Robotic Nation Evidence

NASA Tests Shape-Shifting Robot Pyramid for Nanotech Swarms

From the article:

The robot is called "TETwalker" for tetrahedral walker, because it resembles a tetrahedron ( a pyramid with 3 sides and a base ). In the prototype, electric motors are located at the corners of the pyramid called nodes. The nodes are connected to struts which form the sides of the pyramid. The struts telescope like the legs of a camera tripod, and the motors expand and retract the struts. This allows the pyramid to move: changing the length of its sides alters the pyramid's center of gravity, causing it to topple over. The nodes also pivot, giving the robot great flexibility.

There is more detail along with photos on this NASA page.

NASA - Clarissa

From the article:

Images show Clarissa team at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., which developed 'Clarissa Spoken Dialogue System.' Clarissa software was loaded on an International Space Station (ISS) laptop computer for tests during space flight in 2005. An astronaut is slated to chat with 'Clarissa,' a female voice - integrated with the software -- will guide him through a complex series of tasks.

During the test, Clarissa is scheduled to lead an astronaut through potable water analysis procedures that normally take about 2-1/2 hours to complete without the dialogue system. Scientists compare task completions with and without the use of Clarissa to determine if the verbal system could increase astronaut efficiency.

This sounds remarkably like the Manna system.

IBM's Blue Gene/L eclipses its previous record

From the article:

IBM's Blue Gene/L, being assembled for the department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, performed 135.3 trillion floating point operations per second running benchmark software, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The result eclipses the 70.72 teraflops that a smaller version of the system achieved running the Linpack benchmark program last fall.

See also 100 core chips.

Pentagon Funds Research On Robots For Surgery

From the article:

The Pentagon is awarding $12 million in grants on Monday to develop an unmanned 'trauma pod' designed to use robots to perform full scalpel-and-stitch surgeries on wounded soldiers in battlefield conditions.

The researchers who pitched the Defense Department on the idea have prepared a futuristic "concept video" that seems straight out of a teen fantasy game, showing with full color and sound effects the notion that robots in unmanned vehicles can operate on soldiers under enemy fire and then evacuate them.

AI am the law

From the article:

GIVEN the choice, who would you rather trust to safeguard your future: a bloodsucking lawyer or a cold, calculating computer? Granted, it's not much of a choice, since neither lawyers nor computers are renowned for their compassion. But it is a choice that you may well encounter in the not-too-distant future, as software based on artificial intelligence (AI) starts to dispense legal advice. Instead of paying a lawyer by the hour, you will have the option of consulting intelligent legal services via the web. While this might sound outlandish, experts believe that the advent of smart software capable of giving good, solid legal advice could revolutionise the legal profession.

This same kind of thing will be happening to doctors, teachers, etc. See also Robots taking jobs.

Jeff Hawkins' Bold Brainstorm Unveiled

Numenta was already introduced in the post on Numenta. This article provides a little more detail. From the article:

"So far, they've developed a proof-of-concept program. By 'showing' their program 90 simple line drawings -- one of a helicopter, another of a dog, for example -- they can teach it enough to identify another drawing of that object, even if it's poorly drawn or incomplete.

While science has already made similar efforts at machine vision, Hawkins insists this marks the first time a piece of software has had such predictive power. 'If I see a cat behind a chair, I don't think it's half a cat,' he says. And neither does his software, he claims."

Backpack raises concerns at bank

From the article:

With a burst of high-pressure water, Omega the robot made sure a backpack in a Downtown bank was not a threat.

That blast from the robot's water cannon opened the backpack, showing it contained only clothes.

Also:

Brought to the scene in a truck, Omega was directed inside the bank branch, where it X-rayed the pack. Those X-rays proved inconclusive, so the water cannon blasted open the backpack to reveal only clothes inside.

Medical robot a smooth operator

From the article:

The robot's gangly arms work briskly and deliberately over a sedated patient, the mechanical limbs surprisingly quiet and smooth in their movements for a giant piece of machinery... It looks like a scary scene out of "The Matrix," with plastic-draped steel shanks protruding this way and that. But doctors throughout the nation and the world are swearing by this million-dollar robot.

Also:

Without the robot, this major surgery requires doctors to cut through the breast plate to get to the heart, and then they must wire the plate shut. Recovery can take weeks or even months. And scars, which often span the length of the chest, may mean patients never really feel normal again. In contrast, the robot leaves a couple of nickel-size scars in most cases, and recovery is within days. Risk of infection is also minimal.

