Monthly Archives: March 2022

unwinding at the end of the day, with a nice hot bath may have more benefits than you think. A new study published in the medical journal Heart found that taking a hot bath may lower your risk of death from heart disease or stroke. Researchers collected data from more than 61,000 adults ages 40 to 59 with no history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. In japan, they found a lower risk of heart disease and lower risk of stroke among men and women who took a hot bath daily compared with participants who took a hot bath once or twice a week or none at all. Typical Japanese baths involved people soaking up to their necks in water that is up to 107 F, according to Market Watch. This helps because you're forced to take deeper breaths when you're immersed up to your neck. Plus hot water can increase body temperature. Heart rate and blood flow like exercise can hot baths also relieve muscle aches and soreness. That said, this isn't for everyone. Hot baths or saunas can cause heat strokes and are also dangerous for pregnant women, especially during their first trimester, according to health line. Before you try heat therapy, you should consult your doctor

Two servings of fatty fruit per week can reduce risk of heart attack, study says

Updated: 6:28 AM CDT Mar 30, 2022

Eating avocados reduced the risk of heart attacks in both men and women, including when eaten in place of butter, cheese or processed meats, a new study found.Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer worldwide, taking nearly 18 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease takes a life every 36 seconds.Eating at least two servings of avocado a week reduced the risk of having a heart attack by 21% when compared to avoiding or rarely eating avocados. However, there was not an equivalent benefit in reducing the risk for stroke, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.A serving of avocado, which is a fruit, was defined as " avocado or cup of avocado, which roughly weighs 80 grams," said study author Lorena Pacheco, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston."Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits," said Cheryl Anderson, chair of the American Heart Association's Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, in a statement. Anderson was not involved in the study."We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet that are rich in vegetables and fruits," said Anderson, who is also professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.Long-term studyThe study followed more than 68,000 women and 41,000 men who were enrolled in two long-term government studies on risk factors for chronic disease: the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the studies and completed dietary questionnaires every four years over a 30-year period.In addition to looking at the overall impact of eating avocados, researchers did statistical modeling and found consuming half a serving of avocado ( cup) a day instead of the same amount of eggs, yogurt, cheese, margarine, butter or processed meats (such as bacon) lowered the risk of heart attacks by 16% to 22%."The full benefit of routine avocado consumption observed here derives from swapping avocado into the diet, and less healthful foods out," said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study.However, the study did not find a difference in risk reduction when a half-serving of avocado was replaced with an equivalent serving of nuts, olive and other plant oils. That makes sense, Katz said, because the health benefits are dependent on what food is replaced."If, for instance, the common swap were between avocado and walnuts or almonds, the health effects would likely be negligible since the foods have similar nutritional properties and expected health effects," said Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine.But if the avocado replaced butter and margarine as a spread, or was eaten instead of processed meats or cheese on a sandwich, "the nutritional distinctions are sizable" and would be expected to change the health outcome, he added.Although avocados are "particularly rich sources of monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and fiber," they can also be pricey and therefore not readily available to all, Katz said. Similar substitutes could include walnuts, almonds, olives, olive oil and a variety of seeds such as pumpkin and flax, he said.Other foods to include that have major health benefits at "much lower price points," include beans, chickpeas and lentils, "and perhaps whole grains and related seeds like quinoa," Katz said.Preventing heart diseasePreventing heart disease means keeping your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, getting plenty of good-quality sleep and regular exercise, managing stress, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco use, and eating a healthy diet lower in sugar, processed foods and saturated fats, according to the National Library of Medicine.The American Heart Association says your body needs fat to boost energy, protect organs, produce hormones and help with nutrient absorption. However, fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the heart-healthy choices. Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sesame oil are sources of monounsaturated fats, along with avocados, peanut butter and many nuts and seeds.Saturated fat and trans fats raise levels of LDL, known as "bad cholesterol," the AHA said. Saturated fats, such as butter, are typically solid at room temperature and are found in full-fat dairy products, eggs, coconut and palm oils, and fatty cuts of beef, pork and skin-on poultry.Artificially made trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils, raise bad LDL cholesterol and lower good HDL cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Those can often be found in "fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, stick margarines and other spreads," according to the AHA.

