ROBOTS: Classic, Dud or Classic Dud?

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I live in Japan and am surrounded by people who think Astroboy and "social" robots are the bees knees. My opinion is that nearly all robotics research is misguided and the idea of humanoid robots serving society is a classic dud.

Would be interested in hearing the opinions of the literate and thoughful participants of ILX.

logjaman, Monday, 14 April 2003 01:41 (twenty-two years ago)


... which means everyone, of course.

logjaman, Monday, 14 April 2003 01:45 (twenty-two years ago)

http://tfp.killbots.com/pics/pic041.gif

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 April 2003 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

http://valen.host.sk/discografia/resultado/discos/imagenes/the-man-machine-(1978).jpg

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

Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 14 April 2003 01:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Robots are the shit, especially if they are large and designed for space combat. Most research is misguided because it does not have this as its ultimate goal.

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.

Millar (Millar), Monday, 14 April 2003 01:54 (twenty-two years ago)

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.

Dick Cheney ain't all that.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 April 2003 01:56 (twenty-two years ago)

yay another chance to dance dance like a robot

ducklingmonster, Monday, 14 April 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

the robots say, fuck you too, humans!

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

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

Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 14 April 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000I2B0.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

vs.

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

FITE!

Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 14 April 2003 03:09 (twenty-two years ago)

They shall not fite. They are yin and yang and coexist.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 April 2003 03:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The problem with robots is that they fear our system of MIGHTY ORGANS!

Leee (Leee), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I am the human Bender.

hstencil, Monday, 14 April 2003 04:28 (twenty-two years ago)

hstencil:

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

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:57 (twenty-two years ago)

when robots get into bling-bling (and start rollin' wit actors from bad eighties sitcoms):

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

Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Boilerplate - Mechanical man of the 1890's built as a prototype soldier for "resolving the conflicts of nations."

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.

logjaman, Monday, 14 April 2003 05:46 (twenty-two years ago)


Boilerplate at a commemoration of the civil war.

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

logjaman, Monday, 14 April 2003 05:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Boilerplate sees action in Cuba during the Spanish-American war.

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

logjaman, Monday, 14 April 2003 06:16 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.spacedaily.com/images/china-robot-pla-marker-bg.jpg

weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Monday, 14 April 2003 06:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Servotron rule! I must remember to play "Bad Birthday" today (hint, hint).

jel -- (jel), Monday, 14 April 2003 06:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm just waiting to see how much of ESOJ's collection of Bender's he's gonna show off during this thread :D

Trayce (trayce), Monday, 14 April 2003 06:53 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.geocities.com/picturesref/roujin.jpg

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

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Robots are clearly classic. They are superior to homo superior in just about every respect. That's why I had to root for Agent Smith in the Matrix: humans are a horrid rotten cancer, why shouldn't they be turned into batteries for the vastly superior robots? Come on now.

Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 01:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Servotron rule! I must remember to play "Bad Birthday" today (hint, hint).

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

Robots kick ass unilaterally.

cprek (cprek), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 03:02 (twenty-two years ago)

See, a robot would never make a mistake like contradication.

cprek (cprek), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 03:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Isaac Asimov to thread.

Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"A "Friendly AI" is an AI that takes actions that are, on the whole, beneficial to humans and humanity; benevolent rather than malevolent; nice rather than hostile. The evil Hollywood AIs of The Matrix or Terminator are, correspondingly, "hostile" or "unFriendly".

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

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 03:12 (twenty-two years ago)


Would a "friendly AI" be something like that little Paperclip guy in MS Windows?

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.

logjaman, Tuesday, 15 April 2003 05:06 (twenty-two years ago)

logiaman, the short answer is no

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.

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Think of it as a good genie coming with an unlimited amount of wishes but in a world with it, you couldn't coerce anyone in any way.
This is the stuff the best hard sci-fi stories are made of isn'it? and these guys are actually working at it in real life. I'm so glad they exist.
If you are interested I suggest you to read how they present it themselves in their FAQ because obv it's a project full of very complex ethical problems and there are many levels of conversations to be held on it depending on one's technical knowledge.

