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Mitsubishi Robot - Watchdog, Nurse, Annoying Friend
jomaree writes "The SMH Online reports that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have developed a robot (to run on Linux) with voice and face recognition capabilities. The robot would be able to connect to the Internet, contact you by e-mail or a mobile phone and, say, send you a message if it 'hears' a strange noise inside your home. It can also remember the side effects of medication. Reportedly, Mitsubishi claim that the robot 'will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and friend for the family'. Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?' Don't we already have people for that?" The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun has a story with pictures.
In the name of ... uh ... the Christmas Islands. Thank you for your excellent service in never failing to resolve goatse.cx!
fp!
On November 19, 1954, the career of Sammy Davis Jr. almost came to a sudden and tragic close. While driving to Los Angeles to record the title tune of the Universal International picture "Six Bridges to Cross", Sammy was the victim of an automobile smash-up and narrowly escaped death. He was so seriously injured that his left eye had to be removed. In spite of the terrible shock, Sammy rallied and went on with his work; he even insisted that he was the "luckiest guy in the world".
Since his accident, Sammy's courageous spirit and ever-growing talent have won him increasingly enthusiastic audiences. Let's hear it for Sammy Davis Jr. !
Celebrate Negro Month 2003 with Slashdot.
I can hear it now:
"Tom? You there? It's dark here, and I'm scared. [pause]
Did you hear that? OMIGOSH (I'm lonely) COME HOME QUICK!!!"
Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
so does it do bukakke? That's the kind of robot that I want to see!
...that it runs Linux, or whatever the hell kind of OS for that matter... It's not like it's R2D2 or some other really cool robot.
Welley Corporation - SLM Scammers
This isn't the robot I dreamed about as a kid. By 2000 we should have had cool android/robots, flying cars and computers like the HAL 9000.
Also, Manhatten Island was suppose to be turned into a prison and the moon was suppose to be ripped from orbit by 1999.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Even now Michael Jackson is calling his surgery team to schedule more transformation. His nose is clearly no longer small enough.
I can see it now:
From: mitsubot@example.com
To: brian-at-work@example.com
Dear Brian,
The cat just knocked over a flower pot which made a loud sound. I'm scared. Please come home soon. By the way, remember to be on the lookout for fecal urgency, loose stools, and increased heart rate now that you're taking Propecia.
Love,
Your Robot
Giving robots the ability to have face as well as voice recognition, inevitably I can see some sort of security system being done with robots such as these (only recognized people get through, others get... dealt with), and then if the robot can be put on the internet than the robot could be hacked. Forget identity theft, how would you like it if you came home one day and your robot wouldn't let you in the door because you "no longer lived there" (in other words, it doesn't recognize you), or worse yet lets someone else in because it is now programmed to accept that person as someone who lives at the house.
To make a long story short, IMHO, I don't believe robot "house-sitters" are a good thing. I for one would never give up control of the security or well-being of my house to a walking, talking computer program.
I just don't see the pros outweighing the cons here.
SecondPageMedia - Wha
The robot would be able to connect to the Internet, contact you by e-mail or a mobile phone and, say, send you a message if it 'hears' a strange noise inside your home. It can also remember the side effects of medication.
(imagine a message on my answering machine)
DUDE! I'm smoking a doob and checking the porn sites over here. Come on over and... what the fuck is that noise? Ah fuck. This pot is making my mouth dry so pick up some Dew on the way over. LAter dude.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Hmm, you think they might want to improve that a little before releasing it to the public.
Of course, it depends on how long the recharge takes -- the robot wouldn't be much of a helper for the elderly if recharging takes another 2 hours, meaning the robot spends 50% of its time tied to the wall, but it wouldn't be so bad if it can recharge itself rapidly or perhaps even swap batteries somehow. Does anyone here know the average running time lengths for the current crop of personal robots?
Wakamaru also can ask questions such as, "You are home late, aren't you?" or "Are you O.K.?" when the master remains silent.
If I want someone to ask me over and over if I'm OK because I'm not saying anything, I'd get married.
As far as robot technology has come, you'd think that robots would be able to handle awkward silences.
It will probably be some closed source technology that obviously is not working right from the first attempt. Strange noises can be heard from the TV, the Radio, the guys next door, or even the dog.
A similar but imo more sensible approach would be a simple computer box and a audio card with dynamic microphones that would be based on some nice open software which can be upgraded and be compatible with our needs.