Eating avocados reduced the risk of heart attacks in both men and women, including when eaten in place of butter, cheese or processed meats, a new study found.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer worldwide, taking nearly 18 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease takes a life every 36 seconds.

Eating at least two servings of avocado a week reduced the risk of having a heart attack by 21% when compared to avoiding or rarely eating avocados. However, there was not an equivalent benefit in reducing the risk for stroke, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

A serving of avocado, which is a fruit, was defined as " avocado or cup of avocado, which roughly weighs 80 grams," said study author Lorena Pacheco, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

"Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits," said Cheryl Anderson, chair of the American Heart Association's Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, in a statement. Anderson was not involved in the study.

"We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet that are rich in vegetables and fruits," said Anderson, who is also professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.

The study followed more than 68,000 women and 41,000 men who were enrolled in two long-term government studies on risk factors for chronic disease: the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the studies and completed dietary questionnaires every four years over a 30-year period.

In addition to looking at the overall impact of eating avocados, researchers did statistical modeling and found consuming half a serving of avocado ( cup) a day instead of the same amount of eggs, yogurt, cheese, margarine, butter or processed meats (such as bacon) lowered the risk of heart attacks by 16% to 22%.

"The full benefit of routine avocado consumption observed here derives from swapping avocado into the diet, and less healthful foods out," said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study.

However, the study did not find a difference in risk reduction when a half-serving of avocado was replaced with an equivalent serving of nuts, olive and other plant oils. That makes sense, Katz said, because the health benefits are dependent on what food is replaced.

"If, for instance, the common swap were between avocado and walnuts or almonds, the health effects would likely be negligible since the foods have similar nutritional properties and expected health effects," said Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine.

But if the avocado replaced butter and margarine as a spread, or was eaten instead of processed meats or cheese on a sandwich, "the nutritional distinctions are sizable" and would be expected to change the health outcome, he added.

Although avocados are "particularly rich sources of monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and fiber," they can also be pricey and therefore not readily available to all, Katz said. Similar substitutes could include walnuts, almonds, olives, olive oil and a variety of seeds such as pumpkin and flax, he said.

Other foods to include that have major health benefits at "much lower price points," include beans, chickpeas and lentils, "and perhaps whole grains and related seeds like quinoa," Katz said.

Preventing heart disease means keeping your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, getting plenty of good-quality sleep and regular exercise, managing stress, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco use, and eating a healthy diet lower in sugar, processed foods and saturated fats, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The American Heart Association says your body needs fat to boost energy, protect organs, produce hormones and help with nutrient absorption. However, fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the heart-healthy choices. Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sesame oil are sources of monounsaturated fats, along with avocados, peanut butter and many nuts and seeds.

Saturated fat and trans fats raise levels of LDL, known as "bad cholesterol," the AHA said. Saturated fats, such as butter, are typically solid at room temperature and are found in full-fat dairy products, eggs, coconut and palm oils, and fatty cuts of beef, pork and skin-on poultry.

Artificially made trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils, raise bad LDL cholesterol and lower good HDL cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Those can often be found in "fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, stick margarines and other spreads," according to the AHA.

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Two servings of fatty fruit per week can reduce risk of heart attack, study says - WAPT Jackson

Our mission is to improve mobility and quality of life through research, education and clinical excellence.

Gardner Orthopedics and Shalby Advanced Technologies recently announced an Indo-US collaboration to form Advanced Orthopedic Centers of Excellence at Shelby Hospitals in India and Shalby Orthopedic Centers of Excellence in Fort Myers and across India.

The team will conduct educational seminars for medical engineering professionals to advance knowledge transfer between India and the US. Short-term traveling fellowships between the two countries will provide direct experience at the surgical centers pioneering new learning and training tools.

