量子计算已经从理论阶段转变为实用阶段，在实施物理量子位时提出了艰巨的挑战，物理量子位受到周围环境的噪音。这些量子噪声在量子设备中无处不在，并在量子计算模型中产生不利影响，从而对其校正和缓解技术进行了广泛的研究。但是，这些量子声总是会提供缺点吗？我们通过提出一个称为量子噪声诱导的储层计算的框架来解决此问题，并表明某些抽象量子噪声模型可以诱导时间输入数据的有用信息处理功能。我们在几个典型的基准中证明了这种能力，并研究了信息处理能力，以阐明框架的处理机制和内存概况。我们通过在许多IBM量子处理器中实现框架，并通过模型分析获得了相似的特征内存配置文件来验证我们的观点。令人惊讶的是，随着量子设备的较高噪声水平和错误率，信息处理能力增加了。我们的研究为将有用的信息从量子计算机的噪音转移到更复杂的信息处理器上开辟了一条新的道路。

本文提出了一个新的语音转换（VC）任务，从人类语音到类似狗的语音，同时保留语言信息，作为人类到非人类生物语音转换（H2NH-VC）任务的一个例子。尽管大多数VC研究都涉及人类VC，但H2NH-VC旨在将人类的言论转变为非人类生物式的言语。非平行VC允许我们开发H2NH-VC，因为我们无法收集非人类生物说人类语言的并行数据集。在这项研究中，我们建议将狗用作非人类生物目标域的一个例子，并定义“像狗一样说话”任务。为了阐明“像狗一样说话”任务的可能性和特征，我们使用现有的代表性非平行VC方法进行了比较实验，以声学特征（Mel-Cepstral系数和MEL-SPECTROGINS），网络体系结构（五个不同的kernel- kernel--尺寸设置）和训练标准（基于差异自动编码器（VAE）基于对抗性网络）。最后，使用平均意见分数评估了转换后的声音：狗的声音，声音质量和可理解性以及字符错误率（CER）。该实验表明，梅尔光谱图的使用改善了转换后的语音的类似狗，而保留语言信息则具有挑战性。强调了H2NH-VC当前VC方法的挑战和局限性。

Generative models, particularly GANs, have been utilized for image editing. Although GAN-based methods perform well on generating reasonable contents aligned with the user's intentions, they struggle to strictly preserve the contents outside the editing region. To address this issue, we use diffusion models instead of GANs and propose a novel image-editing method, based on pixel-wise guidance. Specifically, we first train pixel-classifiers with few annotated data and then estimate the semantic segmentation map of a target image. Users then manipulate the map to instruct how the image is to be edited. The diffusion model generates an edited image via guidance by pixel-wise classifiers, such that the resultant image aligns with the manipulated map. As the guidance is conducted pixel-wise, the proposed method can create reasonable contents in the editing region while preserving the contents outside this region. The experimental results validate the advantages of the proposed method both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Off-policy evaluation (OPE) attempts to predict the performance of counterfactual policies using log data from a different policy. We extend its applicability by developing an OPE method for a class of both full support and deficient support logging policies in contextual-bandit settings. This class includes deterministic bandit (such as Upper Confidence Bound) as well as deterministic decision-making based on supervised and unsupervised learning. We prove that our method's prediction converges in probability to the true performance of a counterfactual policy as the sample size increases. We validate our method with experiments on partly and entirely deterministic logging policies. Finally, we apply it to evaluate coupon targeting policies by a major online platform and show how to improve the existing policy.

Artificial life is a research field studying what processes and properties define life, based on a multidisciplinary approach spanning the physical, natural and computational sciences. Artificial life aims to foster a comprehensive study of life beyond "life as we know it" and towards "life as it could be", with theoretical, synthetic and empirical models of the fundamental properties of living systems. While still a relatively young field, artificial life has flourished as an environment for researchers with different backgrounds, welcoming ideas and contributions from a wide range of subjects. Hybrid Life is an attempt to bring attention to some of the most recent developments within the artificial life community, rooted in more traditional artificial life studies but looking at new challenges emerging from interactions with other fields. In particular, Hybrid Life focuses on three complementary themes: 1) theories of systems and agents, 2) hybrid augmentation, with augmented architectures combining living and artificial systems, and 3) hybrid interactions among artificial and biological systems. After discussing some of the major sources of inspiration for these themes, we will focus on an overview of the works that appeared in Hybrid Life special sessions, hosted by the annual Artificial Life Conference between 2018 and 2022.

