"Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong" is a new book that will probably be interesting to read.
Rule #1: "A robot doesn't make a decision in which all the consequences cannot be predicted in advance."
Rule #2: "Do not give robots and computerized systems weapons."
Rule #3: Follow Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics," which state that "robots should not harm humans or allow them to come to harm through inaction, robots should always obey humans, and that robotic-self preservation is the lowest priority."
Rule #5: "Educate robots like children."
Rule #6: "Create machines capable of mastering emotions such as empathy, and give robots the ability to read non-verbal social cues."
NewScientist.com::Six ways to build robots that do humans no harm
[06 December 2008, top]
This sounds like a great course from Mills College.
"CS 123: Robots, Persons, and the Future"
"An interdisciplinary study of robots, cyborgs, wearable
computers, nanotechnology, and other technologies that
challenge our ideas of what it means to be a human being.
Students will gain a solid technical foundation by building,
debugging, and programming robots. We will also read a wide
variety of fiction and essays. All students will have to write
evaluative and predictive essays. Graduate students will be
required to build a robot of their own design. Offered every
other year beginning 2009-2010."
"Credit Hours: 1" "Instructor(s): Ellen Spertus"
Ellen Spertus is a great role model for young girls and I'm thinking of adding her to the GDT DreamTeam during the Spring 2009 semester.
[06 December 2008, top]
It only makes sense for FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) to play a key role in the world of robotics.
"RoboCup, an international joint project to promote artificial
intelligence (AI), robotics and related fields, has set a goal
for fully autonomous, humanoid robots to win the world soccer
championship by 2050."
The RobotCup winner in 2006 and 2007 use Fedora.
RedHat.com::A New Goal for Open Source
[26 November 2008, top]
They're called AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) and they're going to play a huge role in our future given how much of the earth is water.
"The Canadian government has commissioned a pair of miniature
submarines - torpedo-shaped, robotic submersibles - to probe
two contentious underwater mountain chains in the Arctic Ocean,
part of the country's quest to secure sovereignty and potential
oil riches in a Europe-sized swath of the polar seabed."
The Canadian robotic submersibles will by able to submerge to "depths of up to 5,000 metres" (i.e. approximately 3.11 miles).
Canada.com::Unmanned robot subs key to Canada's claim on Arctic riches
[22 November 2008, top]
Wow... a 700-ton robotic truck.
"The largest truck in the world is about to become the
largest robotic vehicle in the world. Computer scientists
from Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up with engineers
from Caterpillar to automate the 700-ton trucks, which are
made to haul loads up to 240 tons from mines."
The truck can go a maximum speed of 42mph.
Discovery.com::World's Largest Truck Goes Robotic
[22 November 2008, top]
Robots as musicians?
"Researchers at National ICT Australia (NICTA) and the
University of New South Wales (UNSW) have developed a
Linux-based robot that plays the clarinet.
The software for clarinet playing robot is written in the "C" programming language.
"Project leader John Judge of NICTA says the robot is an
embedded computer system that uses specially constructed
electronics to manipulate actuators that control the keys
and mouthpiece of the clarinet. Judge says two CPUs control
the robot, one that runs Linux to process the music and set
up a series of events, and a microcontroller that determines
how much pressure to exert on the mouthpiece and what keys
to depress."
ComputerWorld.com.au::Linux-powered clarinet playing robot wins international prize
[07 November 2008, top]
I sat on this posting for way too long...
"Spire Corp. announced it has expanded its leadership team with
the addition of Martin Stein as Vice President of Product
Development of Spire Solar."
Roger Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corporation, was quoted saying the following.
"His extensive experience in advanced robotics, thin film
and photovoltaic applications, as well as his proven leadership
in introducing new product lines and managing market growth,
will be a valuable asset to Spire as we continue to meet the
demand for solar capital equipment worldwide."
Prior to joining Spire, Mr. Stein was "general manager of the robotics product group and director of quality at Brooks Automation, where he was responsible for the introduction and market growth of semiconductor wafer and flat-panel display automation equipment."
