adamjcook

@adamjcook@mastodon.social

Engineer focused on #Robotics, #ControlSystems, #SystemsSafety, #Manufacturing and #Simulation. #ManufacturingOpen Contributor. #Purdue Engineering alum. Living in #Detroit. He/Him.
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adamjcook, to random

One of the major misconceptions with systems is that they are an "AI".

But they are not.

They are systems.

Such systems carry additional burdens that are foreign to more consumer/business-level systems - in particular, the need to exhaustively quantify "the unseen" through objective analysis.

It is something that, most notably, fails to recognize with respect to their program, likely by design.

Let's explore two examples.

adamjcook,

Observe the clip below.

This is an untrained human driver operating a vehicle with active.

The partial automated vehicle, to the excitement of the human driver, appears to successfully negotiate a "Michigan Left" turn at almost the same time that the traffic light turns from red to green.

Why do I say "appears to"?

Can you see it?

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxP9qC0JIE0F0eAf4eO5wh1OsYg-BsdmWW

adamjcook,

So.

One of the major, ahem, "selling points" of 's program is that untrained human drivers are providing massive, rich "training data" to enhance the reliability of the total Tesla fleet.

These untrained human drivers are able to provide feedback, both manually via on-screen buttons and recently by voice note if the human driver "disengages" the automated system.

Additionally, according to Tesla, the system can send data back to Tesla automatically after a disengagement event.

adamjcook,

The human driver, in the clip above, did not disengage the automated system.

But the human driver also asked no questions of the larger systems-level context of this maneuver!

Here is an important question - assuming that the traffic light remained red, would this automated have stopped or have been able to stop in time?

You might have an opinion on that.

I have an opinion on that.

This human driver in the clip might have an opinion on that.

Who is right?

adamjcook,

That is the importance of, in this case, maintaining a robust systems safety lifecycle and, for the human test drivers, a robust Safety Management System.

That is, the human test drivers are continuously read into the broader systems aspects of the vehicle under test.

Maintaining such a system converts would-be subjective opinions like the above (which have no technical or safety value) into objective analyses that creates quantifiable reliability progress.

adamjcook,

But maintaining such a process is extremely costly and cannot be productized - both being priorities for and .

Therefore, it is not done.

Besides the clear lack of technical value, the danger here is obvious.

With partial automated driving systems (like ), where the human driver is the fallback, the experience shown in the clip above constructs complacency.

That is, a past, possibly coincidental maneuver that appeared successful is not so "lucky" the next time.

adamjcook,

Let us look at a different scenario that receives a similar reaction from the human driver.

This -active vehicle also appears to successfully execute a left turn past two (2) lanes of oncoming traffic.

Can you identify any potentially "unseen", systems-level components here?

A video of a Tesla vehicle with the FSD Beta partial automated driving system active. The vehicle is being operated at night under some light rain conditions. The is a human driver in the front driver's seat and there appears to be a passenger in the front passenger's seat. The FSD Beta-active vehicle, towards the end of the video, executes a left turn past two (2) lanes of oncoming traffic. The oncoming traffic is stopped due to a traffic light ahead from their perspective and the stopped traffic makes a gap that allows the FSD Beta-active vehicle to complete its turn past them.

adamjcook,

Hmm.

What if the furthest oncoming traffic lane (the lane closest the curb) had high-speed traffic instead of slow-moving traffic in this scenario?

Would the FSD Beta-active vehicle have been able to sufficiently capture the necessary physical situation before committing to the left hand turn?

Note how the vehicle in the furthest lane only appears on the visualization on the vehicle HMI after the vehicles in the closest lane move out of the way...

Very crucial questions here.

adamjcook,

What can be established here?

The should-be validation process for this automated vehicle is being totally deprived of crucial, objective analyses.

No amount of automated training can replace that.

Simulated environments?

Even the best, closed-loop simulations have significant domain gaps.

No, what is necessary is exhaustive, physical and controlled testing and validation to ask these questions continuously.

Training and simulations are tools to aid validation - not validation itself.

adamjcook,

The term "safety" is tossed around quite a bit by Musk, by Tesla and by these untrained human drivers.

But a complete assessment of safety is not only what is seen (the -active vehicle did not appear to collide with anything), but of the potential, future unhandled failure modes that are unseen.

That is the only pathway of progress, the only pathway towards a continuously safe system.

Anything else, like what is happening with the FSD Beta program, is just goofing around.

adamjcook, to fediverse

Hello everyone in the !

A quick ...

My name is Adam Cook and my primary interests include , , and .

I am also very passionate about and - as such, I am working on a personal project called ManufacturingOpen which I hope to reveal soon.

I recently moved from to after 4 years - mostly to go once again.

Lastly, I am a to Tiggy and Benny, as pictured!

adamjcook,

@jeremiak Sure thing.

I live in Downtown Detroit which helps to go quite a bit since, for the time being, the city is cut up by highways (although there are serious plans moving forward to deal with that).

I work from home which helps quite a bit too.

Grocery shopping is a bit of trek still, as the nearest full-line grocery store is about a 1-1/2 mile walk. I do not mind it at all personally since I like the exercise.

Still, we could use a grocery store in the core downtown area.

adamjcook,

@jeremiak Sadly, regional rail is not a thing in - instead, there is an extensive network of buses (perhaps unsurprisingly for The Motor City).

That remains a sore point.

