Category: News & Events

While most of the time we try to write the best code possible, every once in a while we take a break and recharge ourselves. This week we had the best reason to leave the crowded city – to grant magical wishes and enrich the lives of children from Ticu village.

Children’s wishes are so creative and inspiring that it`s impossible to keep up with them. This year, we worked together with World Vision Romania foundation in their “Letters to Santa” campaign. After the amazing experience from September, we were determined to become Santa`s helpers for the same children. They wrote letters to Santa Claus and, because they are such good kids, we did our best to fulfill their wishes.

Caroling with our little friends

Just like in many other villages from the countryside, in Ticu people are facing the lack of jobs, while their children need to understand that Santa will not visit them. Because of the shortcomings, for these children, the holidays go unnoticed most of the times. But not this year! This year, each member from AXON Soft team got involved and made this Christmas special for them.

With dozens of gifts, lots of clothes, toys, and sweets, we packed ourselves and went to Ticu. Happy and curious, the children were waiting for us with lots of smiles, songs, and carols. They let us in their little world and showed us what happiness is all about. Together, we laughed, sang and opened gifts.

Helping people less fortunate

For our team, this event was a great way to feel the Christmas spirit and we are thankful to our friends from World Vision Romania who helped us accomplish this activity. Unfortunately, in the countryside, there are thousands of children that need winter clothes and booths. Help them out and accept the #mergdescult challenge. Find out more about it here: https://worldvision.ro/mergdescult/.

Gartner, the world’s leading research and advisory company, identified the top strategic technology trends for the year ahead. These trends refer to the ones with innovative potential that will make a difference in the next years and will change the IT industry as we know it.

 

 

 

Autonomous Things

The top technology trend highlighted by Gartner refers to “Autonomous Things”. Robots, drones and autonomous vehicles are performing better and better thanks to the “brain” provided by AI. As this technology is improving, with multiple devices working together, either independently of people or with human input, according to David Cearley, vice president, and Gartner Fellow. In 2019 we expect to see a bigger range of autonomous capabilities, autonomous, intelligent and coordinated physical and virtual things.

Augmented Analytics

Another trend is “Augmented Analytics”,  understood as the use of machine learning to transform how analytics content is developed, consumed, and shared. According to Gartner, the augmented analytics will advance through mainstream adoption in 2019.

Augmented Analytics will optimize decisions and actions of all employees within their context, not just those of analysts and data scientists. Through 2020, Gartner says the number of citizen data scientists will grow five times faster than the number of expert data scientists.

AI-Driven Development

The Augmented Developer and the Automated Developer is expected to operate alone using predefined models delivered as a service. By 2022, Gartner predicts that 40% of new application development projects will include AI co-developers in the development team.

Digital Twins

Digital twins, or digital representations of real-world entities or systems, has been a growing trend due to the explosion of IoT. According to Gartner, in the next two years, there will be more than 20 billion connected sensors and endpoints and digital twins will exist for potentially billions of things. Digital twins will help drive efficiencies in business processes, as well as create more flexible, dynamic and responsive processes that can potentially react to changing conditions automatically.

Empowered Edge

The fifth trend refers to edge computing and cloud computing as complementary concepts, in which information processing, and content collection and delivery, are placed closer to these endpoints. The empower edge also refers to exploiting advanced capabilities at the edge and communicating to the edge, since the 5G matures.

Immersive Experience

The sixth trend, Immersive Experience, is all about how humans interact with the digital world. How we perceive the digital world is changing, is all about VR and AR, and how it can help increase productivity. It`s also about how we interact with the digital world – smart speakers, chatbots, and things like this, creating customer service agents and not only. This combined shift will lead to the future immersive user experience.

Blockchain

The blockchain is a distributed ledger has a key value proposition that promises to reduce business friction and technology friction. This technology provides an alternative trust mode and removes the need for central authorities in arbitrating transactions.

“Current blockchain technologies and concepts are immature, poorly understood and unproven in mission-critical, at-scale business operations. This is particularly so with the complex elements that support more sophisticated scenarios. Despite the challenges, the significant potential for disruption means CIOs and IT leaders should begin evaluating blockchain, even if they don’t aggressively adopt the technologies in the next few years”, explains David Cearley.