Robots enable automation.
[07 November 2008, top]
The EU (European Union) is getting serious about robotics.
"The European Commission (EC) says the European Union will
double its investment in robotics research between 2007
to 2010 in an effort to create stronger links between
academia and industry.
In a nutshell, the EU doesn't want to become dependent on other parts of the world for their robotic needs. In addition, the EU believes exponential growth awaits the robotics market.
"The robotics market's growth rate will become an important
part of the world economy within the next two decades, and
the International Federation of Robotics estimates the current
world market for industrial robots at about 4 billion euros
and predicts a 4.2 percent increase per year until 2010.
EuroAlert.net::EU to double its R&D investment in robotics
[07 November 2008, top]
Meet robogirl Repliee R-1...
"A life-like robot created to look like a five-year-old girl
has been unveiled by scientists in Japan."
Telegraph.co.uk::Robot that looks like young girl unveiled
[15 October 2008, top]
Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, talked about robots at MIT's EmTech (Emerging Technology) conference.
"Change is hard. So why struggle with human beings, and the
messy real world, when you can just play with robots instead?
Mundie envisions robot receptionists -- the voice-recognition
hell of customer service, but inflicted on us in real life,
in other words. 'This will change the everyday way humans
interact with computers.' says Mundie."
ValleyWag.com::The geek obsession with robots
[01 October 2008, top]
I have started a robotics related Google Group.
|
| Subscribe to Robonewbies |
| Visit this group |
[22 September 2008, top]
Wow... autonomous trucks that can carry 240+ tons of stuff.
"Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute
are working with colleagues at Caterpillar Inc. to develop
autonomous versions of large haul trucks used in mining operations."
[...]
"The Carnegie Mellon team will be adapting perception,
planning and autonomous software architectures that it
originally developed for the Defense Advanced Research
Project Agency's (DARPA) UGCV-PerceptOR (UPI) autonomous
vehicle program and the DARPA Urban Challenge robot race.
Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., was a major sponsor
of the Carnegie Mellon Tartan Racing team that won the
$2 million Urban Challenge race in Victorville, Calif.,
last November."
CMU.edu::Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute and Caterpillar Inc. To Automate Large Off Highway Haul Trucks
[20 September 2008, top]
Almost everytime I bring up the topic of supercomputing and the fact that we have entered into the era of peta-scale cmputing, I get asked "why?" Why do we need computers that do quadrillions of calculations in a second? I usually start with weather forecasting. Just think if we could predict exactly
"Jeff Hawkins' software startup Numenta is trying to replicate
the thinking patterns of the human brain in an effort to
recognize subtle patterns in immense streams of data. Researchers,
of course, say such tools could lead to advances in data-rich
fields from drug discovery to law enforcement."
"According to Yahoo's (YHOO) tech research chief, Prahbakar Raghavan,
the race between Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and IBM (IBM) hinges in
part on which company can 'turn electricity most efficiently into
computing power.' What's more, according to EDSA, an hour of
downtime at a data center can cost as much as $6 million."
BusinessWeek.com::Numenta Is Imitating Your Brain
[20 September 2008, top]
iRobot announced it has "signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nekton Research, LLC, an unmanned underwater robot and technology company based in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina."
"We believe that the underwater market is the next frontier
for robots," said Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of
iRobot. "This acquisition positions us for leadership in
robot solutions on both the land and sea."
"Nekton's Ranger will be a strong complement to the Seaglider we have licensed from the University of Washington," said Joe Dyer, president of iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots division.
"We expect to be offering a next-generation Ranger by late 2009, which would not have been possible without iRobot," said Rick Vosburgh, Nekton's President and CEO, and soon to be Executive Director of iRobot's Maritime Systems.
[08 September 2008, top]
Rod Brooks is a robotics guru from MIT and he was the CTO at iRobot. Brooks has started a company named Heartland Robotics, which will "focus on industrial and workplace robots with the aim of boosting U.S. competitiveness." Good news for iRobot--Brooks will act as a special iRobot consultant and remain on its board of directors.
