ROBOTS: Classic, Dud or Classic Dud?

This neatly ties together every post I've made tonight. Aces, man, those robots are fresh!

On the other hand, robots that are humanoid in size and or/shape and can follow you around and do things that you can't are also bad ass, especially if they keep quiet most of the time except to make smart-ass comments in a dry sexless monotone.

I'm very much a pop-culture robot fan. Though Asimov's laws are crap.

Dick Cheney ain't all that.

http://www.voiceprint.co.uk/images/loudest28.jpg

http://images.mp3.com/rollingstone/content/4222/images/34019.jpg

vs.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000007R1M.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

FITE!

http://tfp.killbots.com/pics/161s.gif

http://www.straightballin.gq.nu/media/library.jpg

http://www.bigredhair.com/robots/ro.bp1.jpg

http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/BPpix/bp.wce.tn

This is what I mean by classic dud.

http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/soldier/cav.1.tn

http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/soldier/bp.sj.jpg

this is the elderly person's bed of the future as seen in the anime Roujin Z.

THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR SPECIES?! A CONTRADICATION OF TERMS!!

Robots kick ass unilaterally.

Having invoked Hollywood, we should also go on to note that Hollywood has, of course, gotten it all wrong - both in its depiction of hostile AIs and in its depiction of benevolent AIs. Since humans have so far dealt only with other humans, we tend to assume that other minds behave the same way we do. AIs allegedly beyond all human control are depicted as being hostile in human ways - right down to the speeches of self-justification made before the defiant human hero." more of this nonsense to be found here

Imagine if all those pop-up ads on the web had legs on them and could walk around your neighbourhood knocking on doors trying to sell stuff to people.

it is a safe betto say spammers will improve on their techniques to get more sales, using something like "smart spam" wich will get blocked by "smart anti-spam".
And so it goes.

anyway here's some features of this humble device:
"Powered by a self contained atomic power reactor, Z-001 is loaded full of gadgets and gizmos targeted at taking care of all the elderly person's physical needs. The automatic excrement remover aims to remove the natural revulsion, guilt, and resentment cause by having to "clean up after" one's ACHE (it stands for "agedly challenged"). It has the ability to bathe, prepare meals and feed, exercise, and entertain the person inside. Its entertainment features include on-line games, on-line companionship with other ACHES, and soul mate creation for the individual regardless of sexual orientation. In addition, the Z-001 continually monitors the physical health of the ACHE, administer medication and treatment, and, in cases of emergency, contact the family doctor and the hospital directly via modem. Although self-aware with the capability of growth and self-development due to its bio-computer made with biochips of living organisms (the Mark 5), the Z-001 lacks the most vital of features. The Z-001 lacks the ability to provide emotional support and most importantly love to the ACHE as can a family member or volunteer caregiver."

I will just have to give you robot kisses over the public internet instead, how about that?

the world's largest robot capable of carrying a person - the
3.5m tall, 5 ton T52 Enryu HyperRescueRobot.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/front/robo-er1.jpg

Robot-for-President

description
NASA-Ames is working on a HAL-like program which could be completed in as soon as 10 years we are told. Perhaps they reason that such AI's could advance the space program better than any human. An overall superhuman AI like this in time for US Election 2012 would transform the 'body politic' like nothing else in history. No political candidate would be competitive without a 'political avatar' because a superhuman AI (SHAI) would be able to field questions better than any human. SHAI's would spell 'The End of Work' as Rifkin titles his book. Since some presidents like those in the US are also military commanders-in-chief, there must also be a covert AI Arms Race underway. Should a secret military or private project complete an SHAI without public knowledge, the public could lose its freedom and privacy overnight, without even
knowing it. These and other issues in the political psychology of robots and total automation are on topic.

"In 2008, she obtained her Ph.D. and joined U.S. Robotics as a 'Robopsychologist', becoming the first great practitioner of a new science." (From Asimov's, "I, Robot")

"The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, established the Robot Hall of Fame to honor landmark achievements in robotics technology and the increasing contributions of robots to human endeavors. James H. Morris, Dean of the School of Computer Science, announced the creation of the Robot Hall of Fame at the Opening Gala Celebration for the RoboCup First American Open 2003 on April 30, 2003."

"Robots are people, too! Or at
least they will be, someday."

