innovationIOWA Weekly 8.30.18

Representatives from Tesla Motors visited with team members of Ruan Transportation Management Systems and several Ruan customers in Des Moines this week for a preview of Tesla’s electric-powered tractor-trailer. Ruan in January reserved five of the new semis for delivery and testing next year.

Prototypes of the semi have been traveling the country, making stops with key companies that have invested in the all-electric semis expected to be released in 2019. During the voyage, the trucks have been charged using Tesla’s existing network of Supercharger stations. Tesla expects a 300- or 500-mile range for the trucks, varying by model.

According to a release from Ruan, the 100 percent electric, battery-powered trucks boast impressive features that could allow them to outperform diesel-powered or hybrid models currently available. Among them are improved aerodynamics, a zero-to-60 mph speed of five seconds without load, and a 500-mile range per charge. According to Musk, a 400-mile range will be attainable with just a 30-minute charge from one of Tesla’s planned Megacharger stations.

"We are excited to have an opportunity to experience the new electric semis," said James Cade, vice president of Ruan fleet services. "The reservation of these vehicles is part of Ruan’s sustainability efforts and commitment to providing our customers and professional drivers with the best technology available."

Cade said that Ruan will continue to be involved with the team at Tesla Motors as they introduce the trucks to the market. "We will work with them directly to ensure the vehicles will serve us and our customers to the level we both expect."

By training, Zhu "Drew" Zhang is a computer scientist teaching at Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business. By enthusiasm, practice and dedication, Zhang is a bit of a self-taught linguistics expert.

It started when he moved from his hometown in northern China to school in southern China, where the difference in dialects was so dramatic he essentially learned a new language to function.

"I tried to mimic my dormmates, and they kept laughing at me for three weeks, but in a few months they stopped laughing," Zhang recalled. "There was motivation to speak the local language. I didn’t want to go shopping and need some local interpreter. … That was a very mundane life goal."

In the early 2000s, when Zhang moved to Michigan pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science, the daily chore of practicing English -- and a bit of chance -- pulled him toward a professor studying computer systems that answered questions. Issuing instructions to Siri on a smartphone was still a few years off.

"That particular goal was considered the holy grail of the entire computing community, broadly speaking," Zhang said. "There wasn’t anything close to what we have today, in terms of smartphones being able to do all kinds of things they do [today]."

Today, Zhang studies natural language processing, a discipline of artificial intelligence.

"Computers can’t quite speak human languages yet, but our research is trying to bring that dream closer," he said. "We want to make computers understand human language and speak human language."

The challenge, he said, is the ambiguity in human languages -- like paraphrasing.

"Computers are not built to handle ambiguity," Zhang said. "We have thousands of ways to say the same thing, ‘I love you’ or ‘I hate you.' As human beings, we’re extremely good at exploiting the subtlety of language."

Zhang is working with ISU doctoral student Amulya Gupta to develop computational models based on deep learning to improve accuracy and comprehension. Consumer product reviews offered a key insight opportunity for Zhang and Gupta’s computer subjects, and led to the development of a new model.

"We say, ‘Hey, here is a pair of paraphrases, find some patterns.’ ‘Here is a pair of non-paraphrases, find some patterns in it.’ At a very high level, that’s how that algorithm works," Zhang said. "It’s a machine-learning algorithm that is trained over a large number of sentence pairs. Half of those are paraphrases, half of those are not paraphrases."

The pair tested the model using 50,000 sample sentences, and found the algorithm to be 80 to 85 percent accurate at identifying patterns. Zhang and Gupta recently presented their research at the annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Australia.

Zhang’s goals have grown since he was grocery-shopping in a new town as a young student. Today, he believes the near-term challenges in his field will be building a computer capable of conversation in human language -- ambiguity and all.

"Computers are still quite bad at doing these things. We’re far from being there," Zhang said. But, "this line of tech has advanced quite a lot in the last five years."

IN THE NEWS

New wind farms planned for Sac and Ida counties
A Chicago-based developer plans to build two wind farms in northwest Iowa, reports Radio Iowa. Invenergy says the projects will include more than 80 turbines each in Sac and Ida counties. Both wind farms are designed to generate at least 200 megawatts of power. The company already operates facilities generating about 1,500 megawatts of wind energy in the state.

Future Ready Iowa Summit announced for Des Moines
Registration is now open for four additional Future Ready Iowa Regional Summits throughout the state, including Des Moines on Oct. 19. The daylong events bring together key stakeholders in education, business, economic development and community organizations to create local strategies for collaborating to address the shortage of skilled workers. Other new locations announced are Elkader, Iowa City-Cedar Rapids and the Cedar Valley region. The Des Moines summit will be held at the Hilton Des Moines Downtown. For more information about the summits and to register, click here.

By Kate Hayden | Staff Writer

#Winning.

Award-winners had plenty of opportunities for hashtags and Instagrams on Aug. 23 as the Social Media Club of Des Moines honored the best social media campaigns in the state, as judged by select national members of the Social Media Club. The Hashie Awards have been in Des Moines since 2014, and celebrate brand social media campaigns big and small.

"We’re really looking to recognize outstanding social media from the Des Moines area, but also greater Iowa," Jessie Brown, co-executive director of the Social Media Club board, said.

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BUSINESS RECORD CALENDAR
UPCOMING EVENTS

Sept. 5: Full Time Founders Meetup
Sometimes referred to as "group therapy for entrepreneurs" the Full Time Founders meetup is a chance for the people who are building companies in Central Iowa to talk directly with other founders about their experience. If you're working full time on your venture — whatever industry it's in — or have a side project that is earning revenue, you're invited to join us.
WHERE: Gravitate Coworking Downtown, 6-7:30 p.m.
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Sept. 10: University of Iowa Venture School
Master the startup process with our premier statewide Venture School, an innovative training program focused on real-world experimentation, customer discovery, and Lean LaunchPad methodologies. This program uses the official National Science Foundation I-Corps curriculum to help high-potential startups turn their ideas into reality.
WHERE: Des Moines or Cedar Falls
Read more

View our full calendar to see the latest curated business and community events, or suggest an event.

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