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Dr. Robot Watches Over Home And More

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the intelligent-entertaining-security-systems dept.

jverbov writes "A Canadian firm has created what they call an 'intellgent personal robotic companion.' It can be wirelessly connected to your home Internet connection, has a built-in camera and speech recognition software. There's a recent article about it at the Toronto Star." This thing promises a lot, and while the price is steep, it's a lot cheaper than some other household robots due out.

7 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Modular Robots by Speedy8 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would like to see them make robots that are very modular, This would have a couple of benifits, people would be able to start their robot much cheaper (Only have to buy one or two functions to start with) and they would be able to upgrade and expand their robot as they needed more features. This would be kinda like computers are now and would help bots get adapted by the population at large much more quickly. (Think of how fast things took off after clones came out)

  2. And other peoples wireless internet ? by MosesJones · · Score: 5, Funny

    A whole new way of having fun, send your personal robot onto the streets to War-chalk for you.

    "I didn't do it officer, you just can't trust robots these days"

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  3. Script kiddies rejoice... by neksys · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It can be wirelessly connected to your home Internet connection, has a built-in camera...


    So anyone with a bit of knowhow (or the right script) could potentially hijack this device to watch ladies change, or to observe someone punching in an alarm code, or whatever else their devious little minds might come up with? I really like the idea of Canadian robots, and having connected devices is pretty neat as well - but the internet is inherently insecure, and I just don't know if I'd feel comfortable with a little camera running around watching me all day when the possibility exists that someone could access it.

  4. Re:Won't fly high. by HorrorIsland · · Score: 5, Funny
    Since it's canadian, it won't have a built-in gun, thus removing much of whatever appeal it may have for gun-crazy yankees.

    Are you kidding? It'd make a great target!

  5. I dunno... by lingqi · · Score: 5, Funny

    If my kids are going to be anything like the kids that I hope they will be, they will:

    1) Jam the Robot's wireless frequency
    2) Hack the firmware and play a loop-back video of them doing homework.
    3) Rewrite AI in Aibo and the robot to deathmatch mode and take bets.
    etc

    but realistically, kids will probabbly

    1) knock robot down with chair, accidentally or otherwise
    2) sit on it, accidentally or otherwise
    3) spray ketchup onto it, accidentally or otherwise
    4) go swimming with it, accidentally or otherwise
    you get the idea

    either way - to make a robot "kids proof" is a tall order - i am not sure if this flimsy looking thing fills it.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

  6. Dr. Robot? by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know times are tough when you need a doctoral degree simply to be an evil robot slave.

    - A.P.

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  7. Intelligence? by Montreal+Geek · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is amusing (from the website):

    Xie said he could have built the robot far more easily by giving it more legs or using wheels. But he said it was important to make the robot look as human as possible, so people would think it was smart.
    "It's hard to convince people that a six-legged robot that looks like a cockroach is actually intelligent," he said.
    A human appearance, he said, also encourages more natural communication between robot and master."

    And here I was just six stories ago pointing out my not-so-humble opinion about how misguided trying to emulate biological systems was. This proves my point doesn't it?

    A manufacturer went to a lot of trouble (and presumably expense) to make their device less reliable (hexapod locomotion is demonstrably optimal) and try to give a pointless appearance of intelligence.

    If the robot had been built like a cockroach, arguably one of the most effective designs, I wouldn't have been any less likely to think it intelligent (it's not), but far more likely to think the designer was.

    -- MG