See also: Digitized people and the end of doctors.

Robots Take Center Stage at World's Fair

Several quotes from the article:

• "...[robots are] doing everything from greeting visitors at the gates to sweeping the venue's streets after dark."
• "The first robots to "work" outside the factory will likely start arriving at offices, hospitals or even department stores within a few years as security guards or information-counter receptionists."
• "The Actroid, four of which will sit at the exposition's gates to answer visitors questions, could be one of the first to go commercial, he said. Designed to resemble a 20-something woman with shoulder-length black hair..."
• "We believe an era is coming in which people will coexist with robots."

See Robotic Nation for details.

Numenta web site

From the home page:

Numenta is developing a new type of computer memory system modeled after the human neocortex. The applications of this technology are broad and can be applied to solve problems in computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning. The Numenta technology, called Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM), is based on a theory of the neocortex described in Jeff Hawkins' book entitled On Intelligence.

See also Building a better brain from Forbes. From the article:

Careful to preserve his track record but sure he is onto a revolution, Hawkins veers between caution about Numenta's likely timeline and visions of creating machines far more powerful and able than today's computers (his approach is so different, he says, that Numenta-type machines will represent a new category.) "We have to walk a line--we don't want to overhype this, but it's incorrect to say this is just data mining," he says. "This is a new fundamental technology for information handling."

Noting that electronic circuits can scale larger and signal far faster than human neurons, he says, "If you follow this, you will build machines smarter than humans. It's far off, but think about cosmology, about where the Internet is going, machines that understand our language."

See Robotic Nation for details.

Clocky

From the page:

Clocky is a clock for people who have trouble getting out of bed. When the snooze bar is pressed, Clocky rolls off the table and finds a hiding spot, a new one every day.

Robots come in many different shapes and sizes...

Snake-like robot conquers obstacles

From the article:

The 26-pound robot developed at the University of Michigan U-M College of Engineering is, called OmniTread. It moves by rolling, log-style, or by lifting its head or tail, inchworm-like, and muscling itself forward. The robot's unique tread design prevents it from stalling on rough ground...

A nice video clip is also available.

See also Robot spiders

Robo-docs check in at Detroit Medical Center

The article provides a perfect example of why robots are going to spread incredibly quickly in the American economy. From the article:

Think of a hospital as a manufacturing facility, Wang said, with sick patients coming in and well patients going out. "If an emergency room case requires a consult with a specialist but the specialist can't get there for four or five hours -- versus 30 minutes if the robot and remote link -- the patient sits there, occupying space in the ER which then backlogs the whole system.

See also: Digitzed people and the end of doctors.

Humanoids with Attitude

From the article:

Saya's wrath is the latest sign of the rise of the robot. Analysts say Japan is leading the world in rolling out a new generation of consumer robots. Some scientists are calling the wave a technological force poised to change human lifestyles more radically than the advent of the computer or the cell phone.

Though perhaps years away in the United States, this long-awaited, as-seen-on-TV world -- think "The Jetsons" or "Blade Runner" -- is already unfolding in Japan, with robots now used as receptionists, night watchmen, hospital workers, guides, pets and more. The onslaught of new robots led the government last month to establish a committee to draw up safety guidelines for the keeping of robots in homes and offices. Officials compiled a report in January predicting that every household in Japan will own at least one robot by 2015, perhaps sooner.

Interesting that they picked the date 2015. See Robots in 2015 for details.

GIANT SPIDERBOT STEPS OUT

From the article:

No one at the Pentagon has plans to stick G.I.s in giant, six-legged, super-strong robots. Yet. But you've got to figure it's only a matter of time...

Very nice videos of John Deere's 6-legged robot are available here.

Daily chores the order for latest mobile robot.

The robot is called EMIEW, short for Excellent Mobility and Interactive as Workmate.

From the article:

It is equipped with flexible arms and hands, and sensors to avoid obstacles, analyse sounds, and recognise human faces.

A photo is available on engadget.

This morning our water heater blew out its bottom and dumped several hundred gallons of water into the garage (the 50 gallons in the tank, plus a stream of cold water coming in from the cold water pipe). I cut off the water and the gas to the water heater and drove over to Home Depot at lunch to buy a replacement.

