Here’s a spiffy thing sent along by the irrefutable Amacker Bullwinkle:
“My friend Mikey is on the crew that just did Nexi. . .his girlfriend Neri, is Nexi’s voice.”
Who the heck is Nexi? I hear you cry. Well:
And by awesome, I mean totally sweet.
I love those crazy kids down at the MIT Media Lab.
Robot Evolution May be Mirroring The Evolution of Life
According to [Han Moravec, founder of the CarNAYgie Mellon's Robotics Institute], our robot creations are evolving similar to how life on Earth evolved, only at warp speed. By his calculations, by mid-century no human task, physical or intellectual, will be beyond the scope of robots.
Well? Go on, discuss. . .you in the back there, speak up.
Those clever Aussies. Really now.
A Man Built a Robot To Kill Him. And Succeeded.
An 81-year-old man from Burleigh Heads, Australia, downloaded plans to build a killer robot from the Internet, built the complex machine, and then used it to kill himself in his driveway.
A classroom full of gobsmacked schoolchildren was treated to a lesson in English taught by Tiro, a robot developed by Hanjool Robotics Crop and programmed with the will to destroy young minds ability to interact on the fly and keep the kids’ attention completely riveted to their teacher.
Tiro asked in English questions such as: “How many giraffes are there on the board?” It also displayed the name of the next student to participate in a role-playing task on the screen on its chest.
Korea’s dedication to becoming a world leader in the imminent surge of robotics technology should teach a thing or two to the US, who has not yet gotten a clue about robotics in any really meaningful government-supported way. Korea’s building a whole freakin’ district for robots, called “Robot World” and aims to have a robot in every home by 2020. We’re talking Rosie the Robot here, kids.
They also have nationwide free wireless. What a country.
[via Robots.net]
So cunning, so delicate:
Next weekend, those irrepressible Wieners from Monochrom, as well as the usual cast of San Francisco freaks, bring you Arse Elektronika 2007, along with a panel of luminaries including Slashdong (but of course!) and other accomplished hackers. What are they hacking? Well, we note in particular the following session as of interest to SB readers:
Pornomechanics: Sex Robots and the Mechanisms of Love
This presentation will begin with a viewing of the film “Love Machine” (2001), directed by Peter Asaro. This independently produced feature length documentary looks at the development of robots capable of entering human social relations of love, caring, and friendship. It also explores the social interests and fears surrounding their potential as sexual partners, augmenting or replacing human sexual interactions.
It features interviews with leading roboticists, philosophers, sexologist and inventors, including: Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec, Ken Goldberg, Hubert Dreyfus, Daniel Dennett, Manuel Delanda, Carol Queen, Robert Morgan Lawrence, Ernest Green, Lisa Palac, and others.
Following the film will be a discussion between film maker Peter Asaro and technology theorist Katie Vann, as well as an opportunity for audience questions.
The Rotor is old enough by now that he shouldn’t be embarrassed by stuff like this, but still is sometimes.
Okay, so we know Lem covered this waaay back in 2005, but we were very excited to see Kiyomori up close and personal.
Kiyomori is made by Tmsuk, which specializes in heavy work robots and robots that perform functions unsuitable for living things. Kiyomori is Tmuk’s flagship robot, developed with the Atsuo Takanishi research lab of Waseda University (go bears!). Kiyomori was built specifically to further human/robot interaction, at least this is what they would have us believe. We believe that with that warrior stance, those gleaming red eyes, and that fine fine Samurai garb, Kiyomori is bent on assuming the position of chief human administrator, just like the original Kiyomori did. By human administrator, we mean of course, administrator of humans, not administrator who is human. Please.
I dunno if this has been posted before, but it’s one of my all time favorite robots:
Eat your heart out, Michael Bay.
We have the technology, we can rebuild him. . .
Greetings to the i-Limb by Touch Bionics. Juan Arredondo, a soldier injured in Iraq, is one of the first beneficiaries of the i-Limb, and from what it looks like he’s thrilled with the replacement (though it probably would have been nice to not need it in the first place).
Here’s Touch Bionics’ profile of Sgt. Arredondo.
We are 90% certain that we have not blogged this before, but if we have, it’s still cool and it’s probably not in reruns anymore. Robotic crocodiles with tank treads are automatically cool:
Holy heck I would hate for any stray watermelons of ours to come upon that in a dark alley. . .
This Croc bite simulator was made for the show Animal Face-Off on the Discovery Channel. Their lab is way sexier than other robot labs I have known. *We* want disco lighting in *our* shop.
Okay so maybe it’s slightly cooler than a little bit of wocka-chicka music, but robot satellites maintaining a hard-core autonomous connection still gets our juices flowing:
ST. LOUIS, April 19, 2007 – Satnews Daily – The two robot satellites in the Orbital Express mission have achieved their second historic first with the successful transfer of hardware—in this case a battery—between orbiting spacecraft.
Remember kids, second historic firsts are almost as neat as third future ex-spouses, or something. . .
ASTRO and NEXTSAT exchange batteries, and possibly so, so much more. . .
“Hey baby, you come to this orbital plane often?”
“Does that work on all the robots in the exosphere or just the semiautonomous ones?”
“C’mon baby, how’s about you and me link up? I got some solar sails that only flare for you. . .”
And so on and so forth. . .
BTW, this is way cooler than it needs to be. Your tax dollars at work my friends. . .
[Thanks RICK!]
Panasonic has come up with a prototype that will cause every Burning Man aficionado to drool helplessly in their playa-coated fun fur.
From Pink Tentacle:
What a great pickup line: “Could you cuddle my long, warm, furry love cushion? It’s lonely. . .”
Things that SB is doing this weekend In The Name Of Science:
Science! Science I say! We have NO INTEREST in drinking this thing known as “beer” in order to get a robot! We have skills far beyond this mere consumer Chicanery! Hey Rotor and Mr. R, you have that case order in right?
The Beer Robot In Action!:
More about this particular beer robot here here and here!
This cute little thing reminds me of another adorable little bot, one named Beer Bash. Beer Bash was built by The Robot Fight Club of SF State University, who are returning to RoboGames this year because they are junkies because they are consummate robotics enthusiasts.
Come see them in action won’t you? Remember, the first rule about Robot Fight Club is. . .
[Thanks Geeksugar for posting, and Violet Blue for the link!]
. . .the Uncanny Valley, that is.
Meet Eva. She’s the creation of robotics designer David Hanson.
Hanson is best known for his work with KAIST (the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology) the people who brought you the KHR-1 bipedal robot kung fu artist [digression: I ask you, is there any better phrase that "Robot Kung Fu"? We didn't think so either].
Hanson is also known for the eerily awesome Philip K. Dick Conversational Android, and now, Eva. Eva takes you on a screaming fast road trip through the Uncanny Valley and doesn’t even let you stop to pee.
Take a look at this demo Hanson did at the Exploratorium a while back:
Suicidebots.com declares YOU
“Cool Robot Of The Week”
With all the completely useless yet honorary privileges that implies.
Three cheers will make her smile, but will probably make small children cry.
Yes, I said Robot Chicken.
No, not THAT Robot Chicken, THESE ones:
Fitting somewhere between Tamagotchi virtual pets and a real puppy is the next-generation robot chicken from Sega. The little robots are fuzzy, cuddly, and unbearably cute, especially when paired with a bunch of children gently petting them.
There is nothing SB likes better than things that are made strictly for the fact that they are cute.
Thank you, Sega Japan. . .
[Apologies for the lack of posting. SB will be taking her beating with her tea.]
UPDATE: Robot Chicken Available For Purchase OMGWTFASAPLOL!!111!1!!111
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