Smart Spaces

Smart Spaces is about creating environments, bringing technology and trends together. Advanced digital workplaces, connected factories or smart cities are all included in this trend. In the future, smart spaces will create a more immersive, interactive and automated experience.

Digital Ethics and Privacy

Just because we can do something with AI doesn`t mean that we should. As the world becomes increasingly digital, ethics and privacy is a growing concern for everyone. The ninth trend implies a growing focus on compliance and values in the coming years.

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is a type of computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory, which explains the nature and behavior of energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level. The parallel execution and exponential scalability of quantum computers mean they excel with problems too complex for a traditional approach. According to Gartner, quantum computing has the potential to solve problems in chemistry, material science and other areas that are impossible to solve today.

These are the trends for 2019 presented by Gartner, which are considered a key ingredient in driving a continuous innovation process. Read more about their report here.

The future where robots help humans in daily jobs and their everyday lives is not so far away anymore. We are facing the man and machine times, and robots already work in sectors such as industry, education, healthcare, service and so on. We are living in an amazing burst of innovation and we can already see robots that tidy up a room, deliver items around offices or, more impressive, mind control robotic arm.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come a long way from just being a buzzword and became a key competitive advantage for most businesses. New breakthroughs in AI are driving robotics even further. Driverless cars, cognitive surgical robotics, assistive exoskeletons are just a very few examples of what`s going on in the robotics industry, the only field that`s growing faster than expected.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, global industrial robot sales doubled over the past five years. “The new World Robotics Report shows that a new record high of 381,000 units was shipped globally in 2017 – an increase of 30 percent compared to the previous year. This means that the annual sales volume of industrial robots increased by 114 percent over the last five years (2013-2017). The sales value increased by 21 percent compared to 2016 to a new peak of US$16.2 billion in 2017”, shows their latest press release.

The developing of extremely complex, independent and revolutionary humanoid robots is evolving faster than ever. The newly developed systems are aimed to bring efficiency, to help in difficult or risky tasks, or solve hazardous problems. Without aiming to cover every industry or sector, AXON Soft is presenting you a couple of breakthroughs that are already changing the world as we know it.

The future is here

Boston Dynamics prides itself with building machines that both break boundaries and work in the real world. And, for sure, they make a worldwide impression. A couple of weeks ago, the company launched a video showing the new features of Atlas, their most agile and advanced humanoid robot. The latest video shows Atlas performing parkour tricks.

“The control software uses the whole body including legs, arms, and torso, to marshal the energy and strength for jumping over the log and leaping up the steps without breaking its pace.  (Step height 40 cm.)  Atlas uses computer vision to locate itself with respect to visible markers on the approach to hit the terrain accurately”. the video’s description states.

More recently, they posted a video with Spot, a small four-legged robot dancing. The robot that twerks and looks back conquered the Internet with almost 5 million views in three weeks.

Breakthroughs in healthcare

Robots make a great difference in healthcare. They improve patient care, reduce costs and waste, and offer levels of measurability and traceability that no human being could achieve. Healthcare robots are transforming the medical act as we know it. Minimally invasive procedures are taken for granted by most of us, although a couple of years ago they didn`t even exist. But innovation doesn’t stop here. Prosthetics have advanced in recent years.  At the beginning of 2018, Johnny Matheny became the first person to live with a mind-controlled robotic arm. Johnny Matheny, who lost his arm to cancer in 2005, is testing the $120-million prosthetic developed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. Through this year, he learned to play the piano with his mind-controlled robotic arm.

Exploring polar regions of the Moon

LUVMI is a small lightweight rover, being designed to explore polar regions of the Moon. An international consortium of 5 partners from science and space industry have come together to design LUVMI – Space Applications Services (Belgium), The Open University (UK), Dynamic Imaging Analytics (UK), Technical University of Munich (Germany) and OHB System AG (Germany).

“LUVMI is a lightweight, low-cost alternative weighing no more than 40kg. It will be able to analyze rock samples faster than a conventional rover and with less contamination”, states on their website.

