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SEM Robotics & Automation MTG SEPT 27 - 6pm
Posted by
dczinder
on
Friday, September 14, 2007 (EST)
M219 in Management Building, No. 4 building on this map at:
http://www.ltu.edu/contacts/campusmap.asp
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robots.net
Recent robots.net articles
Rodney Brooks on the Future of Robots
It's been a while since we've seen a Rodney Brooks interview,
so we thought you'd enjoy reading Newsweek's recent
interview. He talks about the importance of gaze direction in making
robots socially interact with humans. He answers the question of what
the most interesting robots are that he's seen lately. He talks about the
Uncanny Valley and human-looking robots. He says that the popular
conception of robots as different from humans is an artificial
distinction since we're both machines, just of different types. But he
notes, "Whether we humans are smart enough to build such machines is
a different question. Maybe we're just not smart enough. That pisses off
the scientists when I say that.".
Mysterious Terminator Skull DVD Player Sighted
Photos are popping
up
in blogs
all
over
the
net of a
shiny, silver Cyberdyne Systems Terminator skull. It has a white teeth,
glowing red eyes, and a DVD player that's revealed by opening up the top
of the skull. Yes, that's right, the endoskeletal skull of a killer
robot that plays DVDs in its head. These things appear to originate in
Asia but no one has been able to identify the manufacturer or exact cost
yet. There are more
angles
and close up photos
around if you look for 'em.
The Ultimate R2 Cake
Via
Craftzine, we noticed a B-Side blog report on the most
amazing R2-D2 cake ever (actually, it's red so I don't think it's an
R2-D2, maybe an R2-D1 or something?). Anyway, as edible astromechs go,
this one is pretty cool. The body is made of many levels of red velvet
cake while the legs were cut from giant Rice Krispy treat blocks. Once
assembled, the whole thing is coated with white, red, and silver icing
and all the expected details are added. There's a nice photo sequence of
the R2
cake being assembled and of the actual presentation
at a kiddo's birthday party. The cake was made by Mark Joesph Cakes in
Brooklyn, New York.
Robots.Video: Rat-Brained Robot
Ed Okerson was the
first of many robots.net readers who sent links
to a NewScientist story about the rat-brained robot from the
Univserity of Reading. Instead of the usual silicon-based embedded
controller, this robot sports a carbon-based unit made up of 300,000 rat
brain neurons. The mini-brain lives in a jar of nutrients and
antibiotics. A multi-electrode array (MEA) feeds sensor information into
the brain and
transports control signals out of the brain to the motors. Unfortunately,
the brain is growing so bored that it's exhibiting bursts of
seizure-like activity. "Like a creature with no limbs or senses, the
cut-down brain is simply bursting out of boredom". While the rat
brain may not be enjoying life much, the scientists are having a blast
and suggest the research may help them understand Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's, epilepsy,
and other diseases caused by malfunctioning neurons. For more, see the
BBC story
and video, the Slashdot
discussion, or original University
of Reading press release. Update: Roland Piquepaille just posted about this robot as well.
Homeokinesis: The Math That Makes Living Things Special
According to a new Telegraph
UK article, "a deep mathematical analysis of living things has
come up with an insight into why they are special". The research was
done by a researchers at Edinburgh University and the Max Planck
Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences. What they've discovered is a
way to make the behavior of artificial and virtual creatures self
organizing and self regulating, allowing them to learn through trial and
error without explicit instructions. The idea is not new and
follows similar research going back to 1990. The article includes
video of virtual dogs learning to jump and virtual humanoid learning to
stand. Previous systems had explicitly encoded goals in the programs as
well as basic instruction on how to move. The new algorithm, called
homeokinesis, has no
predefined goals, and provides no initial information about the virtual
environment, making it more like the natural world. The researchers are
also beginning to experiment with the algorithm in real
robots. For more videos and papers on the new system, see Terra
autonomica - The world of self-organized creatures.
Last Refreshed 8/20/2008 3:33:38 AM
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