IML research findings will be presented in November 2022 at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

About The Institute for Mobility and Longevity: Established in 1987 by Dr. W. Andrew Hodge, IML is a world-wide not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Fort Myers, FL dedicated to improving mobility and the quality of life through orthopedic research, injury prevention, human motion studies, education and patient centered treatment.

About Gardner Orthopedics: Gardner Orthopedics in Fort Myers, Florida, is dedicated to educating and treating adult patients with orthopedic needs. The medical staff is led by Ronald Gardner, MD, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in orthopedic surgeries and sports medicine.

About Shalby Advanced Technologies:Shalby Advanced Technologies is a subsidiary of Shalby Limited, established by Dr. Vikram Shah in 1994 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which operates 11 multispecialty hospitals across India with more than 2,000 hospital beds. Shalby commands 15 percent market share of organized joint replacement surgeries in India.

URL:https://institute-mobility-longevity.org

SOURCE The Institute for Mobility and Longevity

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The Institute for Mobility and Longevity Partners with Indo-US Collaboration to Pioneer Orthopedic Research and Education - PR Newswire

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 29, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Homicide, opioid overdose, and suicide contribute to the widening life expectancy gap between the U.S. and other wealthy countries. Negative Population Growth, Inc's newly published Forum paper, titled: Life Expectancy Drives U.S. and World Population Growth, by Edwin S. Rubenstein, explains the nuances of population growth in tandem with life expectancy. With such a large scope at hand, Rubenstein starts with comparisons between the 1918 flu and the COVID-19 pandemic before discussing the many contributing factors that tie into the world's Total Fertility Rate, the history of life expectancy, and possible outcomes in the future.

Beginning his narrative with data covering the 1918 influenza pandemic, Rubenstein compels readers to look critically at the differences between the 1918 flu and the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with how many deaths occurred during each worldwide scenario. "The best estimates," he shares, "suggest as many as 100 million people died from the Spanish Flu that eventually circled the world. To put that in context, as of January 14th, 2022, 5.5 million people have died from all COVID variants, on a planet with four times as many people." During the 1918 flu life-expectancy "plunged by 12 years, from 51 in 1917 to 39 in 1918," before returning to pre-pandemic life-expectancy estimates in 1919.

Rubenstein then zeros in on the different factors that play into life expectancy in the U.S., sharing that opioid overdoses, suicide, homicide, and infant mortality are causes of death that affect young people (which, in turn, dramatically affect life expectancy trends). Expanding to include the world in his analysis, Rubenstein highlights another part of the life expectancy equation: the impact of the Total Fertility Rate (TFR). He illustrates the significance of its impact with an example, sharing: "Even slight changes per woman translates to around 500 million more individuals on the planet in 2100." Rubenstein tells readers the population will peak, decline, and stabilize in the future, noting: "World population will likely peak at 9.7 billion in 2064, and then decline to about 8.8 billion by 2100 about 2 billion lower than the latest UN projection."

Touching on life expectancy history, Rubenstein notes that data was not collected on the subject until the 1600s, fueled by the curious elite. Then, the smallpox vaccine allows everyone to live longer lives until industrialization develops and negatively affects human health. Along with industrialization came the prevalence of another lethal blow to young lives: milk. It would take decades for widespread acceptance of pasteurized milk to take hold in the early 1920s. Soon after the advancement of milk processing, science confirms that chlorine (in microscopic doses) in water eliminates water-borne diseases. By the 1950s, there was safe milk, clean water, and vaccines for the most lethal diseases all positive gains for human health and longevity.