The system consists of a mobile payload support platform that can carry a number of instruments for the analysis of the lunar pole environment and it will drive into a Permanently Shadowed Region (PSR), believed to hold vast stores of water.

Let`s get social

SoftBank robots like Pepper or NAO already conquered the audience with their friendliness and positive attitude. They are being used in all kind of services, from tourism to finance or education and their applications are unlimited.

All barriers are questioned by the limitless possibilities offered by AI. For instance, reinventing traditional footwear with connected sneakers that integrate wearable technology is just one of the kick starters that got our attention. Hardware and software technologies are engineered directly into the shoe itself, creating an interactive Smartshoe that is constantly evaluating and providing you with personalized feedback regarding health, smart connectivity and so on.  Not surprisingly, the Smartshoe includes auto-lacing, temperature regulation with heating, and more.

At AXON Soft we believe that investing in local youth by providing meaningful educational experiences is a must. Events like the open day or visits in the field are becoming more and more popular in our company. Last week, we were happy to welcome the team that represented our county in the National Olympiad of Computer Science.

Right from the beginning, we must point out what an amazing team represented Cluj to the National Olympiad of Computer Science. They proved integrity, persistence, optimism, and an enormous desire to work together and create an impact. Each one of these young people has impressed us in their own unique way and it was our pleasure to get to know each other and share our thoughts about our mutual passion – IT.

Impressive young people

We’re committed to empowering the next generation of IT leaders and we are happy to see that both high school students and university ones already know that in order to succeed they need to work hard and be up to date with the latest trends. Although they were young students, they keep an eye on the latest technologies, are interested in new approaches, and are eager to learn new things every day. Together, we`ve talked about the rating from the TIOBE Programming Community, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each programming language and helped them understand why it is so important to have their skills up to date.

The Olympians also had the chance to talk to our interns and to understand better what an internship is all about and why is so important to work together, as a team, to achieve the best results.

During the whole day, the interactions between the two generations were filled with optimism, and we are confident that what they’ve learned from each other and from their inspiring work will help all of them to gain even more skills for their own future. We wish them all to never stopped the pursuit of a better version of themselves, and to find motivation and inspiration in every experience that life will bring them.

The 59th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the largest and most prestigious of all of the international Olympiads for pre-college students, came to an end. Over 600 contestants from 116 countries did their best to solve 6 problems in 2 contest days. In the end, 289 gold, silver and bronze medals were given to the winners.

Besides mathematics and medals, IMO 2018 has meant thousands of new friendships and experiences. More than 100 countries from 5 continents participated in the 58th IMO, the oldest and most prestigious international scientific competition for high-school students.  The best team result was obtained, in order, by USA (212 points, 5 gold medals, and a silver medal), Russia (201 points, 5 gold medals, and a silver medal) and China (199 points, 4 gold medals and 2 silver one). On the fourth place was the team of Ukraine (196 points, 4 gold medals, and 2 silver ones) and on the fifth place was Thailand (183 points, 3 gold medals, and 3 silver ones). The full results are public and you can also check them here.

The Closing Ceremony

Photo Credit: IMO Cluj-Napoca 2018

James Lin, part of US delegation, the best young mathematician from the world

James Lin obtained the maximal score at the 58th edition of the IMO. His score was 42, meaning 7 points for each of the six problems. This way, James obtained the first position in the individual ranking out of 615 contestants.

Romania won the 33rd position

Romanian Olympic team obtained a golden medal, a silver one, two bronze medals and two honorable mentions, and holds the 33rd position in the overall ranking. Individually, the team members obtained the following results:

Andrei Nicolae (31 points, gold medal), Ciprian Mircea Bonciocat (30 points, silver medal), Edis Memiş (22 points, bronze medal), Mihnea Gabriel Doica (21 points, bronze), while Antonie Ciocan (15 points) and Radu Alexandru Iacob (10 points) obtained honorable mentions.

All of us at AXON Soft congratulate the mathletes for their dedication, hard work, and great result. We believe that brilliant minds will build a better future and we will continue to support and empower people willing to reach their potential.

Next year, the UK will host the 59th edition of IMO. Geoff Smith, the President of the IMO board, will be in charge of organizing the world’s largest math contest for high school students in Bath.