So the other day, I got myself a Skype account and hunkered down in the living bunker of Uncanny Valley Estates (where we live and work and poke the robots with sticks) and spent an hour shooting the shit with a few interesting and intelligent people about The Future for the TWiT Fourcast podcast. It was fun.
This video is the result:
On this fine US Thanksgiving Day, as you reflect on the bounty that surrounds you (or on the turkey pot pie you just pulled from the microwave, whatever) remember that robots are not necessarily always the cold-hearted world-destroying automatons that we might presume them to be.
Apropos of this here is an absolutely cutie-patootie 80s-tastic irony-anerable music video by Dan Mangan and friends.
Robots By Dan Mangan
Roooobooots Neeed Looove Toooo. . . .
[A thousand times thank you for sending this our way, Heather Knight!]
The Institute For The Future has recently made available a lovely infographic on the impending takeover of the robot hordes from their idiot-fleshling creators.
It’s beautiful!
Seriously, look at this thing, I am willing to sell myself out to Our Robot Overlords just on the basis of its stunning design. Thought-provoking, well researched and a part of the IFTF’s program The Future Of Human-Machine Interaction, this is pretty much the official pronouncement that the robots of science fiction are and will be, in fact, not fiction any more:
After decades of hype, false starts, and few successes, smart machines are finally ready for prime time. As part of its 2010 research, IFTF’s Technology Horizons program has created the Robot Renaissance: the Future of Human-Machine Interaction Map to explore this new robotic future.
Doomsday or dyn-o-mite? The end of the human race as we know it or just a wonderfully augmented reality? Whatever the process, it makes the future a pretty interesting place to live in.
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle In Shark Bite Horror:
An Autonomous Underwater vehicle used for exploring the Gulf oil spill has been chomped on the hiney by a shark. From Keysnet:
Waldo, the 6-foot autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) spent 28 days at sea and found no significant traces of underwater oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill after being launched July 19th. It did however encounter a shark, when that shark bit into and damaged Waldo’s rudder.
The best part about this shark’s timing is the fact that it probably bit Waldo during Shark Week. That shark’s publicist is totally worth the money.
Here’s the main post about Waldo’s close encounter, and a bit more about what exactly the AUVs do, from NRDC, the kindly hippies who, along with Oceana, and Mote Marine Laboratory, launched Waldo on his mission:
The autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) like Waldo run for approximately 30 days at a time and NRDC’s sponsored run of Waldo ended on day 28 – after he had transmitted roughly a ½ million water sample points – when a shark bit into and damaged Waldo’s rudder and his left wing was lost. Since then, the robot has been recovered and hopefully will soon be out for another run with 7 other gliders to monitor for the oil from the submerged plumes of oil droplets in the Gulf. Just yesterday, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution confirmed the existence of a submerged oil plume from the Gulf spill that’s at least 22 miles long – an AUV was critical to this discovery. Additional AUV runs should help us keep track the route of this oil.
It has been noted that the presence of a shark in a giant, oil slicked disaster zone was actually a really good sign that the sharks in the Gulf have not been completely destroyed by the folly of man. It is also a sign, however, of exactly how pissed the sharks are and what they’ll do if they ever find out that the oil leak was our fault.
[Thanks Botropolis]!
Willow Garage roolz, and not just because they have been a delightsome sponsor for RoboGames. They have invented the PR2, which among it other fantastic talents, will soon become commercially available.
Scott Hassan, Willow Garage founder, made a quick a dirty PR2 Contest after the PR2 launch party (for which all of us here at the Robunker suck because we couldn’t make it) for which the winners competed for a 10k aggregate prize.
Presented without (too much) comment, the winner:
[Thanks Hizook!]
Over at Wired Gamelife, here’s a nifty video of the ever popular Kuka industrial robots, who seem to be moving more and more into entertainment (you may remember them from a Jon Bon Jovi concert or perhaps from Wired’s NextFest).
The robot is making a light sculpture in real time for the
Xbox Game Halo Reach. Players log in to Facebook and get to plot one tiny speck of light in the location of their choice.
It is a nifty little project that the kids can squeal about, but I can’t help but think it’s really just a massive plot to direct the correct coordinates for total earth destruction by the alien forces watching us from behind Pluto. I would categorically refuse to participate in the destruction of human kind at the hands of faceless superfuture beings, but IT’S SO SHINY! Also, giant robot arm! YES!
So ::sob:: beautiful ::weep::
Courtesy those masters of modern problem solving techniques, Willow Garage (proud and beloved Sponsors of RoboGames, full disclosure, natch)
O robot fans the world over: in an effort to open myself up to as much drunken heckling by my friends as humanly possible, while also spreading the love for robots and, especially, RoboGames, I am giving a 50 (!) minute talk this Saturday, May 22nd, at Makerfaire!
The talk is “Build A Robot, Be A Rock Star: RoboGames” and it will be about various and sundry interesting tidbits about our seven years producing RoboGames.
So, grab a giant can of Tecate, camp out in the parking lot, and troop in to hear me talk a bunch about robots, games, and other things.
MakerFaire is this Saturday and Sunday May 22-23rd at the San MAeo Convention Center in lovely San Mateo, California. See everything cool you could possibly think up in the wildest realms of your imagination, all in one place, and learn how you can make each and every single thing yourself.
Whee! So much will be going on, you won’t even be able to absorb it all in one weekend. Yay!
