I’m concerned that before long, every critter out there will be replaced by a biomimetic robot surrogate. With BigDog, LittleDog, mechafish, swifferbot, and the robo-ant already on the march, it won’t be long before the pleasant tweet and buzz of nature is replaced by the noise of servos and tiny guns.
The latest fiend to come out of DARPA human-extinction research money is this Nano Air Vehicle, which flies like a hummingbird, at least for the few seconds it’s managing to stay up at this stage of research.
Oh god oh god! Household monsters are becoming real! This biomimetic slugbot is meant to pick up dust around the house, but it reminds me more of low-level enemies in NES games than any of its robot helper contemporaries. The Fukitorimushi (”wipe-up bug”) is an autonomous robot like a Roomba, but it moves in a freaky inchworm style. The funny thing is, it would be creepy enough without the microfiber cloth wrapped around it, but with it the thing is absolutely terrifying.
Most deep-underwater devices are round and inoffensive; why does this one need to be so sinister? In fact, it’s reminiscent of a certain other robot which occupies an antagonistic relationship with mankind. Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s a hint: “woah.”
Not terrifying at all! And of course, it’s flown with a modified Xbox 360 controller. How do they expect to get headshots with that? Mouse and keyboard, baby. But I digress. This robocalyptic aerial hunter-killer is 26ft long, goes 117mph, and can carry a payload of 150lb. That means it can carry a sniper rifleand a hugbot.
Doug Aamoth here in Boston at the 2009 RoboBusiness Expo with some fodder for the “Robots Will Eventually Rise Up and Kill Us All” debate. No matter which side of the argument you support, if you’re someday killed by an autonomous robot it won’t have been made by iRobot.
I’m kind of glad this cool robo-ant can’t walk very well, because it does everything else with chilling accuracy. Unlike real insects, it isn’t size-limited by its materials and structural makeup, so you could have a king-sized one bite the roof off your house by next week if someone took initiative.
This fun little video demonstrates how to become an evil, bitter human being and take it out on the world. An interesting alternative to the Terminator-style robocalypse, and possibly worse, since you can’t shoot nanobots. They’d just eat the bullets.
Don’t you people see what’s happening? They’re taking over! First our pets, then our fashion models (expensive pets essentially), and now… our fish? Well, if you’re planning on replacing the world’s natural organisms with your own silicon creations (as the machines certainly are), then it makes sense to start small. Self-replicating micromachines, solar-powered bugs, and now mechanical fishies are going to be deployed into our waters, possibly to prey on the fleshly fish (and algae).
With this latest advance in biomimetic weaponry, BigDog will truly be striking fear into the hearts of America’s enemies. When they see his burnished horns bobbing at them out of a background of terror and carnage, they’ll drop their weapons and cower. I think they’ve got a little to work on with the speed of the charge, but that’s just a technical quibble.
Although you and I don’t enjoy the benefits of pleasure droids and personal guard robots at this time, that doesn’t mean they aren’t deploying them in backwater armed conflicts to test their viability. The robot wars are bearing down upon us like a murderous cybernetic freight train, and we’d do best to acknowledge it and prepare for the consequences. Or at least so says P.W. Singer, whose book Wired for War predicts an explosion in military robotics much like the boom in internet and computer tech in the 90s.
Sweet lord, no! I don’t want to be ground into organic engine oil for hunter-seekers! How long do we have left?
Get ready for a lot more stories like this, kids. Man, only in Japan would they build a robot designed to love. The experiment gone wrong took place in Kyoto, at a Toshiba robotic research facility. Why Toshiba is experimenting with hugbots is beyond me, but that’s not the issue here (never thought I’d say that). After the robot (Kenji) became very friendly indeed with a doll, it became infatuated with a female intern. One night it blocked the exit and began to hug her with his enormous hydraulic arms. He expressed his sentiment in animal noises.
Remember BigDog? And its diminutive friend, LittleDog? Here’s a little more footage and testimony from the soldiers at Fort Benning in Alabama. There’s not a lot of new info but it’s nice to see it’s actually in real trials and not sitting in a lab somewhere. I think they’re going to need to do something about that buzzing noise, though.
The US Government has decided at last that it’s time for Skynet. They’ve tapped IBM to create a supercomputer nearly twenty times as powerful as the current world champion: IBM’s Roadrunner, running at 1.1 petaflops. The computer is to be in charge of making sure that America’s nuclear arsenal is in a working state at all times.
That seems like more of a job for guys with oilcans and geiger counters, but I’ll trust them on this.