At this point, another critical medicine was added to our collective human arsenal: penicillin. "This antibiotic," Rubenstein states, "triggered a revolution in human healthThe mass production of antibiotics, the Green Revolution, the rise of international health organizations lifted global life expectancy especially in the world's poorest countries." Given this wide birth of positive outcomes (longer life expectancy) over the last 100 years, Rubenstein points to what can only be called the elephant in the room, saying: "the last century was marked by nearly unbroken increases in life expectancy. This century may not be as kind. The problem is human population growth." Rubenstein ends with a concise quote from journalist Steven Johnson: "All those brilliant solutions we engineered to reduce or eliminate threats like smallpox created a new, higher-level threat: ourselves. Many of the key problems we now face as a species are second-order effects of reduced mortalityRunaway population growth and the environmental crisis it has helped produce should remind us that continued advances in life expectancy are not inevitable."

Founded in 1972, NPG is a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to educating the American public and political leaders regarding the damaging effects of population growth. We believe that our nation is already vastly overpopulated in terms of the long-range carrying capacity of its resources and environment. NPG advocates the adoption of its Proposed National Population Policy, with the goal of eventually stabilizing U.S. population at a sustainable level far lower than today's. We do not simply identify the problems we propose solutions. For more information, visit our website at NPG.org, follow us on Facebook @NegativePopulationGrowth or follow us on Twitter @npg_org.

Media Contact

Craig Lewis, Negative Population Growth, 703-370-9510, media@npg.org

SOURCE Negative Population Growth

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New NPG Forum Paper Chronicles the Ebb and Flow of Life Expectancy - 69News WFMZ-TV

From trading floor to digital finances

According to the World Bank, in 1979 the total volume of securities trading was just over $600 billion. Ten years later, in 1989, it was ten times higher. The absolute record was set in 2015, when the stock market turnover exceeded $100 trillion.

The advent of the age of finance was spurred by tech solutions. The digitalization of this industry started somewhere in the early 1970s, when the Nasdaq stock exchange began operations in the United States, running entirely on a computer network. By the early 1990s, more than 40% of all transactions were made using online tools.

Thats when the first trading platforms popular among investors appeared, such as Globex or E-Trade. They provided access to stock market data and had all the instruments required for trading. However, registration with them proved a convoluted process, and serious skills were required to use them effectively.

Stock trading was still the turf of a relatively small percentage of people. However, the number of users on trading platforms grew at a rate comparable to the spread of the Internet. Though the 2000s came with two hard hitting financial crises, they demonstrated that the interest in stock investments among ordinary people would only grow.

Mobile app the main portal to stock market

The breakthrough for investment technologies came after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, with a staggering and unprecedented amount of liquidity inflows into the U.S. stock market. Stock prices soared, as did the popularity of investments themselves.

Reuters feature sums up the results of 2020 for the stock market. According to the agency, the share of retail investors in the total volume of securities trading increased to more than 25%, from 17%. The total number of accounts of the six largest brokerage firms in the U.S. (Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, Webull, Robinhood, Interactive Brokers) exceeded 100 million.

One of the above companies, Robinhood, should be grabbing your attention now. The company was founded in 2014 and, unlike the old brokers, its business model targeted retail investors from the outset. Not surprisingly, Robinhood got a fair share of the market pie after the massive influx of retail investors.

Robinhoods flagship product is an app with the simplest possible interface. It takes all the hassle out of the stock trading process and is made easy even for those who had no previous trading experience at all.

The companys bet on the growing retail trading segment proved the right strategy. If Robinhood had nearly 500,000 users in 2015, its customer base swelled to 13 million and 22.5 million by 2020 and 2021 respectively. This is how just one mobile app led a revolution in stock trading.

Why venture investments are not about startups anymore

But the stock markets cheerful statistics makes the equally important sphere, the private equity market, take a back seat. In recent years it has also transformed from a narrow segment into a large-scale phenomenon. Lets take, for example, the VC space.

The VC activity is many times higher than before. According to Pitchbook, the number of deals with VC involved increased to 15,500 in 2021, from 3,400 in 2006. The total amount of funding raised by companies from VC funds in 2021 reached a record of $330 billion. The previous record was set in 2020 ($166.6 billion).

