Robot Lurve

"Kim Jong-Hwan, the director of the ITRC-Intelligent Robot Research Centre, has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that, he says, will allow robots to feel lusty, and could eventually lead to them reproducing. He says the software, which will be installed in a robot within the next three months, will give the machines the ability to feel, reason and desire. "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html?gusrc=rss

Why We Need Giant Robots

"...only in a society where all our basic needs are met could we be so pleasurably diverted by gadgets. It's not only fun to be excited by the latest gadget, it gives us the feeling too that we're part of the forward flow of life. It also gives us something easy to talk about: we make connections with people by discussing what our gadgets can do, even by laughing at our own silliness. " -Stuart Jeffries

Tasty Robots

"NEC's 'Health/Food Advice Robot' will investigate the composition and proportion inside the food, will issue a warning for taking in too much fat and/or sugar, or tell you if fruit is ripe. If the infrared reflection ratio distribution of various foods is loaded inside the unit beforehand, it can compare the results of the researched food, and determine the actual type of food. For example, it can immediately recognize the make of cheese of type of bread."

http://www.techjapan.com/Article993.html

Weddingfication

the unbearable lightness of too much alkie :p

Three Laws of Robotics

Asimov and all that. The Guardian writes:

"Computer scientist Bill Joy ..has urged the general public to start thinking about the dangers posed by the rapidly advancing science of robotics, and Greenpeace issued a special report last year urging people to debate this matter as vigorously as they have debated the issues raised by genetic engineering. "

However:

"Chris Melhuish, a leading British roboticist admits: "The biggest threat our robots currently pose to humans is that you can trip over them." "

Monkey Boy is Lost

I remember reading years ago in the papers about a small child in Malaysia who took to climbing trees, and wouldn't come down except for the necessities of food and water. His parents were worried the way parents are, and the papers called him the Monkey Boy. There was a follow-up article some weeks later.

Yet no one else I've talked to has any recollection of either of these stories, and attempts to Google only bring up all sorts of un-related links.

Was there ever really a Monkey Boy, or did I make him up?

From the Guardian

Hans Moravec is a research professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh:

"Robot controllers double in complexity (processing power) every year or two. They are now barely at the lower range of vertebrate complexity, but should catch up with us within a half-century. By 2050 I predict that there will be robots with humanlike mental power, with the ability to abstract and generalise.

"These intelligent machines will grow from us, learn our skills, share our goals and values, and can be viewed as children of our minds. Not only will these robots look after us in the home, but they will also carry out complex tasks that currently require human input, such as diagnosing illness and recommending a therapy or cure. They will be our heirs and will offer us the best chance we'll ever get for immortality by uploading ourselves into advanced robots."

Chance of super-intelligent robots in the next 70 years: High
Danger score: 8

Robots Walk the Earth

If you've got a problem that can't be solved through the intervention of a giant robot, it probably can't be solved at all.