Robots With Feelings

This article talks about a project that is currently underway in regards to emotions with robots. They are currently testing out robots to have them express emotions of their own and to grow attached to people with emotional feelings. I think that this may be dangerous, because what if a robot learns to not like certain people???, then they may try to do something bad to that person. I think that robots should stay as machines that perform repetitive labor, and are not given emotional feelings.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081120111622.htm

Robots for the Home

Here are some robots just in time for the holiday season. Irobot has everything from the popular Roomba to a robot that will clean your gutters or pool. Do you think that in time people will no longer have to do "chores" and will be able to focus on the more important things in life?? I know that I hate having to clean, as soon as a reliable robot is put out for a reasonable price, I plan on purchasing it.

http://store.irobot.com/home/index.jsp

Robots in Hospitals

Robots are being used in hospitals, just like I talked about in my presentation. This article says that they are currently using the robots to perform simple routine surgeries. They hope in the future that they can perform major surgeries like heart surgery. Robots are being controlled by the surgeons from a remote location, so they can actually perform some of these surgeries from anywhere in the world. This is helping to keep costs down, and keeping less people in the surgery room.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/04/19/robmedical/index.html

cool articale

Futurist Ray Kurzweil explains how the boundary between man and machine is quickly disappearing. PLUS: A gallery of today's most mind-blowing 'bots

By Ray Kurzweil. Photo essay text by Eric Mika Posted 09.01.2006 at 2:00 am 3 Comments

by John B. Carnett: John B. Carnett

View Photo Gallery

Click "View Photos" to meet the world's most advanced humanoid precursors: a 'bot with vocal cords, a mapmaking Segway, and more. And to hear more from Ray Kurzweil on his visionary predictions, subscribe to the PopSci Podcast (directions below).

Human experience is marked by a refusal to obey our limitations. We´ve escaped the ground, we´ve escaped the planet, and now, after thousands of years of effort, our quest to build machines that emulate our own appearance, movement and intelligence is leading us to the point where we will escape the two most fundamental confines of all: our bodies and our minds. Once this point comes-once the accelerating pace of technological change allows us to build machines that not only equal but surpass human intelligence-we´ll see cyborgs (machine-enhanced humans like the Six Million Dollar Man), androids (human-robot hybrids like Data in Star Trek) and other combinations beyond what we can even imagine.

Although the ancient Greeks were among the first to build machines that could emulate the intelligence and natural movements of people (developments invigorated by the Greeks´ musings that human intelligence might also be governed by natural laws), these efforts flowered in the European Renaissance, which produced the first androids with lifelike movements. These included a mandolin-playing lady, constructed in 1540 by Italian inventor Gianello Torriano. In 1772 Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jacquet-Droz built a pensive child named L´crivain (The Writer) that could write passages with a pen. L´crivain´s brain was a mechanical computer that was impressive for its complexity even by today´s standards.

Such inventions led scientists and philosophers to speculate that the human brain itself was just an elaborate automaton. Wilhelm Leibniz, a contemporary of Isaac Newton, wrote around 1700: â€What if these theories are really true, and we were magically shrunk and put into someone´s brain while he was thinking. We would see all the pumps, pistons, gears and levers working away, and we would be able to describe their workings completely, in mechanical terms, thereby completely describing the thought processes of the brain. But that description would nowhere contain any mention of thought! It would contain nothing but descriptions of pumps, pistons, levers!â€

Leibniz was on to something. There are indeed pumps, pistons and levers inside our brain-we now recognize them as neurotransmitters, ion channels and the other molecular components of the neural machinery. And although we don´t yet fully understand the details of how these little machines create thought, our ignorance won´t last much longer.

The word â€robot†originated almost a century ago. Czech dramatist Karel Capek first used the term in his 1921 play R.U.R. (for â€Rossum´s Universal Robotsâ€), creating it from the Czech word â€robota,†meaning obligatory work. In the play, he describes the invention of intelligent biomechanical machines intended as servants for their human creators. While lacking charm and goodwill, his robots brought together all the elements of machine intelligence: vision, touch sensitivity, pattern recognition, decision making, world knowledge, fine motor coordination and even a measure of common sense.

