http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine Exploring Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:06:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yesterday, the New York Times published an interesting piece on the artificial intelligence ethics conference organized by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. The meeting was held in February at the Asilomar Conference Grounds on Monterey Bay in California. The group of scientists addressed the ethical implications of creating ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=26 Alas, the global recession has finally trickled down to our artificial friends. In Japan, robots will soon be on the welfare lines. Remember my post about getting a bipedal robot on the moon by 2012? With robot unemployment levels this high, that's starting to look like a robot dream deferred... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=25 Isn't this just asking for it? I mean, you know that once a robot tastes dead man-flesh, it's just going to want to know what live human tastes like. Admittedly, there is a potential upside to independent robots that feed on biomass, but I think it might be wiser to allow ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=24 Given the limits of bipedal locomotion, it always surprises me how obsessed the Japanese are with two-legged robots. Granted, the market there is focused on human interaction and caring for the elderly and disabled: Japan's population is aging fast and their birthrate is extraordinarily low so they need friendly androids ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=21 For some time, my friend Christopher and I have been infatuated with the song "Tokyo Storm Warning" (Track 3 on the Elvis Costello and the Attractions album Blood and Chocolate). For the longest time, we thought one of the lines was "Japanese got Jesus robots tellin' teenage fortunes, for all ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=20 This video and short article on Gizmodo provides a great overview of the work of roboticist Hirose and his team at Tokyo Tech. His designs are elegant and ingenuous, and his robots accomplish tasks in ways that push the envelope of the imagination. Plus, Isaac Asimov himself would get a ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=19 See Jon Stewart interview P. W. Singer, author of Wired for War. http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=18 Designer Matt Kirkland has exposed the skeletal structures of several popular toys. See what's hiding beneath the fluff here. http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=15 Tasks that seem to like second nature to us are often extraordinarily difficult to replicate in robotics. Honda has been working for decades to make it's Asimo capable of walking upstairs, and even with rigorous programming in a controlled environment the results have sometimes been disappointing. Other non-humanoid attempts have had ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=14 The inventor of the word "robotics," Isaac Asimov wrote hundreds of stories, books, and essays that have had an enormous influence on robotics and artificial intelligence, both in fiction and in real life. Numerous sources cite the original "Three Laws," which were first explicitly stated in Asimov's 1949 short story ... http://behopkins.com/meditations_of_the_machine/?p=13