Νew Technologies and Innovation Development in Russia

Specialists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and multi-institutional collaborators have developed a technology to produce compacts from aluminum oxynitride (ALON). They've published their results in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering.

To obtain "transparent aluminum," researchers at the Institute of nuclear physics and engineering (INPhE) MEPhI applied the method of spark-plasma sintering. This is a new sintering process based on the modified method of hot pressing. In this case, electric current is passed directly through the mold and pressing billet, but not through an external heater. Very rapid heating is achieved by pulsed current for an extremely short work-cycle time.

"Among all present ceramics of medium density, aluminum oxynitride has a significantly high strength, comparable to that of YAG ((yttrium aluminum garnet) and cubic zirconia (stabilized zirconium oxide). Its toughness, which is the most important characteristic for armor protection, surpasses those of all transparent materials including quartz glass, fused quartz, spinel and leucosapphire," explains one of the authors of the publication, postgraduate student of INPhE Nikita Rubinkovskii.

Fans of Star Trek will recall that in the fourth movie, The Voyage Home, a material called "transparent aluminum" plays an important role in the story. Such materials have already been created and successfully used. It's four times stronger than aluminosilicate glass, and more scratch resistant. In addition, this material can withstand temperatures up to 2100 degree Celsius.

Currently, the penetrating power of small arms and small-caliber artillery forces the developers of protection equipment to improve the performance of armor materials and protective structures. This is especially true of transparent armor materials. Transparent polycrystalline ceramics is the most promising in this respect, in particular, ceramics based on aluminum oxynitride. It is possible to obtain transparent products of complex shape using the ceramics technology processes of molding and sintering.

The developers also claim that ALON can be used in several military and commercial applications, e.g., windows and domes for spacecraft and outer transparent armor.

miketheterrible wrote:http://marchmontnews.com/Industry-Manufacturing/Central-regions/21830-Russias-first-smart-factory-open-later-this-year-.html

Russia’s first “smart factory” to open later this year

Russia’s first “smart factory” is slated for launch by the end of this year in Rybinsk, in the Yaroslavl region north of Moscow. It will become a test range to fine-tune and commercialize domestic innovative solutions for industry which are expected to pave the way for developing a new model of industrial management in this country. The factory will be based at UEC – Gas Turbines, a large industrial company formerly known as Saturn and even earlier Rybinsk Engines.

As part of this test range project, IT solutions by Russian developers will be used to manufacture complex products, such as engine components. It is not another technopark where developers work separately from real industry, the project owners emphasized. It is going to be collaboration with UEC – Gas Turbines’ highly skilled staff, using well developed infrastructure.

All parts of the “smart factory” will be fully automated, turning the premises into a “Lego” kind of industrial site with all production lines easily upgradable and refocused. Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are at the heart of a self-contained system that will run all subsystems within the project. Management will be fully renovated, based on advanced product lifecycle management (PLM) approach that is expected to ensure integration with logistics and servicing centers, and provide feedback.

According to Dmitry Ivanov, UEC – Gas Turbines’ director for innovation, the test range project will cost a total of around $120m. It is expected that as many as 20 key technologies will have been polished and refined for industrial applications by the end of a starting three-year period. If fine-tuned properly, the technology solutions may be purchased by UEC – Gas Turbines.

Project Canada wrote:
Putin Reveals Who Will Be the Lord of the World

Russia's President Putin has revealed which technological sphere will determine the future leader of the world.

"Artificial intelligence is not only the future of Russia, but the future of all mankind. It holds both tremendous opportunities and is fraught with scarcely predictable dangers. Whoever takes the lead in this sphere will become Lord of the World," President Putin told Russian schoolchildren during an open lesson on their first day of the new school year.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201709011057000758-putin-schoolchildren-world-lord/

AlfaT8 wrote:

Project Canada wrote:
Putin Reveals Who Will Be the Lord of the World

Russia's President Putin has revealed which technological sphere will determine the future leader of the world.

"Artificial intelligence is not only the future of Russia, but the future of all mankind. It holds both tremendous opportunities and is fraught with scarcely predictable dangers. Whoever takes the lead in this sphere will become Lord of the World," President Putin told Russian schoolchildren during an open lesson on their first day of the new school year.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201709011057000758-putin-schoolchildren-world-lord/

Uhm... sound like he's simply trying to push kids into I.T, rather then some grand reveal.
Personally, i would have gone with space exploration.