Xconomy.com::IRobot Co-Founder Brooks Leaves to Launch New Robotics Firm Aiming to Revitalize U.S. Workforce
[02 September 2008, top]
Bionics is the "application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology."
Bionics = BIOlogy + electroNICS
Question: Is Biomimicry is a form of bionics where the "biology" is animals?
"Robots inspired by nature are designed to function in the
real world and survive in unpredictable environments through
biomimicry, in which the machines' movements are modeled after
those of animals."
Northeastern University biology professor Joseph Ayers was quoted saying the following.
"If you're controlling a robot with a computer program, unless
you've anticipated every possible situation it's going to get
into, it will eventually get into a situation where it has no
escape strategy and it will be stuck. Animals never get stuck."
Look up "Stickybot."
Harvard University engineering professor Robert Howe, who with a graduate student, built a robot hand capable of naturally picking up objects.
"Instead of using sensing and control and computers, you try
to build the mechanism so it does the right thing without any
of that higher-level supervision."
[30 August 2008, top]
Potential dangerous idea... Giving robots brains.
"Humanity was dealt a decisive blow by a poker-playing
artificial intelligence program called Polaris during
the Man-Machine Poker Competition in Las Vegas."
"Poker champs fought the AI system to a draw, then won in the
first two of four rounds (each round had Polaris playing 500
hands against two humans, whose points were averaged.) But in
the final two rounds of the match, Polaris beat both human
teams, two wins out of four, with one loss and one draw."
This is old news (i.e. it's from 7 July 2008).
EETimes.com::AI beats human poker champions
[20 August 2008, top]
Bill Smart is an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. His university is into robotics and he is right one with the following quote.
"When the military says 'robot' they mean everything from
self-driving trucks up to what you would conventionally
think of as a robot. You would more accurately call them
autonomous systems rather than robots."
[Side-bar] The area code for WU in St. Louis is 314.
WUStL.edu::Military use of robots increases
[14 August 2008, top]
Ralf Der at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics was quoted saying: "I call it a plug-and-play brain."
"Researchers in Leipzig have demonstrated software designed
for robots that allows them to 'learn' to move through
trial and error."
What if we assume robots will have unlimited real-time computing capabilities?
BBC.co.uk::Robots learn to move themselves
Der was speaking about robots, but what about humans?
"One of the tools that shows the greatest immediate promise
is the computer, when it can be harnessed for direct on-line
assistance, integrated with new concepts and methods."
From Doug Engelbart circa 1962...
Bootstrap.org::Augmenting Human Intellect (1962)
[09 August 2008, top]
iRobot Corp. has announced the "introduction of the iRobot Negotiator."
Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government and Industrial Robots, was quoted saying: "We always loved the design and the morphology. It's our design."
The power of morphology...
"Negotiator will provide basic reconnaissance to a much
broader group of public safety professionals, including
police departments, fire departments and domestic security
experts. The iRobot Negotiator is highly mobile, able to
climb stairs and easy to operate."
Dyer also stated: "There is growing support and demand for unmanned ground robots as people recognize the difference they make by offering life saving 'eyes on' benefits to teams in the field."
Blog.Wired.com::Revenge: iRobot Selling Former Foe's Machine
[07 August 2008, top]
Americans want robots to do their chores.
"Americans are more concerned than ever about the time they
spend working inside their homes and the dwindling amount
of time spent on leisure activities, according to iRobot
Corp.'s 'Balance at Home' survey. The national survey of
consumers, conducted by StrategyOne on behalf of iRobot,
indicates that Americans spend 40 percent of their in-home
waking hours tending to household chores such as vacuuming,
washing the floors and preparing meals."
This is difficult to believe... "One in three Americans go as far as to say there are days they would rather stay at work than go home and face their household tasks."