But, on the other hand, I live right next to the Rosa Parks Transit Center which is the downtown hub for the regional bus network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks_Transit_Center

If I need to go to as far as from Downtown , there is a dedicated bus service that is currently under trial: https://d2a2.com/

adamjcook,

@jeremiak The Q-Line, an inter-city light rail line, was recently launched. That helps connect the Downtown area to the northern areas of Midtown and New Center.

That is a free service and I take that often.

We also have an elevated, "People Mover" automated train that loops around the core downtown area. Unfortunately, though, the People Mover fare system is perplexingly not integrated into the other Detroit-based transit options - relying on coins and tokens.

adamjcook,

@jeremiak I was thinking about getting a bike, but for the time being, I feel strongly that I can walk pretty comfortably to just about everything.

That said, seems to be investing significantly in bike-dedicated greenways and trails that should further connect the core downtown area to other neighborhoods in the north.

adamjcook,

@jeremiak All the entertainment and restaurants one could want are in walking distance of downtown, as well as, every major -area sports venue.

All of this was quite impractical or simply unavailable when I lived in Downtown - and I was forced to get a car.

And I hate driving immensely. :P

AndieS, to random

🌱
💜
👊

adamjcook,

@AndieS Visiting a pig sanctuary was a real eye-opener for me.

(I had visited this one several times when I lived in : https://www.news-journal.com/features/lifestyle/oinkin-oasis-in-gilmer-provides-haven-for-unwanted-former-pet-pigs/article_a02cc3f6-45f7-11e9-850a-3fbeda1aa6af.html)

Pigs are clearly intelligent and highly-sociable animals.

since 2018. 💪

alexwild, to space
@alexwild@mastodon.online avatar

I personally don't find this acceptable.

https://futurism.com/wildlife-starship-explosion

adamjcook,

@notsoloud @alexwild I guess I did not follow this SpaceX project close enough...

What in the hell were they thinking in launching this enormous rocket without a flame diverter and water deluge system?

Rhetorical question, perhaps.

mimsical, to random
@mimsical@mastodon.social avatar

my eyes just rolled so far back into my skull that I can see my optic nerves

adamjcook,

@voron @futurebird @mimsical This is very true.

But these Musk lies have cost lives avoidably.

And they continue to do so.

adamjcook,

@voron @futurebird @mimsical Very true.

w7voa, to internet
@w7voa@journa.host avatar

removes labels describing international media organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated, including those under authoritarian control in , and .

image/png
image/png

adamjcook,

@lampsofgold @w7voa Yup.

I am getting that all over the place today when I try to look at a Twitter link.

adamjcook,

@north_easton @w7voa I am guessing that the argument has shifted now in Musk's mind... that NPR, for example, has the same state editorial interference as the People's Daily in China.

It is an absurd notion, but just another reason why legitimate news organizations need to dump Twitter ASAP.

Plus, Musk has significant business interests in China and that the CCP desired this outcome and relayed it to Musk cannot be ruled out.

chrisoffner3d, to random

Getting vibes from the demo. Interesting tech but so overhyped ($241 million raised so far) that it'll be hard to meet the expectations they've raised.

https://twitter.com/raywongy/status/1649306669921234948

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/founded-apple-vets-startup-humane-121051495.html

video/mp4

adamjcook,

@chrisoffner3d Yeah...

So this device is pinned onto the user's clothing? Hmm.

I guess... my thinking with these product form factors has always been that it is tough hill to climb to compete with a smartphone. A smartphone just strikes the perfect balance of availability, ease-of-use and size.

I would potentially only see a huge step change if Magic Leap's initial product goals were remotely realized (AR glasses that are almost indistinguishable from corrective eye glasses).

adamjcook, to random

Lists do not work if the intended recipient is based in another country, right?

Say, the Amazon List was "created" in amazon.co.uk, but I have a US Amazon account...

Not sure if that is true or not, but I thought that Amazon Lists used to just allow you to purchase an item for the recipient - no other questions asked.

However, in my case, it is asking for my delivery address - which does not seem to make any sense.

I do not want it delivered to me. I want it delivered to the charity.

TheHardyBoyCats, to animals
@TheHardyBoyCats@tooters.org avatar

Clean sheets!! 🙀🎉😸🐾

adamjcook,

@TheHardyBoyCats That is one happy cat! 🎉

CrackedWindscreen, to random
@CrackedWindscreen@mastodon.online avatar

Stop using AI to create content, you utter scumbags. This is despicable on so many labels. All involved should hang their heads in shame and be taken to the legal cleaners.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/65333115

adamjcook,

@CrackedWindscreen Just when one thought that the world could not get any more synthetic via technology...

danyork, to space
@danyork@mastodon.social avatar

LAUNCH DAY 🧵! 🚀 This morning I'll be right there with so many other fans watching what happens in Texas with the launch of SpaceX's - the largest rocket ever built.

Current news from SpaceX is launch target of 8:20 CDT (UTC-5), which is about an hour from now.

They say a livestream will start "45 minutes before" launch.

Will it launch successfully? Will it reach orbit? Will it blow up?

Live stream (soon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5QXreqOrTA

I'll add replies in a thread 🧵...

adamjcook,

@danyork It appeared to me that 6, maybe 7 of the Raptor engines failed to start on the pad or failed in-flight prior to the spin.

Indeed though. Congrats to the SpaceX team.

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