhin said: "Wagner units took control of the entire territory of Soledar. A cauldron has been formed in the centre of the city in which urban fighting is going on." The statement stressed that only Wagner fighters - who are not part of the Russian armed forces - were taking part "in the storming" of Soledar. Meanwhile, Ms Maliar said a few hours before that "the enemy does not pay attention to the large losses of its personnel and continues to

Brazil protests: Artwork suffers damage beyond repair Published Share IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, A vandalised painting depicting a political figure lies on a room at the National Congress When thousands of rioters ransacked Brazil's monumental government buildings on Sunday, political leaders condemned the grave attack on the country's democratic fabric. In waves of green and yellow, thousands of far-right supporters of Brazil's ex-leader, Jair Bolsonaro, wreaked havoc on Congress, the Supreme Court and Presidential Palace in Brasilia, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. But the three buildings also held a rich collection of art, some of which suffered irreparable damage. The government has mourned the loss of key parts of the artistic collection, which it said represents an important chapter in its national history. IMAGE SOURC "The value of what was destroyed is incalculable because of the history it represents. The collection is a representati

  THE SCHEDULED CASTES AND THE SCHEDULED TRIBES (PREVENTION OF ATROCITIES) ACT, 1989 1.  Short title, extent and commencement.— (1)  This Act may be called the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. (2)  It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. (3)  It shall come into force on such date* as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. 2.  Definitions.— (1)  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a)  “atrocity” means an offence punishable under section 3; (b)  “Code” means the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974); (c)  “Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes” shall have the meanings assigned to them respectively under clause (24) and clause (25) of article 366 of the Constitution; (d)  “Special Court” means a Court of Session specified as a Special Court in section 14; (e)  “Special Public Prosecutor” means a Public Prosecutor specified as a Special Public Prose