"iRobot's survey found that women with children are the most
balance-starved of all. The average mother spends more of
her in-home waking hours completing household tasks than
she does enjoying activities, such as spending time with
her children and family or relaxing by herself. In fact,
moms report spending 50 percent of their at-home time tending
to the household and less than one-third of their time
engaging in leisure activities."
To date, iRobot has the following "home" robots: Roomba (vacuum cleaning), Scooba (floor washing), Dirt Dog (shop sweeping), Verro (pool cleaning), Looj (gutter cleaning), and ConnectR (virtual visiting).
iRobot.com::Home Robots
[04 August 2008, top]
In 2006, the CREATE Lab at the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute had the idea of "having a city-wide robotics celebration" to honor Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary.
Today, Robot 250 has become a "city-wide community art and technology" that is taking place during July of 2008.
The mission of Robot 250 is to "foster creativity, build a sense of community and raise the technical literacy of our entire region."
In a nutshell, Pittsburgh is robot country.
Robot250.org::Pittsburgh City-Wide Robotics Celebration
[18 July 2008, top]
According to Online.WSJ.com, some pets need to get acquainted with home-based robots before they become accepting of them.
Our dog, Ray, didn't pay any attention to our Roomba, but then Ray is not your typical dog.
Online.WSJ.com quoted Daphna Nachminovitch of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals saying: "There's no way to explain to them that this is not a threat."
Online.WSJ.com::When Dogs and Robots Collide, Somebody Needs a Talking To
[15 July 2008, top]
Robots who have done their jobs have been modified to perform different jobs helping save the lives of soldiers.
The modified robot is the "Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Unmanned Ground Vehicle, or CUGV for short."
"The EOD community has been working with this robot for many,
many years. Now they've moved up (from iRobot Corporation's
PackBot 500) to a Talon, or 510 series. So the Department of
Defense decided to take the robots they're not using anymore
and design a detection suite so we can give the Soldier something
that can go downrange and detect instead of a Soldier having to
get in a Level A suit."
"When they get into a Level A suit, they really only have 45
minutes to go downrange to do what they need to do, depending
on how they breathe. The robot will give you four hours downrange
to be able to do all of the site characterizations and sampling
that needs to happen."
Capt. Julia Dorans, 95th Chemical Company commander, said: "You send the robot in, and if that blows up, you just order another part instead of losing a Soldier."
Army.mil::Chemical robot ready for its in-theater debut
[14 July 2008, top]
Lauren Kesner of CNBC wrote: "Whenever [Colin] Angle told people about his robot start-up company he always got the same response: 'Oh, so when are you going to clean my floors?' [...] After 12 years of tinkering, Angle and his team came up with the Roomba."
The following is a quote from Colin Angle, co-founder and CEO of Bedford, MA-based iRobot Corporation.
"When I think about how much we've accomplished, and I think about
have we achieved the goals of creating an industry of practical
robots, I could say, well, we've made a start. But there's so
much more to do, that I don't feel like I'm done. I don't feel
like I'm close."
iRobot went public on 9 November 2005 selling IRBT shares at $24. On 11 July 2008, iRobot (IRBT) closed $12.72. Colin Angle owns approximately 1.7 million IRBT shares and overall 48% of the IRBT shares are closely held.
MSNBC.com::Robot maker's fortune built on a simple idea
[11 July 2008, top]
IEEE posted an item about robots beating humans at air hockey.
"An upgraded robot designed by General Electric Fanuc (GEF)
and programmed by Nuvation Research Corp. (San Jose, Calif.)
can beat most human air hockey players, its developers claim."
Humans do okay against 8-bit robots, but the 32-bit robots are tough to beat. Will a human stand a chance against 64-bit robots?
"Good air hockey players can score against the robot if they
try really really hard. But its pretty obvious that the human
is the underdog--for one thing, the audience cheers whenever
the human makes a goal," quipped Michael Worry, president
and CEO of Nuvation.
Note: the air hockey playing robots are programmed in C.
