It’s official – robots will have a base of operations on the moon in which they will have the ability attack all of humankind. Japan is planning on sending a robot to the moon in 2015 to do scientific research and video recording. This seems innocent enough, but if everything goes according to plan that same robot will begin building a base on the moon for other robots by 2020. Giving robots a quiet place to plan their domination of Earth away from the prying eyes of humans is a terrible idea, and here are some reasons why. Some of them don’t even involve robots. Thats how serious this could become.
Honda's Asimo will be shown following 'Living With Robots' at Sundance
As a part of their “The Power of Dreams – Dream the Impossible” series of short films, Honda will be showing the newest contribution to the documentary series entitled “Living With Robots”. The film will introduce (or enforce) the idea of robots as a part of every day life. It will raise questions such as how someone respond to a new robot worker at a store they frequent or how easily robots will be able to integrate into a household. The film will include interviews from a variety of robot authors, scientists, enthusiasts, academics and more . A live demonstration of Honda’s Asimo humanoid robot will follow the film.
While I commend Honda for making documentaries that are forward thinking and encourage critical thinking towards technology, my idea of a future with robots is probably much more oppressive then the film will convey. A robot may fetch your coffee at Starbucks one day, but the next day it could be smashing you over the head with an espresso machine. I’m sure the Asimo demonstration will be awe inspiring as well, but I prefer not be to face to face with something that will eventually be hunting me down. At the very least, “Living With Robots” will raise awareness about the current state of robotics and allow those in attendance to know the face of the enemy.
You can view the other short films Honda has produced here.
An Intel robot that can plug itself into a wall socket.
Robotics news site Hizook has an article showcasing robots that are able to find wall sockets and plug themselves in to recharge. This has been an overlooked part of autonomous robotics, but it is a very important concept. As robots are continuously being built with more autonomy and less human control, the need to recharge internal batteries on the fly becomes more and more important. Depending on a person to charge a robot is a tether to true autonomous robotics, but projects at Intel Research Labs and Willow Garage are looking to cut that tether and give robots freedom. I personally think it is a terrible idea -- but more on that later.
The robots from both companies are able to effectively find an outlet and plug itself in. The Intel Labs robot includes a scanner that searches for electric fields that surround an active power outlet. It closely scans the area around the outlet to determine the exact location of the plug. The Willow Garage robot looked for visual clues on the plug itself, such as a certain plug color or pattern. Videos of both robots are below:
Intel Labs Marvin
Willow Garage PR2
Although the process of finding an outlet is currently on the slow side, these projects could become very important to autonomous and mobile robotics used in healthcare, in-home care, customer service and more. Many projects developing the next generation of robots could benefit greatly from a self-charging robot. Along with artificial intelligence and mobility systems, the ability to recharge itself is what a robot needs to become truly autonomous and self sufficient.
It is also a terrifying concept -- when the Robot Armageddon begins, should we make sure their is no power to make sure the attacking robots will eventually run out of juice? Doing so would make life remarkably more difficult for any human survivors, but it could be the only option. Unless robots start using nuclear power or put every human into the Matrix, this technology and the ability to produce electricity could become very important.
Anyway, the article at Hizook is far more scientific and much less paranoid. There are more pictures and videos too, so check it out for yourself.
CES 2010 has come and gone, and if your are an avid technology news reader you are probably overloaded with all kinds of great information to impress everybody with. While 3D dominated coverage and was the unofficial focus of the show this year, there were still a few robotics companies showing off their latest and greatest. No demos seemed to give out an immediate sense of doom – maybe just a hint of creepiness.
The main idea that many of the demonstrations showed was just how far robotics has come and how fast it is moving. In the past, updates on the Honda ASIMO or Sony AIBO would occasionally surface but were few and far between. CES 2010 had a plethora of new and updated robotics demos, so check them out after the break.
First off, apologies for a very content thin December – thanks to everybody that continued to drop by the site despite the lack of any new and terrifying robot news. January is looking to be content rich, filled with stories about crazy military robots and projects, progress with computer/brain interfaces, all kinds of scary science and more.
To end the year, a few “Best of 2009″ links about robots are below.
How will robotic personalities evolve in the future?
Robots that have the ability to think and make their own choices is a fear that has evolved thanks to science fiction books and movies, but how exactly can a robot make those decisions? Within a group of people, each person will make differing choices when faced with similar obstacles and stimuli based on previous experiences and a unique personality. Faced with a similar choice, it is usually assumed that a robot would make a decision based purely on the programming it houses and therefore leave the robot devoid of a personality. This is not going to be the case any longer, because scientists have developed the ability to give robots a unique and changing personality based on robotic genes and chromosomes.
President Obama recently visited Oakton High School in Washington D.C. to view their Cougar Cannon robot and speak about the importance of math and science education. He offered up a great quote saying:
“As president, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in case they try anything.”
Awesome. It’s comforting to know that despite all of the duties and distractions of being in charge, President Obama still understands the threat that robots pose.
A few years ago, Michael Jackson had plans to build a 50 foot robotic replica of himself in Las Vegas to help promote any concert he might do in the area. The robot would be large enough to be seen by people as their airplanes landed in Las Vegas. He also wanted it to shoot lasers out of its eyes while surrounded by human cyborgs. Sound ridiculous? I certainly think so, partly because he had enough money to be able to have this built despite as of his well documented lack of money at the time, and also because a 50 foot Michael Jackson robot that shoots eye lasers alongside a cyborg army is terrifying.
Apparently he had his body 3d-mapped in 1996 so that the robot could be as real as possible, and blueprints were even made up. From a 2007 Yahoo story:
Luckman Van Pier, his partner at the company behind the proposal, claims blueprints have been drawn up for the show and seen by the star.
“Michael’s looked at the sketches and likes them,” he told the New York Daily News.
On the subject of the robot, he continued: “It would be in the desert sands. Laser beams would shoot out of it so it would be the first thing people flying in would see.”
Now the blueprints are up for sale for $1 million. This story proves two things: 1) If you are super rich and famous you can do damn near anything and 2) Beware of super rich celebrity’s ideas for world domination via robots.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1ab7b071-964f-4654-a267-ee37ae96938a)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=f362f3c0-ba87-4d59-b5f9-daaec6f44204)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=38c92e27-4a76-40cc-8cca-fcffb1bf4f4e)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=6750369d-6568-4da8-a2e6-48c809533da9)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=6ad3e65a-d4b3-49a6-a465-0d30fb7bc74a)
