Comments on: Robots

Robots

MetaMonkey — Thu, 11 May 2006 19:06:05 -0800

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]

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Thu, 11 May 2006 19:06:25 -0800

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)

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Thu, 11 May 2006 19:12:18 -0800

woops, meant to link to the source of the Asimov Link

By: BlackLeotardFront

BlackLeotardFront — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:21:53 -0800

damn! that's-a spicy meatball. I mean robot. Wish I had a video of that mario-playing legobot.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:31:10 -0800

I wonder what they're talking about in that YouTube link. I'm thinking they're making plans for a drink later.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:41:26 -0800

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.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 11 May 2006 21:59:52 -0800

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.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 11 May 2006 22:12:52 -0800

Robot Tenticles?! Foolish grad students? Have they never seen a sci-fi movie?!

By: Radio7

Radio7 — Thu, 11 May 2006 23:04:24 -0800

Lego robot plays Super Mario Bros Oh good; machines to play our machines for us. ('Take that, King Koopa!')

By: neckro23

neckro23 — Fri, 12 May 2006 00:46:28 -0800

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

By: blixco

blixco — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:33:49 -0800

OK, but does anyone think that robots and humans will ever be able to live together in peace?

By: effwerd

effwerd — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:37:48 -0800

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."

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Fri, 12 May 2006 09:43:44 -0800

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.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Fri, 12 May 2006 10:48:14 -0800

No, MetaMonkey. I just saw the news story this morning. Here's their website though.

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Sat, 13 May 2006 16:07:19 -0800

Thanks effwerd, I'll be keeping my eyes open for more info.