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

compared to this, Roujin Z is very primitive ;-)

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."

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 07:44 (twenty-two years ago)

...of course that lack of "emotional support" will be key to the story but i won't say anything about it

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 15 April 2003 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...
Robots will get what is coming to them. They can count themselves among the damned.

El Spinktor (El Spinktor), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Go fuck yourself. I'm not in the mood for your shit today.

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)

woah

the angry cowboy (dick), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Tombot, you smell of penis. Check yourself.

El Spinktor (El Spinktor), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I left my cell phone at home this morning. Today is all shit for me.

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

You're both gaywads. Fuck you. I'm DRUNK and ROBOTIC fuck you.

Allyzay, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe youve left your cellphone at home but no one has called you anyway - better or worse?

jed (jed_e_3), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

No no no I want to dial OUT and stupid work PBX only allows DC/MD/VA area codes to go through. Nobody ever calls my phone, why would I worry about that?

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Then why does it bother you at all if you left your phone at home, if no one calls you?

Allyzay, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Because I would like to call a number that starts with the area code 646, and I can not do that with the phones they have at work.

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Why not? What if you have to make an important government phone call to an outside area code? That's ridiculous and hinders business!

Allyzay, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

haha "important government phone call!" seriously though I imagine there are plenty of ways around the system or it's just not set up properly. All the phone calls we make around here right now are just between about 5 local area codes anyway. EXCEPT THE ONE I WANT TO MAKE RIGHT NOW.

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

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah ok, that's cool, but I totally reek of amarone and Frangelico dude, it's disgusting. I can call anyone I want unless they're Germans. Fucking Nazis.

Allyzay, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...
http://www.enryu.jp/images/photo01_main.jpg

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

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Open PINO Platform
http://www.symbio.jst.go.jp/PINO/index.html
Considered the Linux of humanoid robot development, Open PINO Platform is an open source project designed to accelerate the research and development of robots by making the technical information of PINO open to the public.

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

there's no way that's a rescue robot. it's here to destroy. you can tell by its nasty colors.

Felcher (Felcher), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The Onion | Scientists Abandon AI Project After Seeing The Matrix

Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

That final sentence is genius.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 21 January 2004 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

More stuff about Nuvo
"The robot is 39cm tall and 2.5kg in weight, but packs in a lot; one major feature is the inclusion of an NTT DoCoMo 3G FOMA terminal that is hooked into the head camera, and it's possible to control the robot remotely using a FOMA phone while watching the headcam images in real time. It can also be controlled from a PC via Bluetooth. The Nuvo also includes a voice-recognition system."

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

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 11:39 (twenty-one years ago)

http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/photo/news/2004/03/02/002al.jpg

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

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 11:58 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/eng/s_agent/image/02.jpg

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/eng/robo01/image/03.jpg

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/eng/robo01/image/04.jpg

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

That's the stuff
http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/eng/robo01/image/04-2.jpg

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tmsuk.co.jp/eng/robo01/image/05.jpg

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 7 March 2004 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

on the fence about robots. but that SNL fake commercial selling robot insurance to the elderly was hilarious.
"... because they're very strong, and they're made of metal."

andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Sunday, 7 March 2004 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

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

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Friday, 12 March 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

robot bike
http://www.ghostriderrobot.com/V7.jpg
http://www.ghostriderrobot.com

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Saturday, 13 March 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.linefollowing.com/robotroom/MicroscopeSolderSpur.jpg

edis a shovers the iii, Saturday, 13 March 2004 05:07 (twenty-one years ago)

fans of hr giger check out this quicktime video of the assembly process of flagellar nanomachine system.
http://www.npn.jst.go.jp/movie5.html