EETimes.com::Robots aim to top humans at air hockey
[10 July 2008, top]
Those flying dragonflies you see might just be robots.
"Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in England and the
University of Ulm in Germany have developed a robotic dragonfly
to measure the current flows that go over and under the wings
at different flap cycles. The U.S. military wants to build tiny
flying robots equipped with cameras and sensors for surveillance.
Initially these robots could be used for "surveillance," but longer term why could they be used to drop nanobombs?
I don't see any reason to worry short-term about flying robots.
"Despite the potential advantages, small flying robots that
mimic dragonflies have not been successfully made, partially
because of the complexity surrounding the aerodynamics of the
dragonfly's four wings, and because of fabrications issues
involved with small flying machines. However, studying wing
motion and air forces reveals how dragonflies achieve their
agility, and may allow roboticists to eventually build robots
that use four wings.
Hmmm... longer-term we might be swatting robots instead of flies.
TechnologyReview.com::The Flight of Dragonfly Robots
[05 July 2008, top]
WALL-E the movie is a hit.
WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), a robot, falls in love with EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator).
The following was copied from the Wikipedia.
"The film premiered at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles,
California on June 23, 2008. WALL-E opened in wide release
in the United States and Canada on June 27, 2008 and grossed
$23.1 million its opening day. In its opening weekend, the
film grossed an estimated $62.5 million in 3,992 theaters,
ranking #1 at the box office."
Quote from the movie... the Ship's Computer say, "Caution: Rogue robots. Caution... "
Yuck! Pondering about "rogue robots" could cause a non-robot to suffer nightmares.
[30 June 2008, top]
On 20 June 2008, the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) had a story titled: "Coming Soon: Meet the Wife, She's a Robot."
"David Levy, author of the book 'Love + Sex With Robots,' believes
humans could have loving relationships with robots in about 40 years.
Scientists are already building robots that seem life like, and
sexual robots should hit the market within the next five years,
Levy said during an international conference at the University
of Maastricht in Holland."
To an extent, we're lucky that our robotic technology is not further along because as a world society we're not prepared to share the planet with robots. But, this editorial comment does assume that our world society is going to get better at some point and time.
SMH.com.au::Coming Soon: Meet the Wife, She's a Robot
[30 June 2008, top]
It's been a while ago, but I used "snakes" to clear clogged sinks; however, these snakes were dumb.
"The 1.5-meter long robots, which are made of aluminium,
are being designed to inspect and clean complicated
industrial pipe systems that are typically narrow and
inaccessible to humans."
If you think like a terrorist, these robotic snakes (as with all robots really) are downright scary.
PCWorld.IDG.com.au::Scandinavian scientists designing robotic snakes
[26 June 2008, top]
It's a bird, it's a plane, no "it's like a flying truck."
Broomfield, CO-based Frontline Aerospace has "built a prototype of a driverless aircraft designed to shuttle hundreds of pounds of supplies to soldiers in war zones."
Note: These aircraft are autonomous.
PCWorld.com.au::Flying Humvee' robot ships supplies to military troops
[24 June 2008, top]
I'm not sure why anybody would want a chair following behind them, but Gizmodo.com has a fun video that shows how robotic chairs could be re-arranged without requiring any manual labor. In addition, the Gizmodo.com video demonstrates how RFID (Radio Frequency IDentifiers) can be used with robots.
Gizmodo.com::RFID Robotic Chair Follows You Around For Constant Seating
[20 June 2008, top]
AUVs are Autonomous Underwater Vehicles that are sometimes called Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs). can
"iRobot announced a sole licensing agreement with UW TechTransfer
at the University of Washington to commercialize Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Seaglider technology previously supported
by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation."
[...]
"Seagliders help civilian, academic and military personnel make
oceanographic measurements at a fraction of the cost of traditional
research vessels or moored instruments."
Burlington, MA-based iRobot is a publically traded company.