Project Canada wrote:

AlfaT8 wrote:

Project Canada wrote:
Putin Reveals Who Will Be the Lord of the World

Russia's President Putin has revealed which technological sphere will determine the future leader of the world.

"Artificial intelligence is not only the future of Russia, but the future of all mankind. It holds both tremendous opportunities and is fraught with scarcely predictable dangers. Whoever takes the lead in this sphere will become Lord of the World," President Putin told Russian schoolchildren during an open lesson on their first day of the new school year.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201709011057000758-putin-schoolchildren-world-lord/

Uhm... sound like he's simply trying to push kids into I.T, rather then some grand reveal.
Personally, i would have gone with space exploration.

You have a good point, however at the moment Russia can't  completely  boast about space exploration  because 1) Angara rockets are still in early  development, 2) Construction  of Vostochny  is still in progress. Somewhere  down the road when Russia can launch manned flights to space from its territory  then Russia can start promoting  its space programs  more actively.

AlfaT8 wrote:

Project Canada wrote:

AlfaT8 wrote:

Project Canada wrote:
Putin Reveals Who Will Be the Lord of the World

Russia's President Putin has revealed which technological sphere will determine the future leader of the world.

"Artificial intelligence is not only the future of Russia, but the future of all mankind. It holds both tremendous opportunities and is fraught with scarcely predictable dangers. Whoever takes the lead in this sphere will become Lord of the World," President Putin told Russian schoolchildren during an open lesson on their first day of the new school year.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201709011057000758-putin-schoolchildren-world-lord/

Uhm... sound like he's simply trying to push kids into I.T, rather then some grand reveal.
Personally, i would have gone with space exploration.

You have a good point, however at the moment Russia can't  completely  boast about space exploration  because 1) Angara rockets are still in early  development, 2) Construction  of Vostochny  is still in progress. Somewhere  down the road when Russia can launch manned flights to space from its territory  then Russia can start promoting  its space programs  more actively.

Uhm.... that depends, how old are these kids, and how long will 1 and 2 be ready?
If the pic in the article is accurate, and these kids are already looking into there carrier choice, than your correct.

kvs wrote:I don't see any Russian disadvantage in the field of AI.    And it is not around the corner no matter the noise level
from clowns like Musk and even "respectables" like Hawking.    Aside from stapling standard quantum on a GR background,
(QM and GR are inconsistent on a fundamental level; the former demands a flat space-time.  Any talk you hear about
gravitons has nothing to do with GR but originates from field theory "approximations" from mostly the 1960s.  As of now
QM and GR have not been reconciled.)  Hawking has not contributed anything to AI so his future predictions are no more
valid than your next door neighbour.  

Artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a University of Cincinnati doctoral graduate was recently assessed by subject-matter expert and retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee - who holds extensive aerial combat experience as an instructor and Air Battle Manager with considerable fighter aircraft expertise - in a high-fidelity air combat simulator.
The artificial intelligence, dubbed ALPHA, was the victor in that simulated scenario, and according to Lee, is "the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic and credible AI I've seen to date."
And, anymore, when Lee flies against ALPHA in hours-long sessions that mimic real missions, "I go home feeling washed out. I'm tired, drained and mentally exhausted. This may be artificial intelligence, but it represents a real challenge."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-06-video-games-artificial-intelligence-tactical.html#jCp

miketheterrible wrote:It isn't all about the amount they invest in either. We also do have so little information on were exactly the funds are going to. Amazon doesn't invest that much, believe me. Their entire financial structure of investment is in data centers and distribution. I work for a particular competitor and I know what they invest in and what we invest in.  Don't be fooled into a lot of this technology because a huge portion of it is gimmicks that aren't as useful mixed in ridiculous amounts of marketing. What most people don't grasp, is how much marketing costs.

Russian universities hold competition every year in AI development and other software skills and this year they heals one using Elbrus based machines. Results were quite good. You don't need to shell out tons of money on something to expect results. Funny thing about that belief is that you need to. But it is what causes inflation and overall expensive toys (VR as example).

We will see the results eventually. I know Yandex really gets involved in AI development. Their new search engine structure is AI based, compared to Google analysts based.

Russia will become a leader in the implementation of blockchain technology, said the head of VEB.

