AEGIS

AEGIS: A Backup Reflex for Physical AI

Announce Type: new Abstract: Long-horizon robot manipulation tends to fail gradually: one bad step degrades the state, and the policy spirals into a basin from which it cannot recover. The failure is often visible before it happens. We introduce AEGIS (Activation-probe Early-warning, Gated Inference Switching), a selective escalation method that uses a lightweight probe on a weak policy's frozen activations to detect high-risk steps while there is still time to act.

Remembering Maureen Duffy and an all-night reading of Gor Saga | Letters

Joan McGavin shares a unique memory of the late poet, playwright and novelist I was saddened to read your obituary for Maureen Duffy (3 June) but also interested to discover that her early 1980s novel Gor Saga had been reissued under the title First Born in 2024.Duffy is the only writer I have heard give an all-night reading of their novel – here in Southampton – if I remember rightly under the aegis of David Benedictus, who was a resident writer in the city in the early...

I tested a bunch of Switch 2 screen protectors, and these are the best

This is what a Switch 2 looks like with a glossy glass protector attached to its screen. | Image: Cameron Faulkner/The Verge A glass screen protector is one of a few essential accessories that I strongly recommend to every Switch 2 owner. In fact, it should be a priority to stick one onto the console’s screen as soon as possible to avoid accidental scratches.  To test the candidates below, I installed and removed Switch 2 screen protectors on my console at an alarming rate, more than...

Can You Stop a Hypersonic Missile?

Can You Stop a Hypersonic Missile? The headlines say yes. Patriot crews shot down a Kinzhal over Kyiv on the night of May 4, 2023.

AWS parades orgs that took up its offer for Euro Sovereign Cloud

12 years in PMO: NDA to celebrate PM Modi overtaking Nehru

As NDA government turns 12 and PM Narendra Modi overtakes Jawaharlal Nehru’s feat of longest unbroken tenure as elected head of govt, leading members of the alliance will gather on Wednesday to mark the twin feats, an occasion turning more celebratory for them as rival INDIA bloc weakens amid implosion in TMC. Nearly 75 representatives of about 35 parties are expected to meet, with achievements of govt coupled with Modi’s own milestone likely to dominate proceedings and resolution, informed...

'Operation Pushkin': six Georgians on trial in France over theft of rare Russian books

The trial is the latest case aimed at delivering justice after a series of similar thefts in libraries across Europe, allegedly by an organised network. Who says a love of reading doesn’t pay? Sometimes, though, the payoff can translate into years in prison.