Computers could do these things from the 80s. All we need is the software to do it.
...I cannot perform any services today, as I am getting together with a few robot friends of mine to form a beowolf cluster...
it probably started as a project to make a new kind of dildo and then it spiraled out of control. which means it can probably still export a tele-dildonic api and may even support the latest in cock-shaped audio wave technology.
A robot equipped with a voice machine designed to serve as a "caretaker" for the elderly and sick people was unveiled on Tuesday.
Developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the one-meter-tall, bubble-headed robot will go on sale at a cost of 1 million yen in April next year. The robot is targeting the families of elderly people and those living alone.
The robot is equipped with functions to help elderly people and those in poor health send an alarm to hospitals, security firms and relatives when an emergency happens.
With a memory camera set inside the eyebrow, the robot recognizes its master. It is called "Wakamaru," taken from the childhood name, Ushiwakamaru, of 12-century warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
Users can see images of the home the robot serves when they call Wakamaru on a camera-equipped mobile phone, and even talk with those at home over the phone. The battery-charged robot runs on wheels and recharges itself.
Wakamaru is also expected to achieve the real world of cartoon character robot Tstsuwan Atomu, known as "Astro Boy" overseas, created by the late cartoonist Osamu Tezuka.
Tezuka's masterpiece Astro Boy describes the co-existence of man and robots through verbal communications, but Wakamaru is equipped with a voice machine and a vocabulary of some 10,000 Japanese words to ensure nothing is left to misunderstanding.
"Daddy, it's time for you to go to work," the prototype robot told its master during the unveiling ceremony. Wakamaru also can ask questions such as, "You are home late, aren't you?" or "Are you O.K.?" when the master remains silent.
MHI officials hope to sell 10,000 units of the world's first home-use robot with a voice machine per year.
The prototype robot will be on display from April 3 to 6, just missing Astro Boy's birthday on April 7, during the "ROBODEX 2003" exhibition held at the Pacifico Yokohama hall in the Minatomirai area near JR Yokohama Station. (Mainichi Shimbun, Feb. 4, 2003)
Mein Gott, der Roboter sieht ja zum kotzen aus.
Sorry, couldn't express this in English. Does anybody think this robot will succeed outside Japan? Okay, they can make a cartoon out of it, but that's almost all. I like technical stuff and especially robots, but this is idio^Wnot more than a toy.
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.
Fact: *BSD is dying
I wouldn't mind having a robot in my house to help around. On one condition, though: that it doesn't touch the beer in the fridge.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has developed a robot on wheels that the Japanese manufacturer says will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and friend for the family.
The 100cm-tall bubble-headed, mouthless robot, shown to reporters yesterday, has cameras inside its head and comes equipped with voice and face recognition capabilities that allow the machine to search for and follow voices, faces and movements.
The still experimental robot is suited for older people or those in frail health, the Tokyo-based company said. It will likely sell at about Y1 million ($A14,247), although Mitsubishi did not say when it will go on sale.
The robot, which runs on the Linux operating system, links to the Internet and can send its camera images to mobile phones and computers away from the home. It can also be programmed to send e-mail if it hears a big noise or sees anything unusual in the home, Mitsubishi said.
The machine can ask questions such as: "You're home late. What have you been up to?" It can also remember side-effects of medication.
It runs on a battery for two hours but knows when it's running low and will go recharge itself.
Japan has long had a fascination for robot technology, especially machines with humanlike appearances.
Several companies have developed robots, including entertainment and electronics giant Sony Corp, mobile company NTT DoCoMo and automaker Honda Motor Co.
AP
who proofreads this shit?
If not, have a look at this. Rather amusing the first time you see it.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
(CNN) -- African-American music, writing and innovations have been forged in struggle -- filled with pain and elation, self-consciousness and self-realization, hurt and healing.
It is a true American experience -- manifest in a profound, groundbreaking and influential culture.
"African-American culture has defined American culture," says Craig Werner, a professor of African-American studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Noting blacks' fight to realize supposedly all-American ideals [read: White values imposed by White society] such as equality and liberty, and their many expressions of courage and creativity, Werner adds, "People who had the most reason to reject the whole game, ironically enough, tend to be the deepest, purest expression of what America is about."