By 2021, the share of mega-deals, rounds totaling more than $50 million, had increased significantly, to 83% of the total volume of VC investments. In 2006, this number was only 26.8%. Also in 2021, the number of deals with later-stage private companies grew by 47%, accounting mostly for these mega-deals

The US now has many more unicorns private companies valued at $1 billion or more 340 in 2021 versus 100 in 2020. That same year Crunchbase for the first time recorded more than 1,000 unicorn companies in the world.

What does this tell you? The perception of VC as risky investments in unreliable startups is outdated. Today, VC investments are more often investments in stable and mature businesses.

And, as practice demonstrates, sooner or later such companies go public. Massive interest in private companies that go public is indicated by the number of IPOs: in 2020, according to Nasdaq, companies held 464 initial public offerings, leveling with 2000. And in 2021, the United States saw an all-time record for the number of IPOs: 958.

Portfolio from private companies on your smartphone

The private equity market has become larger and more dynamic, and retail investors are no longer afraid of investing in private companies. This trend is supported by the growing popularity of equity crowdfunding, which has changed the approach to innovation funding. Mobile services have already emerged in this segment, allowing businesses to raise funds from private investors.

According to Pitchbook, investments in large private companies, such as Chime, SpaceX, and Impossible Foods, are gaining popularity at a much slower pace. The traditions of venture capital funds are still strong here that have individual capitalists assemble their small funds and invite a narrow circle of private investors to invest.

However, this market will soon be swept by new technologies capable of making private equity investments as easy and accessible to ordinary investors as possible. Apparently, it will again take the form of a mobile app. B2B platform Forge Global has already announced its intentions to create such a product. In August 2021, Y Combinator financed Aqua, a young platform for venture investments. And in early March 2022, Dizraptor, one of the first private equity mobile apps, became available on AppStore and Google Play. v

According to Dmitry Belousov, CEO of Dizraptor, private disruptive companies are key to investors today:

Weve been trading on the stock market for 15 years and investing in technologies that will be trending tomorrow. A few years ago we changed our focus from stock markets to private markets, and its already paying off.

We are seeing huge interest from investors in getting private equity recently. But the services through which they can invest are so complex they are basically accessible only to professionals. This is a false limitation: today, regulations allow at least accredited investors to invest in private equity only in the US alone, according to the SEC, their number exceeded 16 million in 2019.

So we created a mobile app where you can build a portfolio from stocks in such companies as Impossible Foods, Calm, Neuralink or StoreDot. We select companies from approximately 30 disruptive industries.

We estimate the total market size for industries such as foodtech, edtech, space, synbio, remote jobs, cancer diagnostics, human longevity, creator economy and metaverse will increase by 7.5x between 2021 and 2030. According to Ark Invests Big Ideas for 2030, the overall Disruptive Innovation Technologies market will grow from $14T today to $210T in 2030 a growth of 15x in 10 years.

VC is still the engine of innovative companies. Previously, VC interests were limited to the IT sector, but today they invest in companies introducing new technologies in medicine, engineering, robotics, biology and even space. These companies remain private for longer, and it is increasingly easier for them to raise large capital, as shown by the rising number of unicorns.

The activity on the private equity market will continue to grow. Granted, those who will be among the first to get a handle on new investment services will win. Now it is important to try and compare whats out there: Dizraptor app can be downloaded already now, while you should also be looking at other apps to come. If you are investor, dont miss the coming trend.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.

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Why the arrival of retail investors in VC market is the next big thing - Coin Rivet

(TNS) In a low-light Culver City, Calif., control room, Lily Shaw is getting her pilot mood on.

A can of mint Guayaki Yerba Mate sits near her carefully manicured fingers. Good jams to get pumped from alt rock band Slothrust blast on her earbuds. Horn-rimmed, blue-light filtering glasses protect her eyes. Her favored chartreuse Xbox controller stands ready to command her laptop.

Shaw is set for her mission: piloting an order of burritos and doughnuts along Santa Monica sidewalks to a hungry customer.