This week, we bring you the lovely Nick Donaldson, of GotRobots.com. Nick is often referred to as “That one guy. From RoboGames. With that monkey. The one that sits on his shoulder and high-fives people.” In any case, Nick is a brilliant inventor and robot builder and we were thrilled to have a chance to talk to him!
So sensitive, so poetic, so artfully programmed. . .
Hurray for Kiva Systems, and the robots they employ [via Le Boing]
Ray Billings’ Last Rites vs VD6
If ever there was a ComBot that made you say “OH $#!%- RUUUUNNNN!!!!” it was most likely built by Ray Billings, of HardCore Robotics. Ray is an ex-prison guard, and became interested in combat robotics after the fact, when he was working at an adult college, and a colleague introduced him to the sport. He was hooked, and so this week, our BotLight is on Ray Billings. Interview below!
If you’ve ever been to a ComBots event, odds are that you’ve run into Wendy and Matt Maxham. Together they form Team PlumbCrazy — the plumbiest, craziest, yellow shirtediest couple of robot fanatics at the competition (They’re the nicest, too. Believe it- they let me use their drill once!). A big thank you to Wendy, who donated her time to appease this starving intern (did I mention I’m a starving intern?), by giving her thoughts and revelations on robotic combat, and what it takes to make a winner.
Greetings, humanoids, robots, and humanoid robots. My name is G[REDACTED]io… I… I mean Intern. They call me Intern. At least I think they do. They starve me. The hunger does silly things to your memory. Anywho, I’m here to provide you with awesome interviews and coverage for RoboGames 2010 and beyond, starting with a BotLight On Marco Antonio Meggiolaro of RioBotz.
<– AKA that guy.
Marco has well over a decade of hands-on robotics experience, and has been involved in ComBots since 2003. He graciously offered his time and insight on ComBots, teamwork, and how to avoid pummeling random passersby with 120lb steel cylinders from 100 yards away! See our exclusive interview with the founder of the RioBotz robotics team below!
(more…)
Cover that delicate flooring, hide the dog and spray for hippies, The Orb Swarm is gong to India!
Your favorite vivacious rolling globes are packed and headed halfway around the world to meet their adoring public in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India for the annual Techkriti Festival for Technology and Entrepreneurship held at IIT Kanpur.
Techkriti will be feature innovative and creative minds from all over the world:
“After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well.”
- Albert Einstein
Techkriti is a celebration of that fusion – where the beauty of form is merged with inspiring ingenious innovations. It is about creation that moves beyond barriers. Techkriti has always been synonymous with excellence. Graced with the presence of “Nobel” minds, inspiring inventors and young mettle competing to dazzle, Techkriti has been the stuff that dreams are made of. This year we go a step further and combine a flavor of business with the festival. We strive to have a fine balance between the world of science and the real world where we live our day-in day-out lives. Techkriti is about ideas that inspire. For those who wish to know of what use is a new idea, Faraday’s answer is most apt – “Of what use is an new born baby?” Techkriti is about attenuating surly bonds of our mundane existence and going a step further. Over the years, the festival has witnessed the very best coming forward and showcasing their talent.
This being the Golden Jubilee year promises to be bigger and better. No matter what you like – Competitions, Talks, Workshops or Exhibitions- we have it all. And to top it all off, numerous fun events enliven the atmosphere and make the festival a grand treat. So be there from February 11-14, to witness it all live. We are making you an offer that you will not be able to refuse.
@mister_robotics went a few years ago with a team from San Francisco State University to show off their then-new combat robot Beer Bash (more on him later). They had loads of fun.
What’s more, Lee Sonko, Orb tweaker extraordinaire, is speaking! The other speakers at this conference include a couple of Nobel Laureates, A Gödel Prize winner, and a director of the Max Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics, so, well done Lee!
No pressure or nothin’.
Follow the Orbs on Twitter here!
Bored supercomputers running a fully automated widget factory- What could possibly go wrong?
Instead of brush, ditches, a variety of upright fences, and other horses, there are conveyor belts, crushers, pits, gears, lasers….and other robots.
Assuming the role of said bored computer, you program your robot from a selection of movement cards, and maneuver its way from a starting bay past numbered flag checkpoints. There’s damage and obstacles, skills and thrills, strategy and luck, possible teamwork, weapons, plus it’s also a race against time. The winner reaches the final flag first, or is the last robot standing.
RoboRally was designed in 1985 by Richard Garfield (who later created the card game Magic: The Gathering), and originally published from 1994-99 by Wizards of the Coast (WotC). The board game was re-released by Avalon Hill in 2005, to much fanfare, and a bit of grumbling about the decline in material quality of the game boards and the robot pieces. (You’ll have to look for the originals on eBay or through roborally.com) The newer boards are compatible with the original and expansion sets.
BTW, there is also an online version to help you with all that spare time in your day that you’ve just recently noticed. Go ahead, view the demo. And turn it UP!!
From the FAQ:
Q: What can a robot do when it is powered down?
A: Nothing. A powered down robot cannot fire weapons, receive option cards, tag checkpoints (if pushed onto them), update archive locations (ditto), or use turn programmed cards (for example, Shield). It cannot use any options unless the options specifically say they can be used while a robot is powered down. The robot basically becomes a lump that can be pushed around and suffer damage.
Q: If you fire and move in front of a missle, can you hit yourself?
A: Theoretically, yes. It’s fairly tough to get hit by your own missile, though, unless you are both unlucky and careless.
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