Killer robots

I admire a country that can freely admit that robots are killing machines. The Telegraph reports on South Korea using killer robots in the DMZ.

Robo Fish 4Gs

UK Scientist have created a Robofish whose fishy ways are so realistic, that it can convince other non-robotic fish to follow it. The BBC story has a video. See if you can spot the Robofish. If you can't, you may be a fish, or a robot. What I find most amazing about this story is that the Robofish is controlled via Microsoft Excel. Real fish apparently get bored of Robofish after 30 minutes. The average iPhone user takes slightly longer to get bored of old technology
(and the money in their bank account) and seeks out new iPhones after 12-18 months.

Robo babies

Oh Japan, why do you make so many crazy robots? Engadget reports creepy robo-babies that by the video appear to be as high maintenance as real babies who constantly require support to keep from falling over and frequently need their cables adjusted so they don't tangle themselves up in their quest to destroy their human handlers. If robo-babies work in the factories is it still a sweatshop?

guns, germs and steel?

Nope, this is much worse. Knives, Germans, and robots. Here's the setup: German researchers give robots sharp objects and have the robots attack soft tissue. From IEEE Spectrum.

Singularity hub has an article on the Australian DOD training troops on shooting robots on segways. Hmm. Australia sounds like a great place to live once robots start to take over and steal people's segways. Many places in the US have private gamelands where you can pay to shoot fenced in animals. Despite growing up in a rural area and having private gamelands nearby, I never participated, but the idea of a private gameland stocked with fenced in robots that people can shoot might be a good business plan for entrepreneurs catering to the paranoid.

Robots of Arabia

The ideal camel jockey is the size and weight of a starving 4-year-old boy. Ancient tradition collides with new technology, atop a beast racing at 25 miles per hour in 112-degree heat.

From Wired 2005

A snippet from the article.

All the children are gone, but there are some young men hanging about, former child jockeys now old enough to stay on as stable hands. Abdullah is one: Thin, windburned, and slightly forlorn, he came from the Sudan in 1994 at the age of six. "When I was small I rode the camels," he recalls. "But now, no. Any job, I can do it. I want to stay here, but when the robot came in there was no job for me." We were surrounded by wealthy owners and trainers, and he seemed anxious to put a good face on things. "It is OK for us," he said suddenly. "No problem. The robots, they are very good."

As good as him?

He laughed a little uncomfortably. "If they could understand Arabic they would be as good as me," he says.


Robots: stealing jobs from kids and bad at Arabic.

Which is worse: ACLU or Robots

Well, based on this blog's theme, the answer is clearly robots, which is why in this instance I support the ACLU's decision to Question the legal basis of using drones to kill. Especially considering "Recent reports [which] indicate that U.S. citizens have been placed on the list of targets who can be hunted and killed with drones."

The metal ones are coming.

Chickenbot

Ever burn a whole chicken in the oven and give it magic powers and the ability to move again? If so, it might look like this.



I like to think of the remoteness of Western Pennsylvania as a safe getaway for a robotic invasion, but with CMU's robotic institute close by, I'm not so sure anymore. More videos are available at Matt Zucker's page.

Robot Insurance

Robots...I don't even know why the scientists make them. Get your insurance before the metal ones come for you.