"We are also in negotiations with "Rostelecom" and "Mail of Russia" on the possibility of using the blockchain," said Gorkov.

"No one knows how many Russia "mines", we have created a group on the level of the government of the Russian Federation on the introduction of the blockchain (headed by the first Vice-Premier of Russia Igor Shuvalov, ed.), this is not in any country of the world. I think that Russia can be a leader in 2018 by the introduction of blockchain technology" — said the head of VEB.

Blockchain system organization of distributed databases. This technology allows to significantly optimize the costs of corporate and public governance.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:It isn't all about the amount they invest in either. We also do have so little information on were exactly the funds are going to. Amazon doesn't invest that much, believe me. Their entire financial structure of investment is in data centers and distribution. I work for a particular competitor and I know what they invest in and what we invest in.  Don't be fooled into a lot of this technology because a huge portion of it is gimmicks that aren't as useful mixed in ridiculous amounts of marketing. What most people don't grasp, is how much marketing costs.

Russian universities hold competition every year in AI development and other software skills and this year they heals one using Elbrus based machines. Results were quite good. You don't need to shell out tons of money on something to expect results. Funny thing about that belief is that you need to. But it is what causes inflation and overall expensive toys (VR as example).

We will see the results eventually. I know Yandex really gets involved in AI development. Their new search engine structure is AI based, compared to Google analysts based.

dont get me wrong I am big fan of Russia competing in AI market. But for this skills are not enough.  Money is that counts too. Even if Russian startup comes with brilliant innovation then what? who is gonna pour 60 Billions of Rubles in scaling up? This is where  I see the problem.

Yandex  sure (Alisa if you are not sure what it is ask her has around 1 BLn USD turnover.  CISCO alone invests 5bln in R&D, Google 11 BLN and Amazon around 15 bln... Here is the problem. I hope that with Russia on govt level will keep pace of investments




Companies that can do this are fairly small in Russia and this must be either state or state funding via banks.


BTW Amazon - doubles R&D staff both in Berlin and London this year.  Is there any place in Russia where 1000 scientists work on AI in one place?

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-16/amazon-isn-t-just-spending-big-bucks-on-groceries

miketheterrible wrote: you really don't know what your talking about. I have to work in the analysts field, and I can tell you, that you are reading too much business news and not realising what is going on.  Trust me, we don't invest as much as you think into these specific fields. Companies do investments if they know they will get a return. They don't do it for shits and giggles. So these are specifics. Company I work for is investing large sums for automation and AI. Not exactly how you may think though.
.

miketheterrible wrote:
Ill give you an example. US universities have budgets 100x that of Russia, yet, they lose out to Russian students most of the time in international academic competitions.
.

miketheterrible wrote:  Why I used yandex as example is they have done a lot more than Google did in shorter period of time with significantly less budget.  Its an example everyone should follow.

miketheterrible wrote:Yandex growth is far more in shorter years than Google's start did.

miketheterrible wrote: Same with use of AI as I mentioned. Drones and the rest is nothing, no need for you to even compare since that is amateur talk.  
Hardware isn't even made by any of the companies you posted. Hardware is purchased elsewhere and then made into something else.

miketheterrible wrote: You can lie to yourself all you want on this importance, but all you are comparing to are simple commercial projects what you think is AI, isn't. The only companies actually involved in it are companies like Gooogle, Yandex, Facebook and alike. Even then, for commercial use and isn't true AI anyway.  I wish I could tell you who I work for, but then it becomes simple to round down to who I am for others in same company and that's a no no. But essentially, our AI development isn't real AI. But on market and paper, it is. Sorters are example of said AI.

PapaDragon wrote:
Vann will shit his bed  

Russia Rolls Out Its Own VR Helmets

https://sputniknews.com/science/201709111057289957-russia-virtual-reality-helmets/


Company site:
http://deusvr.ru/

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

Actually in area of AI and financing  I do not from press:) .  Not sure about your assumptions but as for AI there is no need to argue. I am saying that Russia does not have now a mechanism to scale up startups like stock exchange and investment funds in US or support of state for commercial enterprises like China.

It is not enough to be smart you need money to implement and market your idea to product right? You have successful startup but your competitors got 10x financing guess who will win? It does not matter that much if your spending is optimal or not if your investments are greater by order or 2 orders of magnitude.