I found the water heater I wanted, and next to it was a pamphlet talking about same-day installation. I read the pamphlet and then walked up to the desk labeled "professional installation." There were two people at the desk -- a man and a woman -- both wearing their orange Home Depot aprons. The woman spoke to me:

Woman: How may I help you?

Me: I'd like to buy a water heater and get it installed

Woman: OK, pick up that phone on the corner of the desk

Me: Pick it up?

Woman: Yes, just pick it up and it will take your order.

So I take two steps to my left, reach down and pick up the phone. It auto-connects to a call center in less than 5 seconds. A voice comes on the line that says, approximately, "Hello, I am the automated attendant. What would like to do?" I am instructed to speak the word, "installation" if that is what I need, so I say, "Installation." I am asked what I want installed and I say, "Water Heater" without any prompting.

At this point I am transferred to a woman in a call center in Tampa, FL. She has a very bad case of laryngitis today but is otherwise quite pleasant. She takes my order, quotes me a price, has me read my credit card number to her, gives me a reference number and we are done. It is supposed to be installed tomorrow.

My point here is simple. What we are witnessing is the Manna-tization of society right before our very eyes. I approached the "Professional Installation" desk, and there were two human beings who could help me. But they did not. They instead had me get on the phone and speak to a woman who was operating in a Manna-like environment in Tampa. She is being managed completely by computer.

Throughout her working day, this woman's thoughts and actions are dictated by a computer screen. Customers flow into her telephone head set automatically. She does voice recognition and types in their responses to questions that pop up on her screen. Then she takes another call. The woman in Tampa is essentially wet-ware filling in for the software that will eventually do her voice recognition job in five to ten years.

See Manna for details.

Revenge of the Right Brain

From the article is a quote that directly demonstrates the power of the Robotic Nation and Manna:

Any job that can be reduced to a set of rules is at risk. If a $500-a-month accountant in India doesn't swipe your accounting job, TurboTax will. Now that computers can emulate left-hemisphere skills, we'll have to rely ever more on our right hemispheres.

I think that what this quote misses is that that computers will be taking over right-brain skills as well. Think of many of the things that we traditionally consider to be right-brained:

• Arranging furniture in a room (interior design)
• Arranging the components of an advertisement (graphic design)
• Creating logos (visual arts)
• Deciding on which colors will look best together
• And so on...

Many of these things can be modeled, or can be tested using large groups of people. In that case, then the computer actually does a better job and the right-brain activity gets taken over by a computer.

Here is an example. The company Optimost takes ads and web pages and optimizes them by computer to improve the click-through rate (look at the 2-minute demo). People used to lay out ads and web pages using the "right brain". Now a computer does it, and does it MUCH better.

Friendly Helper Robots for Everyman from October

From the article:

The 1950s dream of friendly helper robots making the life of humans easier around the home seems to have come within sight at last. An "Information Contents Robot" (ICR) with a voice and face recognition function that can perform various healthcare and entertainment services in the house will begin trial service in October, while a "Public Service Helper Robot" (PSHR) will be introduced to 20 postal offices, carrying out services like checking postal codes.

See Robotic Nation for details.

Robots to offer warm welcome at Japan's World Expo

From the article:

Japan will welcome the millions of guests at the World Exposition opening this month with hosts trained to greet them in their language, entertain their children and perform rap music with them.

The gracious hosts are robots.

See Robotic Nation for details.

Robots just 1 step from real life / Practical robotics for everyday life to be displayed at Aichi Expo

From the article:

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a METI-affiliated institution, plans to demonstrate more than 100 such robots of 74 types at the Aichi Expo [in Japan].

Robots that can clean, act as security guards or mind children are only one step away from being a reality.

NEDO, which hopes to see the commercialization of such robots in 2010, will demonstrate their capabilities at the exposition. The organization also plans to demonstrate prototypes of other robots that it hopes to see commercialized by 2020, including one that can be a dance partner and another that can remove snow.

Intel's 100-core chip could power intelligent toilet

From the article:

In ten years time, you can try and figure out how to use 100 core processors many, many times more powerful than your current Pentium. So said Intel senior fellow Justin Rattner today at the Intel Developer Forum. Intel is one of a number of companies turning today's single core processors into dual-core, four-core and then multicore chips.

See also Moore's law marches on and Moore's Law.

