Since Dr Hinton's network shares features with the human visual system, it might be expected to share its failings, too.

ECONOMIST: Machine vision: Seeing is believing | The

That is similar to the way the human visual system works, with particular clusters of nerve cells in the brain adapted to respond to, say, horizontal lines, or to lines that run on diagonals.

ECONOMIST: Machine vision: Seeing is believing | The

The human visual system is pretty good.

FORBES: Teaching The iPhone To Drive: The Coming Singularity In Machine Vision

Although the artificial neural networks used in the research are much less complex than the human visual system, this simplicity helped the researchers to identify and further understand what they believe is a fundamental principle behind why we see illusion: the statistics of our past visual experiences.

CNN: Robots tricked by optical illusions

For this jump, the team also worked to create a new generation of space suit for better mobility and visual clarity, studied the effects on the human body of supersonic acceleration and deceleration, developed a new parachute system, and more.

FORBES: Out Of The Stratos: Investing In A Greater Good