Vehicle routing problems and other combinatorial optimization problems have been approximately solved by reinforcement learning agents with policies based on encoder-decoder models with attention mechanisms. These techniques are of substantial interest but still cannot solve the complex routing problems that arise in a realistic setting which can have many trucks and complex requirements. With the aim of making reinforcement learning a viable technique for supply chain optimization, we develop new extensions to encoder-decoder models for vehicle routing that allow for complex supply chains using classical computing today and quantum computing in the future. We make two major generalizations. First, our model allows for routing problems with multiple trucks. Second, we move away from the simple requirement of having a truck deliver items from nodes to one special depot node, and instead allow for a complex tensor demand structure. We show how our model, even if trained only for a small number of trucks, can be embedded into a large supply chain to yield viable solutions.

Problem instances of a size suitable for practical applications are not likely to be addressed during the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) period with (almost) pure quantum algorithms. Hybrid classical-quantum algorithms have potential, however, to achieve good performance on much larger problem instances. We investigate one such hybrid algorithm on a problem of substantial importance: vehicle routing for supply chain logistics with multiple trucks and complex demand structure. We use reinforcement learning with neural networks with embedded quantum circuits. In such neural networks, projecting high-dimensional feature vectors down to smaller vectors is necessary to accommodate restrictions on the number of qubits of NISQ hardware. However, we use a multi-head attention mechanism where, even in classical machine learning, such projections are natural and desirable. We consider data from the truck routing logistics of a company in the automotive sector, and apply our methodology by decomposing into small teams of trucks, and we find results comparable to human truck assignment.

This study proposed a novel robotic gripper that can achieve grasping and infinite wrist twisting motions using a single actuator. The gripper is equipped with a differential gear mechanism that allows switching between the grasping and twisting motions according to the magnitude of the tip force applied to the finger. The grasping motion is activated when the tip force is below a set value, and the wrist twisting motion is activated when the tip force exceeds this value. "Twist grasping," a special grasping mode that allows the wrapping of a flexible thin object around the fingers of the gripper, can be achieved by the twisting motion. Twist grasping is effective for handling objects with flexible thin parts, such as laminated packaging pouches, that are difficult to grasp using conventional antipodal grasping. In this study, the gripper design is presented, and twist grasping is analyzed. The gripper performance is experimentally validated.

Robotic hands with soft surfaces can perform stable grasping, but the high friction of the soft surfaces makes it difficult to release objects, or to perform operations that require sliding. To solve this issue, we previously developed a contact area variable surface (CAVS), whose friction changed according to the load. However, only our fundamental results were previously presented, with detailed analyses not provided. In this study, we first investigated the CAVS friction anisotropy, and demonstrated that the longitudinal direction exhibited a larger ratio of friction change. Next, we proposed a sensible CAVS, capable of providing a variable-friction mechanism, and tested its sensing and control systems in operations requiring switching between sliding and stable-grasping modes. Friction sensing was performed using an embedded camera, and we developed a gripper using the sensible CAVS, considering the CAVS friction anisotropy. In CAVS, the low-friction mode corresponds to a small grasping force, while the high-friction mode corresponds to a greater grasping force. Therefore, by controlling only the friction mode, the gripper mode can be set to either the sliding or stable-grasping mode. Based on this feature, a methodology for controlling the contact mode was constructed. We demonstrated a manipulation involving sliding and stable grasping, and thus verified the efficacy of the developed sensible CAVS.

This letter proposes a novel single-fingered reconfigurable robotic gripper for grasping objects in narrow working spaces. The finger of the developed gripper realizes two configurations, namely, the insertion and grasping modes, using only a single motor. In the insertion mode, the finger assumes a thin shape such that it can insert its tip into a narrow space. The grasping mode of the finger is activated through a folding mechanism. Mode switching can be achieved in two ways: switching the mode actively by a motor, or combining passive rotation of the fingertip through contact with the support surface and active motorized construction of the claw. The latter approach is effective when it is unclear how much finger insertion is required for a specific task. The structure provides a simple control scheme. The performance of the proposed robotic gripper design and control methodology was experimentally evaluated. The minimum width of the insertion space required to grasp an object is 4 mm (1 mm, when using a strategy).