Comments on: Science at work

Science at work

cmicali — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:05:05 -0800

Touch-Sensitive Cyborg

By: cmicali

cmicali — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:06:44 -0800

... or 80s porno film? I almost labeled this NSFW... maybe we still should?

By: found missing

found missing — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:10:09 -0800

touch sensitive cyborg Is that what the kids are calling it nowadays?

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:12:50 -0800

The embedded advertising links on that page are creepy, and seem totally random.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:20:08 -0800

Is it touch sensitive or does it sense where people are in relation to it? From the article it appears to react to movements around it but not necessarily to touch on it. This is a great idea though, robots and robotics should be aware of their surroundings so that they can not inadvertently whollop people.

By: cmicali

cmicali — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:22:27 -0800

Yeah fenriq I wasn't able to figure that out. It talks about touch-sensitive skin in the whole article and the video demo is more proximity sensing than touch. It did say the sensors are infra-red though so it probably can detect objects at some distance (ie it's not pressure sensitive).

By: Derive the Hamiltonian of...

Derive the Hamiltonian of... — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:56:46 -0800

Cyborg: A human who has certain physiological processes aided or controlled by mechanical or electronic devices. This thing is a robot, unless I missed the portion of the article stating it has organic components. Nitpicking aside, this is very interesting technology.

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:00:24 -0800

Does that mean that an amputee with an artificial limb is a cyborg?

By: Derive the Hamiltonian of...

Derive the Hamiltonian of... — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:08:40 -0800

I would say so. Read the wikipedia article on cyborgs I linked in my first comment for that debate.

By: wanderingmind

wanderingmind — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:41:09 -0800

I'd say yes, Alumshubby. Also - this is pretty cool. I can't wait to see actual prostheses using this technology, especially once it's combined with the research being done on direct mental control of machinery as if it were extra limbs - I can't recall the cite on this, but they've managed to get monkeys to control virtual "limbs" on a computer screen using nothing but their own minds. So - prehensile tail, anyone?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 13:16:42 -0800

For use in sex toys in 3....2...1...

By: Derive the Hamiltonian of...

Derive the Hamiltonian of... — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 13:52:58 -0800

It will be really cool when the ability to manufacture thin flexible sheets of material with a dense embedded grid of electronic cells leads to adaptive camouflage. On the subject of cyborgs and adaptive camoflauge, I highly recommend the Ghost in the Shell movies and series for all your cyborg, A.I., and human augmentation/artificial evolution related philosophy and ass kicking needs.

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 15:08:31 -0800

what a hunk of junk.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 15:13:45 -0800

what a hunk of junk She'll make .5 past light speed. It's fast enough for you, old man. This cyborg, it vib.... nah, I'm not going there.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 15:46:35 -0800

The ballerina wasn't much more graceful than the robotic arm. I hear when not being filmed dancing with clunky yellow doohickeys, she can be seen at auto shows prancing around Volvos.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:35:53 -0800

Isn't this how we ended up with Doctor Octopus? Man and machines should not be allowed to mate.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 19:44:45 -0800

As fenriq says, a robot that knows what skin feels like would be a robot that doesn't squish people. Hey, now I can wait for a rat-brained, fly eating robot with skin!

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:23:27 -0800

The robot looks like a giant yellow penis. This is stupid. The door at my local grocery store gets out of the way when I step in front of it. I'm not impressed. And that hot chick didn't even take her top off.

By: Admiral Haddock

Admiral Haddock — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 21:27:46 -0800

I for one welcome our robot overlords. In other news, wasn't it just the past couple of days that a hospital robot in San Francisco went berserk? When will we ever learn not to meddle in God's domain (assuming that God makes robots)?

By: Meccabilly

Meccabilly — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 02:36:40 -0800

It looks like a retarded Dalek to me. It also somehow seemed to appear irritated by the annoying dancing woman, "Stop it! Go away! Stop trying to touch me!"

By: Meccabilly

Meccabilly — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 02:36:58 -0800

Maybe just me...

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:11:51 -0800

Mark 13 - no flesh shall be spared. As a feedback system, this would be fantastic for diving. Your computer could feel the pressure on the hull and detect metal fatigue, etc. All sorts of nifty spin off applications on this.