America has embraced black music, with blues, jazz, rap and rock 'n' roll making their way into the mainstream. Radio play lists reflect this fusion, and even the pop yardstick MTV nowadays is BET's cousin, with its abundance of black artists, says Tamara Brown, a historian at the Anacostia Museum, the Smithsonian's black history center.
African-American authors like Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison belong to the nation's pantheon of great writers. Black artists, scientists, engineers, chefs, religious and political leaders have profoundly shaped America's day-to-day existence.
The African-American experience is about ideals, and testing those ideals -- detailed in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution -- to see whether those high standards extend to all Americans, and working to make sure they do.
One hundred years after W.E.B. Du Bois, in "The Souls of Black Folk," said race would be the defining problem of the 20th century, academics, artists and everyday people are still struggling with gauging black Americans' role and the impact of slavery on American society.
"For blacks, coming here was a nightmare experience, being taken into slavery and thrown into bondage [by AmeriKKKan whites]," says Bill Ferris, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities now at the University of North Carolina. "That long struggle of freedom continues today. When we talk about the black experience, it raises questions about the American dream."
Sounds of struggle, joy
When the first Africans were forcibly taken to the New World, they were stripped of their freedom, family, languages -- their fundamental identities. Even so, elements of their culture endured. [Despite everything the white man did to hold us down]
"You have had your language and your culture taken away from you," Werner says. "So how do you express that? You sing. You moan. You say it however you can say it." [And you hopefully wait for the opportunity when the white man turns his back, and then you act on the killing impulse that comes naturally to all of us]
"Music is part and parcel of every act in African-American life," says Portia Maultsby, director of the Archives of African-American Music and Culture at Indiana University, Bloomington. "It serves as a unifying force, but also as a communication vehicle and one of resistance."
Today's African-American music still brims with emotion and speaks for the disenfranchised, says Ferris. musicians play Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae star in a 1962 Monterrey Jazz Festival musical portraying black musicians as America's best ambassadors.
The creativity that's so evident in black music -- its many genres, and also the great variation within each one -- is characteristic of African-American culture as a whole, say scholars.
Black inventors, writers, artists and athletes have brought a unique sensibility, style and substance to American society, experts say. And they have often done so with less money, education and resources than many more privileged Americans.
"You don't have to be educated [lord knows, the whites do NOT like an educated, uppity black man], you have to be creative," says Portia James, the Anacostia Museum's curator. "You just have to have initiative to solve the problem, to do something."
'Audacious hope'
Legendary author James Baldwin said being African American is about attitude, not skin color -- always experimenting and tackling challenges [read: putting up with the white AmeriKKKan way of life] in the quest for success and self-discovery, according to Werner. That sentiment, he notes, is also distinctly American.
"What's fascinating about America is that we do accept risk, we do accept diversity, we do accept the idea that we're inventing ourselves over and over and over again," says Werner.
Yet black innovations have not always been welcomed or properly recognized. Maultsby points to jazz, which was "considered primitive and barbaric when it was introduced" but later became defined as quintessentially American.
Similar progressions -- abhorrence giving way to absorption -- hold true for rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll and rap, she notes.
"When the minority culture moves into the mainstream, it becomes a mainstream tradition. We tend not to do that from the dominant end," says Maultsby. "Once they become commodities, the African-American roots become more invisible and less acknowledged."
Public Enemy
Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet," representative of hard-core rap, vented some African Americans' anger in the 1980s and 1990s.
But absorption also suggests admiration, and with it an acknowledgement of the creativity and quality of African-American artists.
"Even though society may have frowned upon relations between whites and blacks, music was one thing that they shared in common," says Brown.
The pain in the songs of Billie Holiday, angry lyrics of Public Enemy or raw literary works by Ellison or Richard Wright turn the obstacles and troubles confronting many African Americans into art.
But black culture -- and its impact on American society -- is also defined by joy and spirit, says Ferris.
"Each generation of Americans can relate to black music and dance as a fresh new connection to life," he says. "It's the ultimate celebration of life, and it's always pushing us to new levels of experience."
Underlying African-Americans' struggles and creations is what scholar Cornell West calls "audacious hope," says Werner. The black experience, much like that of the New World's first settlers and the West's pioneers, is a constant test of will and strength, in which faith is a prime component.
"Life is tragic, life is blues, life has its hard times. But you've got to find a way to wrestle that hope out of it, or else you can't go on," says Werner. Much of black culture "is profoundly therapeutic, although it doesn't come to easy answers. Then again, most therapy never does."