"We have a strong track record for transferring new technology
from research initiatives into products that support military
missions."--Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot
iRobot.com::iRobot Enters Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Market
[20 June 2008, top]
ChemBots will be robots that can to morph themselves so that they can fit through openings that they shouldn't be able to fit through.
"iRobot Corp. announced the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office have awarded
the company a new multi-year, multi-million dollar R&D project
to develop Chemical Robots (ChemBots). The goal of this program is
to develop a soft, flexible, mobile robot that can identify and
maneuver through openings smaller than its actual structural
dimensions to perform Department of Defense (DoD) tasks within
complex and highly cluttered environments."
The iRobot press release stated the company will "lead a team composed of leading technical experts from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to incorporate advances in chemistry, materials science, actuator technologies, electronics, sensors and fabrication techniques into ChemBots engineering."
iRobot.com::iRobot to Create Revolutionary New Robot for DARPA
[17 June 2008, top]
The robotic arm on the Phoenix Mars Lander needs to be programmed.
"Approximately 30 NASA engineers and programmers work to
write and test 1,000 to 1,500 lines of software code every
day that is sent to the Mars Lander."
Matthew Robinson is the "robotic arm flight software engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory" and he says that on a daily basis they have to "build 20 to 30 sequences, and each can have 50 lines of code in it." Just one defect in the software can cause the robot to fail.
ComputerWorld.com reports that NASA robot programmers are using "the C programming language to build their own software for a Linux operating system."
ComputerWorld.com::NASA: 'Extreme programming' controls Mars Lander robot
[16 June 2008, top]
There's a robotic arm on the Phoenix Mars Lander that is currently digging on the surface of Mars.
Robotic arms are also being used on the International Space Station (ISS).
"Astronauts aboard the ISS successfully flexed and folded a
fledgling robotic arm Monday to check the external reach of
the outpost's new Japanese lab." [Monday = 2008.06.09]
"Discovery shuttle astronauts extended the six-jointed arm of
Japan's newly installed billion-dollar Kibo laboratory out to
its full 33-foot (10-meter) length before tucking it away for
future tests."
"Kibo's main robotic arm weighs about 1,719 pounds (780 kg)
and can haul objects as massive as 15,432 pounds (7,000 kg)."
"Kibo's robotic arm is built solely for manipulating experiments
on the laboratory's porch-like platform slated to be launched
aboard a NASA shuttle next year, Hoshide said. A smaller Japanese
robotic arm, to be used for finer actions, is also planned for
launch later."
Kibo's robotic arm is not the only robotic arm on the ISS.
"The space station's 57-foot (17-meter) Canadarm2 robotic arm
can crawl from one spot to another outside the orbiting lab's
hull like an inchworm."
Canadarm2 is the primary component of the Mobile Servicing System (MSS).
MSS is a robotic system and associated equipment
on the ISS. The Wikipedia states--"MSS plays a key role in station
assembly and maintenance: moving equipment and supplies around the
station, supporting astronauts working in space, and servicing
instruments and other payloads attached to the space station."
[14 June 2008, top]
I posted the following to my AzCentral.com blog on 13 June 2008.
Using Robots To Learn About STEM
Not STEM as in StemCells Inc., but STEM as in Science,
Technology, Engineering, Math...
The following was copied from the Arizona.edu website.
"The LEGO Robotics Outreach Club at the University of Arizona
is a faculty and student run organization which promotes
Engineering, Science and Math Education using LEGOs as a
teaching tool. By developing exciting and interactive
curriculum that meets Arizona State Standards at all
grade levels, we are encouraging students to pursue
careers in science and technology."
Go Robocats!
UA LEGO Robotics Outreach
I learned about the UA LEGO Robotics Outreach Club via an email message from the Tucson chapter of the Arizona Nanotechnology Cluster.
[13 June 2008, top]
I posted the following to my AzCentral.com blog on 10 June 2008.