Capek intended his intelligent machines to be evil in their perfection, their perfect rationality scornful of human frailty. These robots ultimately rise up against their masters and destroy all humankind, a dystopian notion that has been echoed in much science fiction since.

The specter of machine intelligence enslaving its creators has continued to impress itself on the public consciousness. But more significantly, Capek´s robots introduced the idea of the robot as an imitation or substitute for a human being. The idea has been reinforced throughout the 20th century, as androids engaged the popular imagination in fiction and film, from Rosie to C-3PO and the Terminator.

The first generation of modern robots were, however, a far cry from these anthropomorphic visions, and most robot builders have made no attempt to mimic humans. The Unimate, a popular assembly-line robot from the 1960s, was capable only of moving its one arm in several directions and opening and closing its gripper. Today there are more than two million Roomba robots scurrying around performing a task (vacuuming) that used to be done by humans, but they look more like fast turtles than maids. Most robots will continue to be utilitarian devices designed to carry out specific tasks. But when we think of the word â€robot,†Capek´s century-old concept of machines made in our own image still dominates our imagination and inspires our goals.

Care To Dance?

You guys have to check out this robot that dances! It was created in Japan and claims to be able to react to peoples movements and dance in the appropriate style. It's a pretty cool video as it gives a demonstration. I saw it today on MSN homepage. So I guess there's hope for the guy that can't get a date to this year's prom? Here's the link.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&from=MSNHP

Build Your Own Robot

Came across this website, and it is a forum that has articles about how to build your own robot. They have sections for beginner builders to advanced builders. The site has everything that a person could ever want, to build their very own little creature...is anyone up for the challenge?

Wanna Buy A Robot?

Hey guys. I was browsing around and found this site that sell industrial size/type robots and robotic arms like the ones we highlighted in our presentation. You can browse based on apllication and price etc. Contrary to my initial opinion, they are atually relatively affordable. They are alot cheaper than I wouyld have guessed. Not a lot of thought provoking material, but I just thought some would find it interesting. Here's the link below. Check it out if you have a minute.

http://www.robots.com/

Catch Of The Day

The London aquarium has just added a new fish to their tanks. It's a self guided robot that can sense surroundings and respond accordingly. It really is incredible. One spokesman had this to say. "This work has many real-world applications, including seabed exploration, detecting leaks in oil pipelines, mine countermeasures, and improving the performance of underwater vehicles," project leader Huosheng Hu told the Associated Press. As always I have atached the article for your enjoyment.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1007_051007_robot_fish.html

Creating Robots With A Mind Of Their Own!

This video on YouTube is about how they are trying to develop robots that can think for themselves and do tasks that are too dangerous for people. Although they are in the very beginning stages of development and not much progress has been made, I think that it may not be in our best interest to develop robots that can think for themselves. This may end up being like Irobot.................what do you guys think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkvpEfAPXn4

Robots and Human Rights?

This is crazy. Robots are now being used in Qatar to, get this... race camels! You heard it right. Camel owners are now using these smart jockies to race their camels to the finish line. This serves as a human rights improvement as well as technology in sports. The article points out that before, owners used children as their jockies, even as young as four years old! Sometimes serious injuries would result! The article points out that the market for these robots will soon be growing as more and more Arab countries begin to adopt this technology. This is great news for the makers of these machies! Here is the complete article.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0715_050715_robot_jockey.html

This article talks about the problems with developing robots in to machines that are able to think for themselves, and not just do basic manufacturing functions. They are starting to teach robots to walk more human like and have them perform hand gestures. Do you think that robots will ever really turn in to "humans" and be able to coincide with the rest of the human race??? I don't think so. Call me a pesimist, but I just don't think that they can get a hunk of metal to think for itself, I mean after all, they can't get every human to have the same standard intelligence.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729075109.htm

NASA Developing Robots with Human Traits

NASA's goal is not for robots to have the same "thought process" as humans, but for them to act, respond, and interact more "naturally" in ways that humans do with other humans.  The three areas that NASA will work on are collaborative control, reasoning mechanisms, and field work.

