Slashdot Mirror
Learning Robots
carnun writes "The NewScientist is reporting on a new snakelike robot that uses genetic algorithms to change its motion pattern so that it can still function after sustaining damage." Roland Piquepaille sends in a report about another "learning" robot, named Adam, which is designed to seek out and feed from "flowers".
I've tried and tried, but I still can't teach my Aibo.
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Again, I think it looks like it is time for some robot insurance!
"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of." - Burt Bacharach
fp!!!
That's how I taught my mail-order wife.
Maybe I should have gotten one programmed in english.
First of all its 'ahh look at the cute robot playing in the garden and learning how to survive on flowers'. Then its 'AHHHH please Mr. T1000 let me survive, please dont point that pulse rifle at me'.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
I for one welcome...
Has anyone else noticed the large increase in the number of robot related stories here lately? Beats SCO anyway.... Waitaminnute! Robots beating SCO! Perfect!
I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
I for one welcome our new snake-like robot overlords. :)
There's just something a little evil sounding about dropping snakes from the sky to use on your enemies. Especially in conjunction with another article with Adam and Eve references.
Hey is that a new snakelike robot that uses genetic algorithms to change its motion pattern so that it can still function after sustaining damage in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
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Obligatory Simpsons SONG:
Oh Whacking Day
Oh Whacking Day
Our hallowed snake skull-cracking day.
How long till they turn it into a sex toy?????
I spent ages trying to think of sig, but never did
Learning robots lead to robot overlords. Just last week, I caught my Roomba changing my long distance service. And my Aibo takes my car for weekends; never tells me where he's going, never pays for gas.
The serpentine spy...can be dropped out of helicopters to carry out reconnaissance missions No wonder they made it to work when its damaged if they're throwing them out of planes!
I spent ages trying to think of sig, but never did
Come on now, scientists, who really cares if a robot can sustain damage...why not create a robot that can "learn" to traverse from the TV room over to the kitchen and acquire some beers for its master.
Now THAT would be freakin' cool.
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
Obviously this technology is going to be used to teach T100s to crawl with their hands in that slow manner after their legs get smashed up and they are on the verge of a total systems failure.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
In the article he claims the soldiers didn't like his ant-land mine robots, because they'd take away the soldier's jobs. You know, if my job description included getting my leg blown off by a land mine, I'd seek other employment.
So then it should theoretically be possible to wire a human body so that it can be remote controllable. --I mean, even in the dorky public access sciences, they have rats which can be directed around laboratory floors with radio control units.
Heck, does the body even have to be 'alive'? --We already have coma victims kept going by machine. Why not, through brain manipulation, fire all the right signals to make the body walk and breathe. And talk. Why not? --All that speech stuff is programmed in there already. --Look at Bush; he's just a reaction machine; no soul inside. Not even an Intel chip. (Though he's not a robot; he's just another boring psycho.)
But hey, many Slashdotters would argue that there are no such things as 'souls' in the first place, which would mean that all humans are just big robots running rogue. Why not simply direct some of those brains and bodies by remote control? Again, public arena science has experimental jet pilots directing their planes with mind-reading helmets. --And the nice thing about electrical impulses is that, as any engineer can tell you, they're a two-way street. (Though somewhat more complicated in biological form, but nonetheless entirely manipulable.)
According to my ever-so-bountiful sources, there are about 1 million of these human robots being used right now on our humble little planet. --It's even possible to simulate an aura, making them difficult to detect even by those who are sensitive to such things. (Not that aruas exist, of course. To suggest such a thing would be foolish.)
Now sure, this may all sound like rather much higher tech than even a well equipped Shadow Government could pull together. And last I heard, human agencies weren't at the level of being able to put a human robot into action, but then things have been moving pretty quick of late. --For instance, I'd be interested to know which particular group is responsible for the lastest bunch of crop circles up in Canada. --The ones which have burnt/blown cavities in the cereal nodes which look as though they were put too long in a microwave.
Human agencies? Maybe. It's tough to say. Things are playing so fast and loose these days, it's nearly a full time job just keeping up!
-FL