There are many aspects of Google that are robotic. For example, you can think of the spidering process that gathers pages from the Web as a robot. This article is therefore interesting:

Peeking Into Google

From the article:

To deal with the more than 10 billion Web pages and tens of terabytes of information on Google's servers, the company combines cheap machines with plenty of redundancy, Hoelzle said. Its commodity servers cost around $1,000 apiece, and Google's architecture places them into interconnected nodes.

When human beings start creating "human-like intelligence" inside of computers, it is likely that a system like Google's will house the first incarnations. Google shows that we can store unimaginable amounts of data in a relatively inexpensive system. Then, over time, these systems will get smaller and smaller until they fit into a package that consumes about two liters of space.

See also:

• Network of 1,000 video game consoles
• Moore's Law

...of why airlines will remove human pilots from the cockpit and replace them with robots as soon as possible:

'A Little Fun' Before Plane Crash

From the article:

Moments before a double engine failure and a crash that killed them, one of the pilots aboard a regional airliner told an air traffic controller they had "decided to have a little fun" by flying at the plane's maximum altitude.

See also Three more reasons pilots will be replaced by robots and Robotic Nation for details.

Via Slashdot:

• U-bots (with photos)
  
• Ants - learning from the collective

From the article:

A U-bot is a foot-high robot which glides around an arena on castors, carrying a U-shaped scoop in front of it. It is a very stupid robot, because it carries only three instructions:
• If nothing is happening, keep moving.
  
• If you hit a large obstacle, take a turn and keep moving.
  
• If you've got a little something in your scoop, and you hit another little something, drop what you've got, take a turn and keep moving.
Following only those instructions, Dr Melhuish's robots, given enough time, can gather together a randomly distributed collection of frisbees and assemble them in a pile in the centre of their arena. To the untrained eye they look purposeful and intelligent - just like ants.

See also:

• Robotic Surveilliance
• The future of robotic police

Dinosaurs return to Earth, courtesy of Japanese robotics

From the article:

Robot replicas Tyrannosaurus rex and Parasaurolophus, capable of strolling one kilometre an hour, will greet visitors at the six-month World Exposition which opens this month in the central Aichi region.

See also: Robot teachers.

Robots to Watch Children Showcased

From the article:

The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection. The plush prototype, on display at Microsoft Corp.'s annual gadget showcase Wednesday, is one of several ideas researchers have for robots. The idea is to create a virtual being that can visit the neighboring cubicle for a live telephone chat even as its owner is traveling thousands of miles away, or let the plumber into the house while its owner enjoys a pleasant afternoon in the sun.

Robots will be taking care of kids at home. Then the kids will board robotic buses and go to school, where they can be taught by Robotic teachers.

Japanese robot mannequins to strike a pose for their customers

From the article:

The mannequin moving in the store window is no longer a fantasy. A Japanese firm has developed a mannequin robot that can strike a pose for customers -- and spy on who they are and what they're buying.

A very nice photo of the mannequin is available here.

See also: Robot Surveillance on every corner

Artificial Muscles Get a Grip on Human Hand

From the press release:

Six years ago a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., issued a unique challenge: build a robotic arm using artificial muscles that could arm wrestle a human. The results of that challenge will be determined next week, when three such robotic arms will "step into the ring" to compete against a 17- year-old high school student. The ultimate goal is to win against the strongest human on Earth.

Also:

Electroactive polymers are simple, lightweight strips of highly flexible plastic that bend or stretch when put into contact with chemicals or electricity. They are quiet and shatterproof and can be used to imitate human muscle movements. A small team of scientists at JPL, in cooperation with research centers worldwide, are working to turn these plastic strips into grippers and strings that can grab and lift loads. JPL engineers are also hoping to build a rover with legs fitted with artificial muscles. The robot would be able to walk instead of rolling on wheels on planetary surfaces. "My hope is to see a rover run like a horse on Mars and climb steep mountains like a monkey, allowing us to reach distances and heights that are not possible with wheeled rovers," said Bar-Cohen who has chaired the conference for the past six years.

Tiny Data Switch May Store More

From the article:

The BU researchers used electron-beam lithography -- a routine fabrication technique for micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices -- to carve the switches from single-crystal wafers of silicon and silicon oxide.

"This is a new ball game," said BU physicist Pritiraj Mohanty. "By taking a new look at old technology, we have produced memory cells that are faster and better than those currently used. This mechanical device is a completely new approach to improving data storage."

Also:

The tiny switches also use "a million-fold less" power than current electromagnetic systems.