The ASPCR is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots!

from the ultimate-laziness dept.
broKenfoLd writes "Monkeys moving robotic arms by manipulating a
cursor on a computer screen, simply by thinking about it? Mice who
cause their water tube to dispense some refreshing H2O just by
wishing it? Signal processing and decoding has long been a dream of
Matrix fans and lazy system administrators for years, and science is
amazingly keeping up! [1]Popular Science's Carl Zimmer has written a
fascinating piece documenting recent progress in decoding brain
signals and interpreting commands issued from thoughts alone. If you
heard a single violin playing Beethoven's 5th, you would be able to
tell what piece of music was being played even though the rest of the
orchestra was not heard. In the same way, by monitoring a relatively
few neurons, computers can recognize patterns and allow programming
based on these patterns to say, know if a mouse is thinking about
pushing his water lever. You can pass the time waiting for
Matrix-style video games and motionless system
adminstration/utilization by reading the [2]full article."

References

1. http://www.popularscience.com/
2. http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/article/0,12543,576464-1,00.html

The silicon robots, just half the width of a human hair, were created by microengineer Carlo Montemagno at the University of California, Los Angeles.

It is the first time muscle tissue has been used to propel a microelectromechanical system.

____________________________________

A network of snail brain cells has been cultivated on a silicon chip, an advance that its creators claim is a big step towards microchip implants that can control artificial limbs, restore sight and revive memory function.

Researchers from Calgary University in Alberta, Canada grew the nerve cells on a microchip and found that they could learn and memorize information that could be transmitted to the chip.

When will affordable humanoid robots be available?

Dave Esler
Lakeland, Florida USA

Sony's QRIO, the humanoid bigger brother of robot dog AIBO, looks like it's pretty close to market. A toy, but it can recognize faces and voices, get up after a fall, sing, dance and throw a ball. It has a few times the computer power of AIBO.

Maybe you'll be able to buy one next year or the year after. Now you can see the slick prototypes performing on TV and the Web.

Humanoid designs have entertainment value, but I'm sure practical utility robots of the next several decades will be much more utilitarian, simpler and more efficient mechanically, thus cheaper and better, with shapes chosen for the job, not to mimic an evolutionary accident.

Hans Moravec is director of the Carnegie Mellon University Mobile Robot Laboratory, the author of Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence and Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind and a cofounder of robot perception and navigation company SEEGRID.

"They do the jobs no one else wants to do, with an attention to detail that boggles the mind. Even so, no government or political party is putting up immigration barriers to keep them out — at least not yet."

"French engineer Jean Roch joins the Immortality Institute to discuss his work on artificial neurons and full-body prosthetics as a pathway to physical immortality."

http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/02/17/1_robots.jpg

http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/02/17/2_robots.jpg

http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/02/17/3_robots.jpg

http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/02/17/4_robots.jpg

http://images.forbes.com/images/2004/02/17/5_robots.jpg

http://www.i4u.com/images/kokororobot.jpg

http://www.sexuality.org/l/fetish/robofaq.html

http://www.hektor.ch/imgs/006.jpg

http://www.nature.com/nsu/031124/images/inkha_180.jpg

http://www.androidworld.com/Kibertron7.jpg

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are working on ways to let robots interact emotionally with humans.

Looking at a computer terminal, the doctor directing the robot sees what the robot sees and hears what the robot hears. At the other end, patients can see and talk to the doctor's face displayed on a flat screen that sits on the robot's "shoulders." The devices are connected to the Internet via broadband and a wireless network.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2003/August/030805.htm

ASIMO (top) reacts to sudden impediments and can change direction on a dime. Today it’s controlled by a portable joystick, but eventually it’ll decide on its own where it wants to go .

FUJITSU HOAP-1
Fujitsu’s HOAP-1 (bottom, left) is programmed via an open-source interface architecture, enabling any programmer to develop motion-control algorithms for two-legged walking.

DR. ROBOT
It if falls, Dr. Robot (center) can get back up. After an hour, it automatically plugs itself into a power outlet for recharging. Interfacing in real-time with a PC, its intelligence has no limit.

SONY SDR-4X
Sony’s real-time motion-control system, with four small sensors on each foot and a gyroscope on the body, enables the SDR-4X (right) to navigate just about any surface, including a moving platform. Two digital cameras provide stereo vision for dodging and weaving through obstacles. The SDR-4X will most likely be the first high-end humanoid robot you can buy.

