Robots, in a bald-faced effort to induce warm feelings in humans, are now offering the Robotic Breast Massager. Continue reading Robots Gone Wild
Tag Archives: Robots
The Robot Takeover is Getting Closer
A mind control device … where your mind controls a video game, is soon to be developed, and is obviously the first step in the Robot plan to Take Over the World.
Some scary new technology will soon be coming to market: video game controllers that let you use your thoughts rather than your hands. The EPOC neuroheadsets are “designed to detect conscious thoughts and expressions as well as ‘non-conscious emotions’ by reading electrical signals around the brain”.
Reward now, punishment later. [source: Primordial Blog]Then there’s this: Continue reading The Robot Takeover is Getting Closer
Robots Send Expedition to Antarctica
A robotic observatory installed at a high-altitude site in Antarctica will search for planets orbiting other stars and test the site’s potential for more ambitious observatories that could follow. The site may offer the best astronomical sky conditions in the world….During the uninterrupted darkness of winter near the South Pole, CSTAR will be able to monitor a 20-square-degree patch of sky – about 100 times the area of the Full Moon – for four months straight. It will look for the dimming of a star’s light caused by a planet passing in front of it as seen from Earth.Astronomers involved in the PLATO project believe Dome A may be the best site in the world for astronomy, and PLATO is designed primarily to measure key characteristics like the amount of turbulence in the air, which can distort astronomical images, and the amount of water vapour, which blocks out light in the infrared and radio parts of the spectrum.[source]
Robot Unemployment Crisis Solved with Make-Work Program
Robots in the Netherlands who can’t find jobs elsewhere will be put to work pumping gas. Continue reading Robot Unemployment Crisis Solved with Make-Work Program
Robotic Child-Computer Interface
Ethical Implications of Robots in War
From Slashdot:
Schneier points out an interesting (and long, 117-pages) paper on the ethical implications of robots in war: “This report has provided the motivation, philosophy, formalisms, representational requirements, architectural design criteria, recommendations, and test scenarios to design and construct an autonomous robotic system architecture capable of the ethical use of lethal force. These first steps toward that goal are very preliminary and subject to major revision, but at the very least they can be viewed as the beginnings of an ethical robotic warfighter. The primary goal remains to enforce the International Laws of War in the battlefield in a manner that is believed achievable, by creating a class of robots that not only conform to International Law but outperform human soldiers in their ethical capacity.”
Your Brain on Jessica Banks
Marvin Minsky at Gadgetoff 2007
Theo Jansen: The art of creating creatures
Dutch artist Theo Jansen demonstrates his amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures, built from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His “Strandbeests” (Beach Creatures) are built to move and even survive on their own.
Robocarp
Coming soon to Minnesota: Robowalleye!And if you don’t want to get totally freaked out, leave now…. Continue reading Robocarp
Robots would need these
Because the can’t drive…
GM Envisions Driverless Cars on Horizon from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — Cars that drive themselves – even parking at their destination – could be ready for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say.[…]
Hod Lipson: Robots that are”self-aware”
Hod Lipson demonstrates a few of his cool little robots, which have the ability to learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate. At the root of this uncanny demo is a deep inquiry into the nature of how humans and living beings learn and evolve, and how we might harness these processes to make things that learn and evolve.
More Robot News
Robot that sees you, draws you. It’s the “see and draw” robot …;Robot Draws Portraits, Holds Pen Like I Do
Robotic researcher Sylvain Calinon developed a cute little robot that draws portraits. He sits there until he detects a face in his field of view, and then takes a picture and draws your face based on the photo…
Robots to Control Robots to Control Oil Platforms
This is bad: They are now going to turn the control of the world’s petroleum supplies over to robots. Continue reading Robots to Control Robots to Control Oil Platforms
Hero Robot Now Available
Remember Heathkit? Then you are old. Anyway, Heathkit was a company that produced electronic devices (such as stereos). They were generally good, high quality devices that you could get much cheaper than market value, but they would arrive in the mail in pieces … totally unassembled, and sometimes with a free soldering iron. Continue reading Hero Robot Now Available