Thanks so much for the massive outpouring of new name suggestions! Keep sending 'em. We're taking next week off, but then after that... a newly named show will emerge from the glistening chrysalis of the old.
And now, the all-apocalypse episode: a doomsday vault for seeds, tracking a killer asteroid, targeting antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and contemplating a real-life Cylon attack.
Created, written & designed by John Pavlus / Screencasts produced by Smashcut Media / Music by Jeff Alvarez
From the Inadvertent Findings Dept.:
Sony's robo-dog AIBO is just as good as a real dog at assuaging loneliness in nursing home residents. Could bona-fide robot caregivers be far off?
Here's my question: did the investigators control for the fact that most nursing homes are such soul-destroying places that residents could probably be "cheered up" by a #&*%ing pet rock, much less some cheesy plastic dog-droid?
Yes, let's find that sweet spot: the minimum possible threshold for maintaining our elderly folks' mental health combined with the mimimum number of biological beings involved. Hell, why not just swap out AIBOs for Roombas? Granny gets "quality time" AND the floor gets cleaned! She'll never know the difference!
Time to cue up The Who on my iPod.
Anybody who's played through the mind-bendingly brilliant, first-person puzzle game Portal came to a final confrontation with the devious AI computer who taunted you throughout your tasks, GlaDOS. If you haven't played, stop whatever you are doing and buy it, steal it or otherwise get your hands on it.
OK, now that that's out of the way: The Japanese (of-freaking-course) have invented a pollen-monitoring robot (pictured left) that bears a striking resemblance to your final enemy in the game. 200 of these ball-headed 'Pollen Robots' will hang outside volunteers' homes in Tokyo, monitoring pollen levels and sending the data back to headquarters of the Weathernews, Inc., where an online pollen map can notify hay fever sufferers of the most affected areas in town. Creepiest of all, a pair of eyes will glow white, blue, green, red or purple to indicate the level of Japanese cedar and cypress pollen in the air.
For the first time ever, monkeys walking on treadmills in the U.S. can control robots on treadmills in Japan. This news has been brought to you by Duke University Medical Center researchers along with the Computational Brain Project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency
Also: CGI of monkeys walking treadmills:
Now that we've partnered the increasingly dangerous monkeys with increasingly dangerous robots, the lasers are that much more important.
Continue reading 'American monkey brains control Japanese robots' >
When are we going to learn? If we keep teaching robots how to walk and drink wine like us, they're eventually just going to realize that they don't want to be tools for amusement and the advancement of Japanese coolness. They're going to want ice-cold revenge, and it'll be our fault.
Dario Floreano of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology helped develop robots that can evolve to communicate with each other, help out, and even lie when necessary. He and his future-ruining cohorts outfitted robots with lights, sensors, and wheels and placed them inside habitats with "food" and "poison" hot spots that either recharged or drained their batteries. They were also programmed with 30 "genes" that determined how much light they sensed and how they would respond when they did.
In the next "offspring" generation of robots, Floreano recombined the "genes" of the fittest robots, plus a bit of random code to act as a gene "mutation." Four different colonies of robots were then released into their habitats to eat, reproduce and die.
Continue reading 'Robots learn to evolve and lie; next stop WORLD DOMINATION' >
Alvarez may have (deservedly) stole our CES thunder with his Wii-tech post, but we saved the money shot for our final day of convention coverage.
Remember DARPA's self-driving vehicle challenge? Here's the winner. We rode in it. Beat that.
As you can see, it ain't called "The Boss" for nothing. Want to know how it works? Dig our interview with one of the engineers, after the jump.
Continue reading 'Video: GM's self-driving robocar will own you' >
The "Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems" was finally released last week after a long effort that began in 2005. Just in time for Christmas, the Battelle Memorial Institute-led report offers a wish list for how to move nanotechnology forward to lead the world in "addressing grand challenges in energy, health care, and other fields." The two main technologies the group asks for are for the U.S. to "1.Develop atomically precise technologies that provide clean energy supplies and a cost-effective energy infrastructure. 2. Develop atomically precise technologies that produce new nanomedicines and multifunctional in vivo and in vitro therapeutic and diagnostic devices to improve human health."
That's right: Peace on earth and good will towards men through tiny, tiny robots.
Continue reading 'Nanotechnology roadmap released: Tiny map for tiny bots' >
As chilling as it sounds, the notion of robot sex has emerged from the freaky fringe and become a new topic of debate and speculation in the mainstream. In large part thanks to Dr. David Levy's new book "Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships" published by Harper Collins in November.