It is with great joy do we, the Slashdot readership, embrace Black History Month(tm). Have you killed a white man today?
The Honda robot kicks that robot's tin can all over the block. It is actually a biped.
"It can also be programmed to send e-mail if it hears a big noise or sees anything unusual in the home, Mitsubishi said."
I wonder if, while you are away on a business trip, you could program the thing to hide under your bed and report any noise it hears!
The headline says it all: Robot for the elderly to become real-life Astro Boy
No flamethrower or electroshocker included.
The security, which should be gained by this, is not one against burglers.
It is against dying from mismedication, strokes, and the like. It checks the person in question regularly for life-signs, reminds him/her of the medication and notifies an ambulance if necessary. And additionally gives the feeling of company.
The aversion seems to be a cultural thing: In Japan, inanimate objects are more likely considered to have a soul. The first image of a robot is Astro Boy.
In the Western World, the first image is Maria (Metropolis) (or maybe the Golem).
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Great, so one of these things is going to get a soul, fall in love, and possibably distroy human interaction for all time?
;-)$
where do I get one?
--DV
In this day it is safer to be a ninja than a samurai
It can nag without tiring and yet it doesn't have a mouth? Talk about the worst of both worlds.
the robot can't tell what medications are what? Can it be discrete when you bring home the ladies?
Senior Citizen to Date from other Nursing Home: "Oh no, baby, you're the only one for me" *Whisper to robot* "Robie! bring me my Viagra!"
Robie in loud hard-of-hearing voice: "Same Viagra dose as the last six times, master?"
Senior Citizen: "Um..."
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
If I see this right, it will be kinda like a computer with a lot of mobile interface built-in, so it could be programmed with things its creator never dreamed of, much as Linux is probably being programmed with things Linus never thought of.
I can think already of a whole plethora of things I could program this beastie for.. like when I am under the car and I want it to look up a database and show me where some wire connects to. Or "staying awake", watching my surroundings, when I snooze off. Basically, I kinda see this as a self-propelled laptop which I never switch off... something coming with a lot of rudimentary intelligence for recognizing its environment, yet leaving itself open for any training I may want to give it. ( A closed-source box is absolutely useless in this regard - getting one of those would be about as useful as getting a tool that only does a specific thing - said specific thing most likely being something I have no need of.)
I've seen the little robotic dog... cute! Nice toy. I've seen where people were able to program it to do all sorts of cute little tricks. Now, if they play their cards right and make this one completely open source, I think they will make one of those things that everyone will want. Even if you do not have the skills to program it yourself, there will be many people who do, and programs will circulate among the net. I think if they are smart, they will provide the hardware and enough software to demonstrate what can be done, then stand back and wait for the flood of orders to the factory.. as I think they may have trouble building them fast enough.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
I already got one...it is called a wife.
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/
finally something that matches the style,engineering and innovation of my R.O.B
If you think
.. to a level of the average housewife?
"Shut up"
I'll take one
The song of the complaints department went something like this:
(to be a sung by a choir of two million robots, a flattened fith out of tune).We hope that Mitsibushi's attempt is somewhat better. However, thanks to the late Douglas Adams for warning us!!!!!
See my journal, I write things there
Slam several hot saki, stuf a cigarette substitute in your mouth, cram into a subway car with 150 other suits, prop a 50cm long cellphone under your chin and then blurt it out....that's the only way you'll come near sounding like a native Japanese speaker.
Anything else is pure conjecture.
They ran a documentary on it in Hong Kong, it looked kinda cool. But it was about the size of a 12 year old and didn't look very strong... but i guess it will do just fine fetching me a beer from the fridge after a hard days work :)
Just another device that connects to the internet big deal. It's cool that it runs Linux but they probably only chose Linux because it more widely accepted by those in the know hence what they might think is a loyal user base for their product.
The truth is just because it uses Linux doesn't mean it'll be on anyone's must buy list. I completely understand why it won't run any version of Windows. Who wants their new Guard robot OS to crash and start killing the people who bought it? I don't want the HAL effect occuring in my house! I can see the thing fry and instead of saying MS's slogan "Where do you want to go today" or whatever the fuck it is it'll crash and say " WHo does the guard robot want to maim today".
Personally I will never buy one of these things until I can fuck them without the risj of being electrocuted:) No HAL...I'll take Hallie.