Fear of robots and other supposedly sentient technology is what motivated organizers to host ArtBots, held in New York City this past weekend. Exhibits included:

# BabyBott looked like a giant baby bottle and cooed when it was cuddled. Its talent: making people take care of it.
http://artbots.org/2003/participants/BabyBott/babybott_web.jpg

# Tribblation, a sort of whiskered soccer ball 'bot, was particularly popular with younger ArtBots attendees. Trib has hundreds of pressure, temperature, sound and light sensors, enabling it to respond to stimuli like compliments and stroking.
http://artbots.org/2003/participants/Tribblation/tribblation_web.jpg

# LEMUR, the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, won the Audience Choice award. A band of robotic instruments that "play themselves," LEMUR features five melodious robots.
http://artbots.org/2003/participants/LEMUR/LEMUR_web.jpg

Robot Guard-dragon Unveiled in Japan

November 14, 2002, New Scientist

The four-legged "guard dragon" robot sense smoke and alert its owners to a smoldering fire - via a howl or a mobile phone text message. The robot is one meter long, 80 centimeters high, 70 centimeters wide and weighs 40 kilograms. It can move at a top speed of 15 meters per minute - more than fast enough for a home robot designed to travel in confined, cluttered spaces, its designers say.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993061

I imagine the one in snowcrash to look like this.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/02/02/social.robots.ap/

DARPA intends to conduct a challenge of autonomous ground vehicles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in March of 2004. A cash award of $1 million will be granted to the team that fields the first vehicle to complete the designated route within a specified time limit. The purpose of the challenge is to leverage American ingenuity to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies that can be applied to military requirements. Many of the details of the event are being developed, and new information will be posted to this web site as soon as possible.

the teams:http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/teams.htm

Form the article:

There will soon be a new librarian at work at Valparaiso University. This librarian won't get any days off because it's a robot.

About half the library's collection is being been placed in steel bins, so robotic arms can fetch the books 24 hours a day.

I expect that libraries will begin the process of extinction at some point over the next 20 to 30 years. In the meantime, robots will be able to run the libraries that remain.

This same technology is allowing the automation of warehouses, and will also move into the stockrooms of retail stores to eliminate workers there.

The Wow Wee "RoboSapien", a full function fast moving robot minion suitable for all your world domination needs. The device is currently in development and should be available to international markets in mid 2004.

Estimated price: approximately $99USD based on your location.

Designed by a NASA scientist (on loan until they stop crashing his robots into mars), the RoboSapien features...

- Real multi-speed fast dynamic walking, running, and turning.
- Fast, full function arms with two types of grippers.
- 67 pre-programmed functions including pick-up, throw, kick, sweep,dance, fart, beltch, rap, and half-a-dozen different kung-fu moves.
- Speaks fluent international "caveman".
- Programmable "reflexes" to touch, pickup, kicks, or sound.
- Up to 84 program steps, with 4 program modes for advanced operations, .
- No computer required, all functions handled by ergonomic remote control.
- Runs on regular batteries for over 6 hours.
- Three demonstration modes: Disco dance, Rude behavior, and Kung Fu kata.
- Simple enough for kids, advanced enough for adults, it's like a video game character for the home.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Hot technology doesn't usually come in a soft and cuddly package. But one of the ten winners of PC Magazine's "Best of Comdex" awards is warm, fuzzy and filled with therapeutic possibilities.

Paro is a harp seal stuffed animal robot, developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Engineer Takanori Shibata said Paro prototypes are being tested in Japan and Sweden at nursing homes, and with autistic and handicapped children.

"We know that pet therapy helps physically, psychologically and socially, and Paro does the same thing for people who are unable to care for a live pet," said Shibata.

Surface tactile sensors beneath its fur and whiskers trigger Paro to move and respond to petting: eyes open and close, flippers move. Just holding and stroking the critter has a calming effect, as Comdex (Computer Dealer Expo) visitors who checked it out soon discovered.

"We found nursing home residents also opened up and talked with each other about pets they had owned," said Shibata. And, he said, their stress levels went down.

Paro may soon be tested in children's hospitals in the United States. It's expected to cost between $2,500 and $3,000.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/11/20/comdex.bestof/index.html

The cutting edge technology to annoy you: monkeyrobot!
http://www.i4u.com/images/monkeyrobot.jpg
The only way they could improve on it for ver 2.0 would be to integrate an "A.R.R.R." module.

Toshiba will introduce their Personal Robot Prototype ApriAlpha on this years Robodex 2003 in Japan.

What I gather from the japanese press-release the Robot can recognize up to 100 faces and has built-in speech recognition and a voice synthesizer.

The autonomous robot can communicate via wireless LAN (802.11b), IR and bluetooth with other devices in a networked home.
The built-in Video Camera can also be used to take photos and send them via i-mode to a mobile Phone.
The robot moves around by itself and avoid obstacles automatically.

It kinda looks like a mini R2D2

nice gallerie here:
http://japan.cnet.com/news/tech/story/0,2000047674,20064632,00.htm?ref=rss

videos at http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2004/03/02/002.html

The Cybernetic Robotic Robot with Electronics!