"Collaborative Control":

Is to help robots to speak to humans in a effort for them to work together as partners.

"Reasoning Mechanisms":

Will be put in place so that robots will be able to reason through problems and humans do.

"Field Work":

Will take place so that test can be made on robots helping assemble buildings, test equipment, weld structures and dig with small tools along with humans.

For more information about this article copy and paste the link below:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/roboticexplorers/robots_human_coop.html

Dinosaur Update

Hey Guys! I was looking through the Times Union today and found a good followup article on my previous post about Walking With Dinosaurs. The article gives some pretty interesting facts about the robots themselves including operations, weight, size, etc. It's pretty good and thought everyone would enjoy the followup. I have posted the link below. Enjoy

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111908/lif_356974176.shtml

Robots in nasa

Here is a link to NASA robots program
http://robotics.nasa.gov/

Robots in Space!

I thought that this article was very interesting, it talks about how robots are able to do tasks in space that humans physically can't. Do you think that someday there will be no need for astronauts at all, and robots can do all the work to discover space?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041130081240.htm

Are Robots Taking Over?

I found a very interesting article that talks about the explosion of robots into everyday society. Robots, as we pointed out in our presentation, are now involved in almost every area of human life. They are in businesses, military, homes, etc. The main question is going to be one of acceptance. Are people going to embrace this new technology or run from it. A quote from the article addresses this point. "Our biggest hurdle right now is skepticism," Angle said. But "we are just at a point where robots are becoming affordable ... and some of them can actually do real work." The sale of robots increased seven fold in the year 2007. Most of these bots perform relatively simple tasks such as vaccuming and mowing the lawn. As new tech becomes available the possibilities are literally endless. I Robot anyone?

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/10/65408

DINOSAURS ARE BACK!

Some of you may have heard about a new entertainment show called Walking With Dinosaurs. Well they are now taking the show on tour to educate and entertain people with life size monsters! These robots are pretty sophisticated and are HUGE! They really make for an incredible experience. The function of these robots is twofold. First they show that robots can be used for education purposes and can be interactive. They are also emerging as entertainment figures. The show is visiting several major cities and will be in Jacksonville in late November! They have some videos on their website that sheds more light on how things work. It's pretty amazing.

http://www.dinosaurlive.com/

Robots in the Fight Against Terror

This is apretty cool article about some of the various ways and types of robots that are being used in the military currently. These robots are being deployed all over the world in various capacities in order to aid in the fight against terrorists. From simple mine sweepers to advanced Predator robotic aircraft, these machines are making a difference for our armed forces. Check out the link.

http://www.learnaboutrobots.com/military.htm

Sexy Computer Geeks

Olivia Albritton
Ryan Kay
Jenny Noel
Christopher Persandi
Riley Stallard

Robots Solution to Oil Crisis?

Hey guys. I just read where MIT has developed an underwater robot that can hover in place just like a helicopter. It goes on to say that this is very important in deepwater oil exploration. This neww craft can dive to 6000 meters! It automatically adjusts to currents, obstacles, and anything that may cause it to move off course. This is just another example of how robots can aide society. By using this technology oil companies can obtain more detailed research of a new drill site to produce more oil. it is much more cost effective than its current mode of research. More oil= cheaper gas. Just another way that robots can shape our lives.


Here's a link http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/odyssey4-0925.html

cool stuff

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110112107.htm

anyone intrested in buying a robbot?

This store seems to sell kicks. Coding experience suggested.
http://www.robotstore.com/

Check out this article about the interaction between children and robots...  http://www.pnas.org/content/104/46/17954.full.pdf