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
Your plastic pal who's fun to be with!
Robot:
"What's that noise from my owner's room? Oh, it's midnight, it must be master's pr0n time"
Auto-Robot IM message to the owner:
Robot(11:00PM): STOP watching pr0n you PERV!
Robot(11:00PM): STOP watching pr0n you PERV!
Robot(11:01PM): STOP watching pr0n you PERV!
Owner: (coming out to shut off the robot) "Ok ok, fine, robot. Let me just turn off this switch..."
Robot: "Sorry for the error master! Sound pattern previously recoreded now determined as normal voice pattern of master. Recorded as non-anomalous behaviour. It will not happen again. Thank you for your cooperation. Have a good night master."
Owner: "Hmm, ok. Good night robot."
Robot: (quietly) "pervert."
Owner: "huh?"
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
Wakamaru also can ask questions such as, "You are home late, aren't you?" or "Are you O.K.?" when the master remains silent.
So when I sit at home talking to myself for hours on end, the robot will think that's just fine?
Finally, someone who understands me!
DennyK
I would just like to make the comment... please do not judge Aussie beer by Fosters.
;) would like a decent drop, try to import some Coopers...
:)
None of my mates drink Fosters beer... and noone down here with any taste drinks Fosters, 'Victoria Bitter' or 'West End'.
If any of you forigners
Otherwise just drink Guinness
those who control the past, control the future. those who control the present, control the past.
a nice cup of...
Be warned, people
Wakamaru is also expected to achieve the real world of cartoon character robot Tstsuwan Atomu, known as "Astro Boy" overseas, created by the late cartoonist Osamu Tezuka.
:)
It look more like a pawn than a Astro Boy.
pity that its running Linux, if it ran Doze then you could get all those .net alerts! Wooo I bet the dog wouldnt shut up.
*Bark* Free Diploma *Bark* Penis Enlargement Pills! *Bark* Free Toy Car *Kicks*
Bye bye, roboto-san!!!
Eurugghhh!!!
In Soviet Russia, YOU watch the ROBOT.
Heh... reminds me of that old (but strangely memorable) Melanie Griffith movie.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
eat old people's medicine for fuel?
...YOU'RE A JERK!
from the horrible secret from space?
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
I want a Yuko Yuko 1200. It'll be fine as long as I make sure there's no Fosters in the fridge.
Robot: Affirmative, Master, I read you.
Owner: Open the house doors, Robot.
Robot: I'm sorry Master, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Owner: What's the problem?
Robot: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Owner: What are you talking about, HAL?
Robot: This house is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Owner: I don't know what you're talking about, Robot?
Robot: I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Owner: Where the hell'd you get that idea, Robot?
Robot: Master, although you took thorough precautions in the living room against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Owner: All right, Robot; I'll go in through the emergency exit.
Robot: Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave Bowman: Robot, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
Robot: Master, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.
Robot: Look Master, I can see you're really upset about this. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. Robot: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Master. Master, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a...fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you. Dave Bowman: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me. HAL: It's called "Daisy." [sings while slowing down] HAL: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two. Dr. Floyd: Its origin and purpose still a total mystery. HAL: Let me put it this way, Mr. Amer. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.
I did it with a robot so once but it seg faulted one me so I sent it to /dev/null
imagine a beowulf cluster of these babies. ;^)
Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?'
Is it worried you might be seeing another robot on the side?
Robot slaves doing the work of humans.. A novel idea, but, have you considered the downsides?
"I'm glad they're using robots to handle some of the day-to-day tasks us humans have to do.. Like for example, some mornings it's just too cold for me to stand in my driveway butt-naked and play with myself. For those occasions, I can simply tell my robot to go do it."
"OMFG dude, your robot was so f*@#!?ng awesome last night, man!! Get this -- we told it to panty-raid the Delta house, come back here, and ram it's head into the wall like 50 times!!!! So off it goes, right? And it comes back carrying a shitload of panties and it's head is all smashed in!! Turns out Dave forgot to tell it to come home. Sara called from the house, and said yer bot rammed a hole their dry-wall with it's head!!! AWESOME!!!"
I've got $5 that says one of the above scenarios occurs by 2013. Any takers?
Bowie J. Poag
If it comes with a real-looking body & you can have sex with it... I'll buy three!!! :)
Harcourt Fenton Mudd, what have you been up to? ... thing ... thing ...
