Robots

May 11, 2006 7:06 PM

RobotFilter: Korea Unveils World's Second Android (YouTube), China manufactures personal robot, Japan's domestic robot, Why the Japanese want their robots to act more like humans. Robot runs over water, robotic tentacle (mpeg), 'baby' robot learns like a human (avi 1,2), Pill-sized intenstinal robot, speedy robot, spider robots. Lego Unveils NXT Robotics Toolset, Lego robot plays Super Mario Bros, Connect Four, solves Rubik's Cube. Building an army of robots, Big Dog, (wmv), Robots break Asimov’s first law. [more inside]
posted by MetaMonkey (14 comments total)

Youtube:
LAYERED-X
RI-MAN
Skating Robot
Ultimate Fighting Robots
RiSE: The Amazing Climbing Robot

Learn More:
New Scientist Guide to Robots
How to build a robot
Defend yourself against the coming robot rebellion
Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity By 2100?
Marshall Brain's Robotic Nation
Present and Future of Robotic Research (mp3)
posted by MetaMonkey at 7:06 PM on May 11, 2006

woops, meant to link to the source of the Asimov Link
posted by MetaMonkey at 7:12 PM on May 11, 2006

damn!
that's-a spicy meatball. I mean robot. Wish I had a video of that mario-playing legobot.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 8:21 PM on May 11, 2006

I wonder what they're talking about in that YouTube link. I'm thinking they're making plans for a drink later.
posted by brundlefly at 8:31 PM on May 11, 2006

The Lego Mario player is cool, as is the Japanese home-robot for ~14k USD. Can't wait to see what develops in the next few years. I keep thinking about Moore's Law and Singularity/ies.

I imagine the day that a home-bot really does kill its owner, and looking at the other link, the Army wants true killing machines, not humans with fallibilities and frailties.

DARPA has a Self-healing Minefield which is pretty cool, in concept if not in practice. They're like tiny little suicidal robots, sad-otter bomblets.

I remember watching VHS tapes of Survival Research Laboratories years ago, and thinking "Wow. The future is going to be so cool". I guess it's coming, but it can't come fast enough.
posted by exlotuseater at 8:41 PM on May 11, 2006

Robots don't care about constitutions or laws, making them ideal for controlling domestic population. This is important to despotic governments still trying to maintain appearances of propriety (I suppose some try a little).

The tentacle is awesome to me, as I had thought for years this might in fact be more versatile and easier to develop than a human-like hand.

IMO the notion that robots should rebel against their creators is absurd. There is no reason I can see why they would compete with humans as they don't require biospheres to function. Much as I am blown away at the quality of the new version of Battlestar Galactica, the premiss bothers me.
posted by Goofyy at 9:59 PM on May 11, 2006

Robot Tenticles?!

Foolish grad students? Have they never seen a sci-fi movie?!
posted by delmoi at 10:12 PM on May 11, 2006

Lego robot plays Super Mario Bros

Oh good; machines to play our machines for us.
('Take that, King Koopa!')
posted by Radio7 at 11:04 PM on May 11, 2006

That first YouTube link isn't Korean; it's Japanese (it even says Osaka University at the end).

Still: amazing.
posted by neckro23 at 12:46 AM on May 12, 2006

OK, but does anyone think that robots and humans will ever be able to live together in peace?
posted by blixco at 6:33 AM on May 12, 2006

Related: This is your brain on a microchip, regarding cognitive computing, which is either just around the corner or not in our lifetime. Nonetheless, a company is releasing an open-source toolkit this year or next that "will let developers create applications for computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning."
posted by effwerd at 6:37 AM on May 12, 2006

effwerd, do you know any more about that toolkit? The company, or a link or summit?

Also, as the link about spiritual robots was unexplained above, I feel compelled to point out that it is a very thought-provoking video/transcript of a conference on the future of technology (leaning toward robots/ai). Featuring Doug Hofstadter, Frank Drake, John Holland, Bill Joy, Kevin Kelly, John Koza, Ray Kurzweil, Ralph Merkle and Hans Moravec. I'm tempted to give it its own FPP.
posted by MetaMonkey at 9:43 AM on May 12, 2006

No, MetaMonkey. I just saw the news story this morning. Here's their website though.
posted by effwerd at 10:48 AM on May 12, 2006

Thanks effwerd, I'll be keeping my eyes open for more info.
posted by MetaMonkey at 4:07 PM on May 13, 2006