We Need Robots Robotic arms are playing a critical role in today's space exploration. Robots are playing an increasing role in today's military operations. Robots are enabling scientists to obtain data from places that to date were completely inaccessible. In a nutshell: Over the span of the next decade (or two or three or four), robots we are going to become increasingly dependent on "robots." I keep reading about nursing shortages.... this is an area where robots could come to the rescue IF our technology was future ahead. The United States of America needs to invest more money into robotics and this needs to happen now. Yikes! I need to re-read Bill Joy's Why the Future Doesn't Need Us.
Note: On 11 June 2008, the Arizona Republic quoted my comment about robots helping allay the nursing shortage.
[12 June 2008, top]
Robots can make great explorers.
"Scientists are diligently working to understand how and
why the world's ice shelves are melting. While most of
the data they need (temperatures, wind speed, humidity,
radiation) can be obtained by satellite, it isn't as
accurate as good old-fashioned, on-site measurement
and static ground-based weather stations don't allow
scientists to collect info from as many locations as
they'd like."
"Unfortunately, the locations in question are volatile ice
sheets, possibly cracking, shifting and filling with water
--not exactly a safe environment for scientists."
[...]
"Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology,
working with Pennsylvania State University, have
created specially designed robots called SnoMotes
to traverse potentially dangerous ice environments."
SnoMotes are autonomous robots and are not remote-controlled. They use cameras and sensors to navigate their environment.
GATech.edu:: Robots Go Where Scientists Fear to Tread
[11 June 2008, top]
Discover Magazine asks the question: "Could they
[robots] be engineered to show
loyalty or to get angry?"
"Josh Bongard, a roboticist at the University of Vermont,
thinks the answer could be yes, and adds that we might
respond in kind. Emotional relations with robots are
definitely a prospect in the near future. You already
see it with children, who empathize with their toys.
Many of us have emotional relationships with our pets.
So why not robots as well?"
DiscoverMagazine.com::When Robots Live Among Us
[...More...] CS.UVM.edu::Josh Bongard is a Computer Science professor at the University of Vermont.
[10 June 2008, top]
On 19 November 2007, the BBC had a posting titled: "
Japan eyes demographic time bomb."
In a nutshell, Japan's population is shrinking and potentially
40% of its population will be over the age of 65 by the year 2050.
According to an article in the Communications of
the ACM, "robots could fill the jobs of 3.5 million
people in graying Japan by 2025." Japan's workforce
might decrease by 16% by 2030; therefore, robots will
be needed to replace workers. The
article went on to state: "Japan could save 2.1 trillion
yen ($21 billion) of elderly insurance payments in 2025
by using robots that monitor the health
of older people so they do not need to rely on human
nursing care."
The Robot YottaFiler needs to keep a close watch
on what's happening in Japan.
[09 June 2008, top]
I kept putting off and off and off, but there's no more putting it off--I needed to start blogging about robots. So on 8 June 2008, the Robot YottaFiler blog was created.
Yotta- is a metric prefix that implies 10 raised to
the 24th power (1024), which
when written as a whole number is
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
One YottaFiler equals one septillion. The symbol for
Yotta- is 'Y'. The multiplicative inverse for Yotta-
is yocto- (i.e. 'y'). My initial name for this
blog was PetaFiler, but that term Googled too well.
One YottaFiler is one million Petafilers.
M-W.com (Merriam-Webster Online) gives the following
definitions for file: [transitive verb]
"to arrange in order for preservation and reference" and
[intransitive verb] "to place items in a file."
A filer is one who files.
I used the Wikipedia to get the following "definition" for robot: "A robot is a mechanical or virtual, artificial agent." The term bot typically refers to software agents. Nanorobots are nano-sized robots and nanobots are very, very, very small bots.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Ray Kurzweil...
"The future is biotech, nanotech, and, ultimately, robotics."
Robotics, in a nutshell, is the "science and technology of robots, their design, manufacture, and application."
In this blog, we're going to file yotta-bits of information about robots, bots, robotics, nanorobots and nanobots.
[08 June 2008, top]