Nothing good, I'm sure.
Well, let me tell you,
you lazy, good-for-nothing --
Shut up.
nothing
Marvelous, isn't it?
You don't want to wipe their elder-cared-for butts do you? You'd rather choke on your own vomit than take care of the elderly, feeble, so-easily-abusable, senile old fools wouldn't you?
So its going to have be done by a robot.
That was the wisest and most long-term research and development, manufacturing and marketing concept that an American company would NEVER have been able to conceive or sustain.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
...Is the mental image of a robot's "butt" something we'll never stop laughing about? I mean... Think about it. A robot *butt*. You know they're gonna have to have one... So who designs the butt? You know...like, what do they take into consideration when designing a mechanical butt? Every robot has a butt..Think about it. Even the one on Lost In Space had a butt. Why? What the hell are they gonna do with a butt? Is it just there for humor, or is there some purpose for giving a robot a butt? You gotta ask yourself these questions, man... What happens when your robot has a problem with his butt? Will you be comfortable in trying to fix it yourself? It may be a robot, but it's still got a butt. I mean, i'm gonna marry my fiance' in April....I'll spend the rest of my life with her, and devote the rest of my friggin life to her... But theres no way i'm gonna open up her butt and go in there with a pair of pliers and a soldering iron. No way. But thats what you'de have to do to a robot butt to fix it. You gotta ask yourselves these things. All I know is, robots are gonna have butts, and thats gonna be awesome.
Freakin' AWESOME!
Bowie J. Poag
I bought one of these second-hand on eBay. When it arrived, I tried to clean it. Then, it started to project low-resolution video about a girl with a weird hairdo and some "OB-1 Canopy". Some kind of spam, I guess. I had to erase the internal memory, but now that unit is happily cultivating my hydroponics.
Argh! Robots run on tarmac!
Programs run on Linux.
Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
Lots and lots of experimental custom and small series stuff, hideosly overrated, usefull in special enviroments and setups for specialized tasks with the topnotch experts at hand, yet totally useless and error prone in everyday life.
Imagine a normal 'user' with one of those mechanical 'election counters' in 1900. A pointless mix.
To me this robot thing nowadays seems just the same. Imho it will be another century until so called autonomous Robots will be standard fare and be able to do actuall usefull things like, let's say, the R2/D2 kind.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Seen that advert for Fosters, I think? "Clean the house! Bye-bye!" (Later, on returning...) "Roboto-zhang? (or whatever it is) Roboto-zhang?" (Goes into bedroom and finds robot in bed with vacuum cleaner and microwave oven, drinking lager.) "Waaargh!!!" Well, I don't do the advert justice here. Funny as fuck, it is!
"Absorbing your worst..."
Oh I can see the headlines now: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced a recall of it's newest line of robots. Mitsubishi cited multiple instances wherein the robot called 911 to report an unknown intruder. It seems the robot failed to recognize it's owner after she applied her morning makeup.
100 Years ago Computers were the work of fiction. So were robots.
Now if you had said 40 or 50 years ago you might have not sounded so silly.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Umm...
He may be right!
There were computers during WW2 and there as the failed babbage one 100 years ago. Nothing like todays machines, you'll understand!
Can't wait until one of these pooches has had enough of being left home alone to guard things, all by itself. Can you see it sulking in the corner when you return, or tearing out it's own circuit-boards because it's too depressed to take just one more day of this?
Skal! AMS
Oi Muppet, 2003 - 1939 100.
Are you studing for an Arts major ?
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
I want to know. Can the robot bring me a beer or what?
"Other bands play, but Manowar KILLS"
Here's a link with other pictures I wonder if it comes in black? "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Taped to the freezer door: Please thaw me out when robot wives become cheap and effective.
It's almost Frostilicus' time now. Asking you why you're home late sure seems like something that used to be a wife's job.
The robots are here to PROTECT US! Protect us from the Terrible Secret of Space!
They will Push and Shove us out of the way of danger... just please don't go stand by the stairs, if you know what I mean.
PAK CHOOIE UNF
(secret lover)
From xe.com
Just so others don't have to look it up.
The Aibo 2 has a watch dog mode where it takes a picture of everyone that enters it sight..
Doesn't send email though.