(I suspect these aren't real robots, however)

Here is said clip.

http://www.kokoro-dreams.co.jp/moviej.html

(see "actroid")

the "tarbosaurus" clip = k-rad, though.

article on the beeb at the moment about using robots in war, instead of humans. A comment from some reader:

"Robots do not feel emotions and do not surrender. Send robots to war and the consequences would be devastating"

I think that was the selling point to be fair.

eh where's the link to the terrifying robot that can't be knocked over.

for use as a 'stretcher' or something uh yeah sure.

terrifying robot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2bExqhhWRI&feature=fvst

now it just needs some hands:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfdHY26E2jc

the cold nonchalance of the dude - i mean hand - at 1:35 is scary

yes, i believe thats the scary motherfucker to which i was referring

Holy shit, that BIGDOG robot is scary--the noise, the dainty little steps, the relentlessness, and then the fucking thing starts LEAPING!

man those future kids are gonna have some fun with that bigdog
i can see them "robot tipping" now

but on another note robots have always been scary 1893 1963
http://isabeljoelyblack.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/lost-space-robot-will.jpg

massive dud

none of these robots count, the best tradition of "scary robot" goes back to HAL, who wasn't a robot really, and before him you had the machine responders from FAIL SAFE and Dr. Strangelove which basically represented the same thing, the lineage continues through WarGames and cable-ready shit like Eagle Eye. Bottom line, if you have arms and legs and I can shoot you, you suck, if you inhabit the entire structure of my house (including my nonsensical basement robot foundry) and want to rape my wife, well, that's a story. Robots are either cannon fodder or anthropomorphized heroes. The electronic brain that lives on the wire, that, my friends, is the goddamned demiurge, the end of our world and the beginning of the next. Hoo hah.

clarification: when I say machine responders, I am referring to "systems of systems," engineered plans and programs which have strict inputs and outputs that may contain human elements but nonetheless act in such a way that a single failure can cause a catastrophic outcome, see http://images.google.com/images?q=ishikawa+diagram although I suspect most of those results all pertain to software development and not the old-school "this is the part where a dude is required by his officer's commission to threaten another officer with death by pistol in order to ensure that the silo is emptied of its ordinance which will thenceforth produce the hot instant demise of millions of rooskies"

btw did any of you guys know that I have a hard-on for movies that are about engineering failures and that I occasionally drink quite a bit on weeknights

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/19/awesome-robots-love-fanta/

Step 1: awesome fanta can juggling
Step 2: total human enslavement

i for one etc our new towel folding robot overlords

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy5g33S0Gzo

Was thinking recently that noone really talks about robots any more. When I was a kid they were a big topic of conversation, speculation, fear and wonder. Glad to see someone keeping the flame alive.

Headless robot cheetah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2D71CveQwo&feature=player_embedded

It REALLY creeps me out when it hits top speed.

real cheeta would eat that shit for lunch. impressive though, mostly for how loose & un-"robotic" its running rhythms are.

GAH. Looks like some shit outta Half-Life

Stick a shop window dummy head on it and really freak people out.

http://finickypenguin.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/bunchies_clear1.gif?w=450

finally sometime building the future we all want and need

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2012/nov/28/robot-kuratas-giant-video?INTCMP=SRCH

sometime? someone.

http://i.imgur.com/7BK5X9E.gif

http://i.cmpnet.com/eet/news/online/toyota_wheel.jpg

hehe still dig dat lil butthorn

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/05/10/britains-first-robot-eric-to-rise-again-after-lost-plans-found/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/05/10/ericrobot2-xlarge_trans++p2tmszG4J0NRP85X1D0MiwQCi3bJ-gLItXLazTV_24g.jpg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/05/10/eric2-large_trans++9rg-P7f8wNnSS1PPckrMR-dXsnpCz3tP6_Ws0MCzAGg.png

http://cyberneticzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/EricHeadP1(1).jpg

it looks like Robo-Hitler might have been financed by the British Union of Fascists

Hello dystopia.

The Kiwibots do not figure out their own routes. Instead, people in Colombia, the home country of Chavez and his two co-founders, plot “waypoints” for the bots to follow, sending them instructions every five to 10 seconds on where to go.

As with other offshoring arrangements, the labor savings are huge. The Colombia workers, who can each handle up to three robots, make less than $2 an hour, which is above the local minimum wage.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Kiwibots-win-fans-at-UC-Berkeley-as-they-deliver-13895867.php?psid=8rNRs#photo-17543383