For all their AI and other advanced technology, such sidewalk robots suddenly all over certain neighborhoods and college campuses are backed by armies of human minders who track the last-mile delivery vehicles the way parents hover over toddlers taking their first steps. These behind-the-scenes workers monitor, drive, troubleshoot, rescue and when things go terribly wrong may hop on a bike or scooter to complete the delivery themselves.

California has become a proving ground for several sidewalk delivery robot startups like Coco, which was born two years ago in the living room of UCLA alumni Zach Rash and Brad Squicciarini, both now 24 and riding a pandemic-related desire for contact-free delivery. A recent partnership with Segway is promising to unleash thousands of the pink vehicles in multiple cities.

This off-road race to compete with Uber Eats, DoorDash and other delivery companies that rely on gig workers is hindered by currently available self-driving technology, not to mention gaping sidewalk cracks. But its getting a big assist from the shortage of people willing to take gig-delivery work for the money offered.

Theres a huge demand for delivery to peoples homes. Unfortunately there is a shortage of drivers for most types of delivery, says Satyandra K. Gupta, director of USCs Center for Advanced Manufacturing.

The demand for drivers cannot be met at a cost that businesses are willing to pay. So the only option out of this is basically doing delivery by robots, Gupta says.

Building a truly autonomous vehicle is definitely a work in progress.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has adopted a six-point standard for driving autonomy that applies to self-driving cars on public roads as well as 2-foot-tall delivery robots on sidewalks.

The scale starts at zero, where the vehicle must be human-controlled at all times, like Cocos delivery bots. The scale tops out at level 5, where the vehicle drives itself and can go anywhere under all conditions. Thats what carmakers and Alphabets Waymo are striving for with self-driving passenger vehicles and freight delivery trucks.

Starship Technologies bots land at level 4. Chief Executive Alastair Westgarth says the robots can find their way along most routes and can even climb curbs. Human intervention comes into play only when the bot finds something it doesnt expect or when mayhem ensues.

Despite the Internets collection of bots getting into hilarious trouble, the delivery companies all note that the low-mass, low-speed vehicles are designed with safety in mind and have operated without serious harm to people or property.

Say it finds a piece of construction equipment that wasnt there before. Its not on the maps. The robot doesnt recognize it, Westgarth says.

At first, the bot will assess the situation on its own.

If it knows a way around that obstruction, even if it doesnt know what the obstruction is, it will do that by itself, Westgarth says. If it cannot figure that out, it calls home. A human, who had been watching the bot remotely, takes over.

Still, some obstacles take a long time to master. Trains, for instance. Starships bots were completely flummoxed by things first blocking the way and then suddenly gone.

A train could be half a mile long and to the robot, it looks like a wall, Westgarth says.

We had to figure out algorithms for the radar to give us a continuous velocity read, also allow us to identify the wheels. Then we could build the logic: Its a train. Youre going to be waiting for a while. Wait for an indication that the train is gone, see if anything else is in the way and then, it can cross. The system learns.

Each Starship bot comes equipped with six wheels, an AMD Ryzen processor, radar, cameras, lights, speakers that allow the bot to talk and an illuminated flag on a pole, which makes the vehicle more visible as it navigates across roads and among pedestrians. The bot voice and flag also help amplify the cute factor, like a cartoon character crossed with a grade-schoolers souped-up bike.

Being adorable isnt just a marketing tactic, its an integral part of the companies efforts to increase acceptance and ensure the little vehicles safety from human ire. Robot designers have added features that allow the vehicles to communicate with pedestrians using LED screens, pre-recorded messages and emoji-like eyes.

Online videos show robot rescuers having emotional reactions when Starship bots respond with a chipper Thank you. Have a nice day! People wave. Children follow them down the street.

Although the robots friendly appearance is what customers recall, their creation involves serious science.

You have a mixture of artists, engineers, operations people, businesspeople working in tandem, just so you can see a robot deliver a burrito, which I think is pretty fascinating, says Kiwibot co-founder David Rodriguez, 28, who first tested the companys remote piloting technology in 2017 at the UC Berkeley Sky Deck Acceleration Program using a Hot Wheels-size vehicle.

