Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
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Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#2Excerpt:
A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet.
Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
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The article describes a bit about the role the AI is playing, and Heliogen didn't seem to me to have used "AI" as a buzzword
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#3Excerpt: A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. ===== The article describes a bit about the role the AI is pl…
I fundamentally cannot perceive where AI plays a role. Isn't it just a solvable geometry problem?
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#4Excerpt: A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. ===== The article describes a bit about the role the AI is pl…
I fundamentally cannot perceive where AI plays a role. Isn't it just a solvable geometry problem?
Later in the article computer vision and edge detection is mentioned... But I also feel this is more like a traditional control problem rather than ai.
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#5Excerpt: A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. ===== The article describes a bit about the role the AI is pl…
How does this compare to, for example, https://www.promes.cnrs.fr/index.php?page=concentrateurs-sol... (3000°C)? I personally visited one such site in Southern France more than 30 years ago.
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#6Excerpt: A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. ===== The article describes a bit about the role the AI is pl…
I fundamentally cannot perceive where AI plays a role. Isn't it just a solvable geometry problem?
"Heliogen uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection and other sophisticated technology to train a field of mirrors to reflect solar beams to one single spot."
In principle I think you are right, but that would mean for each plant you build you need the exact position of each mirror, the oven chamber and the motion of the sun through the day and year. I think the "AI" approach scales better, as it is rather simple "AI" application.
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#7Excerpt: A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. ===== The article describes a bit about the role the AI is pl…
This was posted on HN before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21573694
Animats gave a nice summary [1] of the Vox article [2] that went into some detail. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21580596 [2] https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/11/19/20970252/c...
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fundamentally cannot perceive where AI plays a role. Isn't it just a solvable geometry problem?
Later in the article computer vision and edge detection is mentioned... But I also feel this is more like a traditional control problem rather than ai.
Yeah, the use of "AI" terminology is dubious here. They've replaced aiming via a pre-loaded ephemeris with a system that actually aims the reflected light by looking at where the light is ending up after being reflected and adjusting accordingly. There may be some machine learning going on in the sensing, but this feels an awful lot like basic feedback loop automation.
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#9Excerpt: A secretive startup backed by Bill Gates has achieved a solar breakthrough aimed at saving the planet. Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius. ===== The article describes a bit about the role the AI is pl…
How does this compare to, for example, https://www.promes.cnrs.fr/index.php?page=concentrateurs-sol... (3000°C)? I personally visited one such site in Southern France more than 30 years ago.
That's a research/materials testing facility. Heliogen is aiming for industrial applications which means it has to scale more cheaply than a bespoke installation.
Re: Heliogen, backed by Gates, says it has achieved a solar breakthrough
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fundamentally cannot perceive where AI plays a role. Isn't it just a solvable geometry problem?
"Heliogen uses computer vision software, automatic edge detection and other sophisticated technology to train a field of mirrors to reflect solar beams to one single spot." In principle I think you are right, but that would mean for each plant you build you need the exact position of each mirror, the oven chamber and the motion of the sun through the day and year. I think the "AI" approach scales better, as it is rat…
wouldn't just giving all of the mirrors survey quality GPS do the same. you'd be able to then just have them work out the angles as it relates to them and the target.
It doesn't really seems like and AI problem.