Unit IX. Future trends

1. Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.


LESSON 27: Artificial intelligence
HOME TASK.
Appendix 1. Introduction to AI. Video
W atch a video and make notes on the history of AI
1._________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________
4._________________________________________________
5._________________________________________________
APPENDIX 2. READING.
Complete the article with words from A part of the text
ACTION ROBOT TO COPY HUMAN BRAIN
Scientists at Aberystwyth University are working on a machine which they hope will recognize objects with cameras that will work as (1)___________________, and retrieve objects with an arm that will be its (2)__________________________.
Although the arm will have (3)_____________________ that will link its muscles and an electric motor that will be the (4)_______________________, this new (5)________________
won’t move like a human, i.e.it won’t be like the (6)_____________________ of science-fiction films: forget Star Wars’ C3PO. It will be desk based:no walking, or climbing stairs.
The team hopes to discover how the brain performs ‘multi-tasking’ and to use that information to develop the (7)_______________________ to create a robot that can think for itself.
APPENDIX 3.
Write about AI history based on the video.


LESSON 28: Smart-homes
HOME TASK.
Task 1. Read the text answer the questions below.
‘Smart‘ homes not far away
Picture this scenario: is a Friday night in the middle of winter and you are driving to your holiday home in the mountains for the weekend. On your way there, you send your second residence a text message which will activate the heating, so the place is nice and warm by the time you arrive. Your main residence, meanwhile, may be vacant, but you can send it an SMS to turn the lights on and off a few times, giving the impression to potential burglars that someone is there. You can also monitor what is happening inside the house on your mobile phone – cameras inside the house will send real-time images direct to your phone. If disaster strikes, and the washing machine leaks while you are not there, your house is so clever that it will automatically turn off the water at the mains and alert you that a plumber may need calling.
Sounds far-fetched? For one family of four, these are the capabilities their home already has. They are living in an Eneo labs show home outside Barcelone.
Javier Zamora, manager of Eneo Labs, says that in as little as two years many of us will be enjoying these features. He explains that smart homes have two main components: an; information network’, which is like a human body’s nervous system in that all devices inside the house are connected to it; and a ‘brain’, which coordinates what is inside the home and connects it to what goes on outside. He says that in the future the house will respond to voice commands.