|
||||||
|
Story Archives of 'robots'
Here's What's Awesome: Robots in the Ocean, Lightswitch Ghosts
By Brady Carlson on Sunday, November 15, 2009.Welcome to Here's What's Awesome, answer the secret word and you'll get an extra fourteen cents. It's a common word, something you find around the internet.
20,000 Robotic Submersibles Under the Sea
The Robot Will See You Now
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, November 4, 2009.In 1985, the world witnessed the first robot-assisted surgery. The PUMA 560 angled its white plastic arm towards the brain of a patient and carefully inserted a biopsy needle. The procedure was a success and the field of medical robotics was born.
Now researchers are creating robots capable of much more than mechanical tasks. A new crop of social robots cheer on stroke victims struggling through physical therapy, help Alzheimer’s patients remember events from the past, and give Autistic children encouragement as they connect with the outside world.
Some patients actually prefer the mechanical voice of these robots over the prompting of therapists and family members. Programming robots to display more and more human-like characteristics raises the question of whether we are coming dangerously close to singularity -- the point at which machines achieve human-level intelligence.
Dr. Jerome Groopman wrote about the rise of medical robots for The New Yorker, where he’s staff writer. He’s also the author of several books including How Doctors Think.
The New Yorker: Robots That Care
(Photo by Roberto Rizzato via Flickr/Creative Commons)
May The Hologram Be With You
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, November 2, 2009.Think back to that iconic Star Wars scene when R2D2 beams in a hologram of Princess Leia to deliver an urgent message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. A tiny image of Princess Leia flickers before Obi Wan’s eyes, a technological marvel when the film came out in 1977. Audiences were equally entranced when a hologram of Yoda was transported through space and time to a Jedi Council Meeting.
Now researchers are taking a cue from star wars and developing 3D technology that can beam anyone – Jedi or mere mortal – to a meeting far, far away. If a 3D image isn’t tactile enough, maybe an animatronics robot would do the trick. These life-like avatars move their mouths and eyes, mirroring a person’s expression in real time.
Universities are now considering these avatars and holograms as high-tech updates to old school speaker phone and video conference technologies.
We’ve beamed in Jeffrey Young, so to speak, to tell us more. He’s senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education and writes for their College 2.0 blog.
The Chrinicle of Higher Education: Beam Me to the Faculty Senate
(Photo by Chris Hildreth for The Chronicle of Higher Education)
The Ultimate Robot Smackdown
By Jen Nathan on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.
More than thirty robots went head-to-head in Toyama, Japan last weekend at the prestigious Robo-One competition.
Our favorite contender was a one-armed stabbing robot that can be operated by brain waves. The inventor attached a series of electrodes to his forehead and used neural waves to tell it when to walk forward, rotate right, and unleash its stabbing arm.
Deep-Sea Robot
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, September 16, 2009.
Join me for an adventure deep under the sea, into the depths to the ocean floor where creatures lurk and mysteries flourish. Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo plummeted 20,000 leagues into the dark sea, where others fear to plunge. Now scientists have built a machine to explore the bottom of the ocean while they remain safely ashore. It’s called the Benthic Rover -- think Mars Rover, except this one goes under water.
The Benthic Rover recently returned from a voyage off the coast of California, where it gathered information about the effects of climate change on deep sea life. Alana Sherman tells us about it as part of our “next green thing” series. Alana led the team of engineers that built the robot at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Wired: Deep-Sea Robot Roves the Unexplored Ocean Depths
(Photo courtesy of Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)
The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, August 12, 2009.
A revolt led by killer robots? A classic sci-fi plot is beginning to seem a little more plausible.
Predator drones have the ability to kill autonomously. There’s a mobile robot that can plug itself into a socket to recharge and a Smartphone virus can mimick you.
These are among the concerns that led a group of computer scientists to gather earlier this year to discuss the ethics, advances, and public worries surrounding artificial intelligence research. The group will release its findings later this year, but we’re getting an advance summary from Eric Horvitz.
Eric is senior researcher at Microsoft and former president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He led the conference, and we asked him whether any of these advances in artificial intelligence keep him up at night.
New Scientist: Smart machines: What's the worst that could happen?
(Photo by JimNTexas via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Here's What's Awesome: Emo Robot Bands, Time-Shifting Self-Portraits
By Brady Carlson on Sunday, August 2, 2009.Summer. It means sun, fun, fast cars, friends and food. Warmth, wind, water, wild times and, for some, Weekend At Bernie's screenings (!). For us, it means your weekly collection of awesome links is celebrating its birthday! Here are a few links that'll make great conversation starters as you stand around the pool at your local Here's What's Awesome birthday party:
Maybe Skynet just needs a date
Part Taxidermy, Part Terminator
By Todd Bookman on Wednesday, June 3, 2009.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials have a new tool in their arsenal against poachers: robotic animals. Part taxidermy and part Terminator, these high-tech decoys are meant to entice illegal hunters. The animals may be fake, but shooting them carries the same penalties as going after the real thing.
Here's What's Awesome: Robot Penguins, Sitcom Maps
By Brady Carlson on Sunday, April 26, 2009.The awesome is back!
Alert Danny Devito, and prep his secret lair
For years robot penguins were seen as just another perplexing gadget that Batman had to face. Now, thanks to a team of engineers in Germany, they're alive - and swim rather well:
This Robot Needs Your Help
By Avishay Artsy on Friday, April 24, 2009.
What if you were walking in a park one day, minding your own business, when you looked down and saw a tiny human-like robot struggling along at a snail's pace? Would you reach down and give it a helpful push?
That was the question Kacie Kinzer, an NYU graduate student, was seeking to answer when she created Tweenbots. And she was surprised by the willingness of New Yorkers to help the defenseless little guys navigate the city.