I like the idea of combat robots — not necessarily hunter-killer type robo-soldiers, but more along the lines of support bots like BigDog and these new developments from MIT. The idea, of course, is to reduce not just the number of humans at risk on the field, but to automate dangerous tasks like delivering supplies under fire; after all, the supply line is a weak spot in any army and has been for thousands of years. If we can make it stronger and more reliable, that’s good for everybody but the enemy. What the hell, I’m talking like a general over here.
It’s true, of course, and not just from a Sci-Fi point of view. With robots doing everything from vacuuming our floors to storing our data to performing surgery, there is a growing need for an international body to establish standards. If, as British robotics professor Noel Sharkey says, “decisions about [robots'] application will be left to the military, industry and busy parents,” we run a risk of enabling very risky behavior among robots, indeed.
Who makes the decision of when a surgery is too complicated to be remote-operated? Will robot nannies (don’t laugh, believe me they’re on their way) have a minimum age with which they can interact? How will combat robots be accountable for causing civilian deaths? These are questions which seem fanciful now, but in 10 years you’ll be wondering why we didn’t ask them 10 years ago.
Force fields aren’t just used to obstruct the TMNT, they are actually being used by scientists to improve research. A new gadget called EnviroStat (”Environment”+”Constant”) can hold individual cells in an electric force field, potentially leading to improvements in drug trials or even biofuel production. EnviroStat was developed by Andreas Schmid and his colleagues Lars Blank and Hendrik Kortmann at the Dortmund University of Technology in Germany. With this gadget, researchers will be able to evaluate the individual cell response to a single variable while other conditions are kept stable. According to Schmid, the new gadget could smooth out some of the complexities involved in cell studies of drugs. Click here to see a video of this thing in action.
[Editorial note by Devin: it's only a matter of time before the machines adapt this technology to trap their flesh-based enemies in an electrical bubble. Beware the Robocalypse!]
It won’t be long before the cursed machines turn on us. Already they vacuum our rooms and play our games, can there be any doubt that machines like this automated all-terrain Ripsaw tank will soon grow desirous for the blood of their fleshy oppressors?!
Did anyone else get a little scared when it did its mad face? This little robot is, I imagine, designed to be one of those greeter robots that tells you “welcome” and can respond when you ask it where the elevators are. Unfortunately, I think anyone that sees it will have dreams of the Robocalypse for weeks after. This is how it starts, people. It rolls around on Segway wheels now, but how long before it’s on tank treads, scaling mountains of human skulls?
They also need to get a new lighting guy… futuristic white robots are supposed to be overlit, not in terrifying half-shadow.
After we wrote about TiLR last week, RoboDynamics invited us down to their headquarters to check one out in person. The idea is simple, straight out of countless science fiction flicks: rather than physically going somewhere, you virtually hop into a robot already on site. A camera, mic, and steering system on your end put you in the body of the robot as you roam the location, seeing and hearing things as if you were there.
Even in its beta state, I really enjoyed my time with the TiLR. I was a bit wary at first, completely convinced I was going to break something. When you’re in an office surrounded by a bunch of robots worth thousands each, breaking things is a bad, bad idea.
What is it about today? First hunter-killers, then Terminator spare parts, and now the machines are infiltrating our armed forces. Actually, it’s not such a big deal; the United States Army is simply continuing to take advantage of its contract with iRobot, which provides the Army with hundreds of Packbots, small robots suited for dirty or dangerous jobs. They’re pumping out about 100 a month with a total of 1800 shipped, which doesn’t seem like a lot unless you see them all together, rushing at you in a body, crushing you under their tiny treads and tearing at you with their tiny arms, as their cold, unblinking eyes look on with a mechanical indifference.
Individually, though, I’m sure they’re very helpful. I’ve heard stories of army engineers who have cried upon seeing their robot destroyed or irreparably damaged by a mine or RPG blast. Noble as it is, it is precisely that kind of emotion that will lead humanity to defeat in the coming Robocalypse.
Update: Yeah, that was autoplaying. Sorry. Video now inside! Read More
I’m concerned that before long, every critter out there will be replaced by a biomimetic robot surrogate. With BigDog, LittleDog, mechafish, swifferbot, and the robo-ant already on the march, it won’t be long before the pleasant tweet and buzz of nature is replaced by the noise of servos and tiny guns.
It’s true, of course, and not just from a Sci-Fi point of view. With robots doing everything from vacuuming our floors to storing our data to performing surgery, there is a growing need for an international body to establish standards. If, 
What is it about today? First 
