Tag: robots

Is this the ancestor of my Marseguro killerbot?

This proposed underwater robot with a sense of touch looks scarily like what I imagined the Selkie-tracking “killerbots” of Marseguro to be. Mine had tentacles rather than articulated arms, but still: Oh, and for comparison’s sake, here’s how cover artist Steve Stone pictured the killerbot:

Happy birthday to someone you never heard of, but really should know…

…painter and poet Josef Čapek, born on this date in 1887. Nope, I never heard of him either until today, but Scott Edelman explains why he matters: Because Josef was the older brother to Karel Čapek, the author of the 1921 play “R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots),” in which the term “robot” was introduced. And contrary …

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Roboethics

Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. *** A couple of weeks ago I wrote about research aimed at making robot-human interactions more comfortable for humans. With more and more robots finding more and more uses in society, that kind of research is important. But there’s something else we’re going to …

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I, for one, welcome our new robot masters…

…or apparently I would if I were a cockroach: Cockroaches will often choose shelter unwisely when under the influence of robots, a new study shows. Usually when the creepy crawlers are let loose in a brightly lit area, they gather under the darkest shade they can find. ***But when the bugs were joined by tiny …

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Rise of the (giggling, dancing, punning) robots

Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. ***Robots were once science fiction: in fact, the word comes from the Czech word “robota,” meaning work, and originated in Karel Capek’s popular 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. (for Rossum’s Universal Robots). These days, there are robot vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers and dogs, and all …

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Robot and human surgeons compare micro-gravity operating skills

Good news for future space travelers: the world’s first demonstration of robotic surgery in a simulated micro-gravity environment takes place this week, in a collaborative effort between SRI International and the University of Cincinnati. On four parabolic flights September 25 to 28 aboard a NASA C-9 aircraft (nicknamed the “Weightless Wonder“), a human surgeon will …

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Google’s new X-prize: land a robot rover on the moon

There’s a new X-Prize. This one is funded by Google, so you know the money is good. It’s for $30 million. And the goal? To land a robot on the moon. Specifically, to land “a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface …

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Robots with guns…

…the first armed robots in history…have now been deployed in Iraq. No, they don’t look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Robot receptionists

Would you like to be greeted at an office by one of these? Apparently these Mitsubishi-made robots, called Wakamaru, are being hired out as receptionists in Japan for $1,000 U.S. a day or $25,000 a year. According to Gizmodo: It turns out these goofy-looking yellow droids are pretty good at the job, recognizing faces and …

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Nanotechnology marches on…

…to the soccer field. Near-microscopic robots playing soccer. Is this a great time to be alive, or what?

"Firefighter Rescue Robot Eats Human Bodies"

That’s Technovelgy.com‘s headline, not mine…but I had the same idea the first time I saw the picture.

Ethics for robots

Says the BBC: An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and …

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