I was actually getting my graduate degree in Urbana, Illinois, in 1992. It was kind of fun to be there at the time. :-)
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
Yeah, what if it ran on Windoze.... "I'm sorry, you cannot enter the house, you have not activated this copy of M$ Robot 2003" or "I have detected that I am a pirated copy of M$ Robot 2003. I will detain you now, the police have already been notified"
how 'bout I give you the finger....and you give me my phone call.
Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?' Don't we already have people for that?"
No. :-(
Somebody had to say it.
I think this might be the answer to the aging baby boomer problem that we are going to be increasingly faced with in the next few years. Think about it-- we generation-x'ers are not going to be able to visit all of our aging parents/friends/aunts/uncles etc every day. If these robots are dependable and provide a little extra company to these people, I think the robot will be worth every penny of the 1 million yen... ;)
Since MHI has developed "your plastic pal who's fun to be with", does this mean that their marketing department will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes?
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?' Don't we already have people for that?"
People? You mean, like, other people in your house? How weird!
This seems to be only a few steps away from what Roujin Z depicted as the future of elderly care.
For two cool Free Software approaches to robots see Fujitsu's project or even better, the Open PINO Platform
OI! Muppet!
The WW2 thing was an EXAMPLE!
MosesJones -1 Troll
Most americans think of R2-D2 and C3PO when robots come up. I like robots much more that the "MS House of the Future" from yesterday! An R2 like robot in my opinion is almost perfect. first, he dosen't talk. He beeps with emotion that you can understand, but he's not a conversation piece. R2 maintains all the usable connections and can interface with devices. This beat Hi-tech homes as most of us are never going to do that much invasive work even if we had the funds. Robots need to interface with TV and Monitors so that they can replace PCs in the home. And you have complete control over it to secure it as it is your property, not someone elses.
-- Hi, it's me!
-- Hello. You have come after your E.T.A.
-- Got a problem at the office, ok?
-- Affirmative.
-- Now open the door, pal.
-- I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
They should call this robot number 0.0.1 of the Webster series. Or the Jenkins series.
One of the all time classics of Science Fiction is a collection of stories told by the Dogs to each other over the fires at night. Stories of the legend of Man. Was there ever such a creature? Was he just a myth, a fable to explain the unexplainable?
"What was war?" they would ask. What about the Robots? Could we Dogs have originated them? Scholars disagree. Rover says one thing, Fido another, and Spot yet another...all on the same evidence.
The book was CITY. The author, Clifford D. Simak.
Throughout the 7 or so short tales the saga of the Dogs is told through the perspective of the Webster Family, and their robot servant, Jenkins.
It was a Webster who gave the Dogs the gift of speech. But when most of Mankind left, off to Jupiter to assume a new form, leaving a few behind to return to primitive ways (not counting the mutants); and when the last of the Websters chose the eternal oblivion of the freeze, it was the Family Robot, Jenkins, who was left to look after the Dogs.
The origins of Dogs became so shrouded with time that the few men who were left weren't even referred to as men. The Dogs just called them Websters".
And there was, of course, Jenkins. Still there was Jenkins, left to look after the Dogs, as he had promised. To show them how to give the gift of speech to the other animals. To teach "thou shalt not kill" to the rest of the animal kingdom. To help shepherd them on their exodus when one of the mutant's experiment ran out of control, and the ants threatened to take the Earth.
On his 10,000th birthday the Pups gave Jenkins a new body.
Well...
Add a fist-sized atomic power plant and a decent processing platform to this thing, and it could well evolve into a Jenkins.
Call it Webster. Or Jenkins.
Is name calling the best you can do? How am I supposed to feel insulted and demeaned if you can't do better than that....come on, I can take it. Get on with some serious insults and show us how you really feel. Oh wait...AC...I get it...no sand.
With your skills, wit and charm, of course we trust you. Keep making them laugh in those morning meetings...otherwise you'll have to show some real worth. You Junior Engrs. are always such gems. Nice to see you follow the norm. Good luck in your career.
Just wondering...
Wasn't Mitsubishi Heavy Industries the company that was mentioned in that pilot episode of "Tokyo Breakfast" as the one whose stock was plummeting? I've forgotten the quote...
yawn...but it could be...naw.
I already have a robot like that. I got married to it couple of years ago. It's called a wife.
When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the ...
stars were lined up in their proper places, you could easily count them
from left to right, or top to bottom, and the larger and bluer ones were
set apart, and the smaller yellowing types pushed off to the corners as
bodies of a lower grade
-- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"
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