Although sidewalk delivery was boosted by pandemic lockdown orders, the businesses like to highlight how bots help reduce pollution and climate change.

Rash and his Coco co-founder are avid surfers who, tired of all the trash theyd see on the water, wanted to do something that might help the environment.

It was a little depressing to think that the future was going to involve 4,000-pound, 3,000-pound cars driving in circles a couple blocks all day, every day just to deliver food, Rash says.

Back at Cocos Culver City office, Lily Shaw is piloting a delivery from Alfalfa, a Santa Monica restaurant. Co-owner Dan Londono says he was attracted by the time savings.

One of the key benefits is speed, as we are able to send the food out to our nearby customers in the Coco robots as soon as the order is ready and not wait for drivers to arrive, he says.

Despite the pandemics Great Resignation and resulting worker shortage, Coco has managed to create enthusiasm within a largely untapped workforce: Generation Z. The companys young squadron of about 150 pilots dubbed Coconauts offers something parents around the world have told their teens not to expect in real life: a paying job with experience playing racing video games listed as a requirement.

As a Coconaut, youll join an elite team: the pilots of our remotely-operated robot fleet, Cocos standard pilot job listing says. Once youve completed a brief training, you can enter your virtual robot cockpit, accept jobs, and deliver items to our customers. Get paid to drive robots!

But theres a catch. Leave your urban mayhem Grand Theft Auto techniques at the door. Coconauts must drive their robots carefully and responsibly.

Cocos remote pilots earn more than U.S. minimum wage, Rash says, declining to be more specific.

Kiwibots drivers might work in foreign countries, earning less than U.S. minimum wage. That ignited a brief controversy at UC Berkeley, the Daily Californian reported in 2019, because students were concerned Kiwibot pilots in Colombia were earning the equivalent of $2 an hour, which a company representative said was higher than Colombias minimum wage.

One trick to piloting is getting used to the viewpoint about the height of a small dog. Shaws four video cameras show humans as giants and bigger canines as hippo-size. People rushing past look as if they are going to run right over the bot. Sidewalk signs appear as tank barricades. Swinging doors look like a glass building is suddenly coming at you.

Ive driven through worse, shrugs Shaw, untroubled, except, maybe, for those doors. Someone will open them just as Im passing by and they could get me, she says, speaking as if she were the bot. Youve got to be careful.

Before they start piloting, Coco workers receive 30 hours of paid training, something that was essential for Shaw, who is one of the few pilots without a console gaming background. She was a little nervous at first but began playing video games in her off hours and when I did that, I noticed that I was definitely becoming more skilled at piloting bots.

Most of the other pilots are like Cole Green, 21, a gamer who rivals Tom Brady for sport longevity. Green, who is studying sociology at Santa Monica College, has been playing on XBox since he was 7. In effect, hes had an apprenticeship for bot controlling that has lasted two-thirds of his life.

The gaming made it much easier for me, I already knew about how to handle lags in the timing and how to react and what to do, Green says. The gaming is definitely harder than piloting the bots.

Coco pilot trainer Max Lopez drills in the basics: Always stop at driveways. Always defer to pedestrians. If there is a crowd approaching, just back off to the side and let them pass. And be prepared when children and dogs take a keen interest in the bot.

Sometimes, its more than a keen interest.

The biggest obstructions are people trying to take selfies with the bots, says Carl Hansen, Cocos vice president of government relations.

YouTube brims with videos of people trying to prank or harm bots. One shows kids on scooters zooming ahead of a bot and laying down the scooters in its path, just to see the bot maneuver around the obstacle.

Ive had that happen to me, Shaw says, doing the bot meld thing again.

Shaw likes that its a job she is allowed to do from anywhere. The pay is enough to be comfortable, especially for a student.

Thats really nice, she says. My parents are thrilled that Im earning money doing this.

2022 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Who Drives the Food Delivery Bot When Something Goes Wrong? - Government Technology