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Saturday, 13 March 2004 05:31 (twenty-one years ago)

picture gallery of the robolympics: http://www.robolympics.net/pix.shtml

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Tuesday, 23 March 2004 05:30 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG!
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20040325/capt.sge.bjm94.250304143646.photo00.default-384x274.jpg

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 26 March 2004 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

nine months pass...
http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2005/pr20050112/20050112.wmv

:| (....), Sunday, 16 January 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.globalhermit.com/ilx/robo2.jpg ihttp://www.globalhermit.com/ilx/robo2-robo1.jpg

Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 17 January 2005 00:18 (twenty years ago)

CybeRoboBoTron

The Cybernetic Robotic Robot with Electronics!

Sasha (sgh), Monday, 17 January 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

http://bedazzled.blogs.com/bedazzled/files/Robot3.mov

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

(Jon L), Monday, 17 January 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

http://www.robotvillage.com/

gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 January 2005 04:02 (twenty years ago)

on the fence about robots. but that SNL fake commercial selling robot insurance to the elderly was hilarious.
"... because they're very strong, and they're made of metal."

Here is said clip.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 17 January 2005 05:35 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...
there may be a way to go yet:

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

(see "actroid")

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

Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 14 March 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

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.

Great Scott! It's Molecular Man. (Ste), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 13:47 (fifteen years ago)

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

Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 13:48 (fifteen years ago)

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

Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 13:48 (fifteen years ago)

terrifying robot:

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

ledge, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 13:50 (fifteen years ago)

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

ledge, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 14:20 (fifteen years ago)

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

Bobkate Goldtwat (darraghmac), Tuesday, 4 August 2009 23:11 (fifteen years ago)

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

When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Wednesday, 5 August 2009 00:14 (fifteen years ago)

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

clouds taste metallica (jdchurchill), Wednesday, 5 August 2009 00:30 (fifteen years ago)

massive dud

Andrew Sandwich, Wednesday, 5 August 2009 03:10 (fifteen years ago)

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.

El Tomboto, Wednesday, 5 August 2009 06:06 (fifteen years ago)

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"

El Tomboto, Wednesday, 5 August 2009 06:20 (fifteen years ago)

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

El Tomboto, Wednesday, 5 August 2009 06:21 (fifteen years ago)

two months pass...

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

koogs, Monday, 19 October 2009 17:44 (fifteen years ago)

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

surfing on hokusine waves (ledge), Monday, 19 October 2009 23:08 (fifteen years ago)

five months pass...

i for one etc our new towel folding robot overlords

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

the big pink suede panda bear hurts (ledge), Wednesday, 14 April 2010 12:09 (fifteen years ago)

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.

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 14 April 2010 12:14 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

Headless robot cheetah:

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

It REALLY creeps me out when it hits top speed.

Nude Gingrich (Leee), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 06:23 (thirteen years ago)

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

meticulously showcased in a stunning fart presentation (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 06:35 (thirteen years ago)

GAH. Looks like some shit outta Half-Life

Spleen of Hearts (kingfish), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 07:30 (thirteen years ago)

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

c'est ne pas un car wash (snoball), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 11:17 (thirteen years ago)

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

the Hilary Clinton of Ghostface Killahs (Phil D.), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 13:17 (thirteen years ago)

eight months pass...

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

ledge, Friday, 30 November 2012 09:36 (twelve years ago)

sometime? someone.

ledge, Friday, 30 November 2012 09:36 (twelve years ago)

seven months pass...

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

Sébastien, Sunday, 7 July 2013 02:13 (eleven years ago)

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

hehe still dig dat lil butthorn

Sébastien, Sunday, 7 July 2013 02:16 (eleven years ago)

two years pass...

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

Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Saturday, 14 May 2016 09:48 (nine years ago)

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

calzino, Saturday, 14 May 2016 09:55 (nine years ago)

three years pass...

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

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 3 June 2019 16:30 (six years ago)


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