Hey, World, tired of taking that guy and/or girl out for a nice, expensive dinner and then having your heart broken? I know I am. Well, fear not! Now you can just disclose personal information to CyberLover, a bot making the rounds in Russian chat rooms. It'll steal your heart. And your identity. "It has been designed as a robot that lures victims automatically without human intervention," said Sergei Shevchenko, a senior analyst at PC Tools.
Continue reading 'Russian flirt-bots fool Turing/lonely hearts' >
For the last few years, the Robo-One competitions have given robot-builders a chance to showcase their creations – and watch them do battle. This year's Grand Championship saw robots that knew how to use their balloons, dancing bots that sang Christmas carols, and shadowy humanoids that engaged in the questionable "three-point defense." After all the robots were introduced, they went head-to-head in the ring to try to knock the circuits out of each other. (Or, at least, knock over an opponent three times.)
The requirements for Robo-One are pretty minimal, but each competing robot has to walk on two legs. About 25 finalists are gathered in Tokyo for the most recent contest.
“You can’t win a battle if you can’t rebuild your robot at least once every half year,” says one of the competitors.
Continue reading 'Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em, Decapitate ‘em, Robots!' >
The Japanese are way ahead when it comes to thinking, dancing robots, but when it comes to kicking ass, we still rule. An evil-sounding, Utah-based company called Sarcos spent six years developing a dextrous, highly responsive robotic exoskeleton for military applications. The idea of military exoskeletons is nothing new, but watching one in action is pretty freaking sweet. Let's go to the tape:
Continue reading 'Ripley was right: High-powered exoskeleton in action' >
Today's 60 Second Psych podcast is brought to you by the extensive order blattodea:
Robotic roaches rally real roaches
Full transcript after the jump...
Continue reading 'Robotic roaches rally real roaches [podcast]' >
Watch the video. Then watch it again. And again. And then, finally, look up as you say "Goodnight, Moon" and pray to god that the robot with a planned "launchable/releasable grappling hook" carrying payloads of up to 20 tons doesn't come for you in the night. Oh, and by the way, NASA plans to integrate a "useful "voice and gesture" command mode to enable suited astronauts to interact with these vehicles." That way you can beg for your life.
Continue reading 'NASA "a decade or so" from launching ninja robot' >
It may be no surprise to anyone but Michael Bay, but a recent study shows young children have a preference for interactive robots over traditional toys. Now, if you'll allow me one second to put myself into the mind of a toddler, which I do regularly anyway: "Hmmm, let's see....dolly looks pretty in pink and freaking just sits there, while QRIO dances, giggles and comes with an optional land-to-air missile mount. I think I'm going to go with the robot. Mwaaaah! I want a cookie!"
During the first 27 sessions, the robot was responsive to the children, giggling when its head was touched. The children enjoyed interacting with the robot during this period, the team reports.
The researchers then restricted QRIO's behavior to a more predictable, nonresponsive dance routine for 15 sessions, and children's interest declined. At the end of the study, the team reinstated its full repertoire for three sessions, and interest picked up. Programming the robot to respond to the children was key to engaging them, the team reports online 5 November in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
How about watching a gaggle of driverless cars meander through a fake city?
The selection process for DARPA’s third Grand Challenge is almost over, and the final race begins bright and early on Saturday. So if you’re anywhere near Victorville, California, grab a cup of coffee and go watch autonomous robots careen wildly through the streets, jump curbs and morph into giant aliens that, as it turns out, are fighting a civil war that began in a galaxy far, far away…
Well, we can only hope that they’re not going to jump any curbs. The selected vehicles are driverless, and they are robots, and they have to follow laws and drive judiciously as they navigate through a simulated city scene. Why? For the thrill of the ride, of course, and the Department of Defense would like to use them on the battlefields of the future. The event is open to the public; you can look at the schedule here.
Dammit. I guess Pablo 247, my robot made from paper clips, didn't win iRobot's Create Challenge contest, because Danh Trinh's "Personal Home Robot" did. Great name, there, Danh.
Lame name aside (it's no Pablo 247), Personal Home Robot can water plants, control lights and appliances, play music and remind owners to take their medication. Unfortunately, it didn't remind Trinh to take his naming creativity pills or use paper clips in his design. But Trinh, of Towson, MD, still gets $5,000 in cash. That's a lot of paper clips.
Continue reading 'Homemade robot wins contest, shames whatever you did this week' >
