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Meet Lucy, The Orangutan Robot

Roland Piquepaille writes "Lucy is not an ordinary robot, driven by software. She's a pure product of artificial intelligence (AI). And after a three-year long training, she's now able to make a difference between an apple and a banana, which is quite handy for an orang-utan, even if she doesn't eat them. Her five microcontroller chips wouldn't like this... In "A Grand plan for brainy robots," BBC News Online tells us that Lucy is the brainchild of Steve Grand, an honorary research fellow at Cardiff University's School of Psychology. And why did he choose an orang-utan design? "I made Lucy as an orang-utan because, can you imagine how scary it would be if she looked like a human baby?," said Grand. More details and references are available in this overview which also includes the cover of Grand's last book, 'Growing Up with Lucy: How to Build an Android in Twenty Easy Steps,' which was already reviewed on Slashdot."

30 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. fp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fp, eat my shorts!

    (and choke on the elastic)

  2. Global Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    How do you plan on managing laws and constitutions that stretch beyond U.S territories.

    If the Internet started with the U.S and expanded to some parts of Antarctica. U.S. rules are probably useless once it gets to the new continent.

    Vice versa if someone in Antarctica created a P2P application and it became extremely popular in the U.S. U.S lawyers probably can never get a grip on it.

    Isn't geography the greatest challenge out there for any lawyers. In fact it's so difficult to deal with it's rendering the law useless.

    qgrrnqdacg

  3. Non-Roman? Okay, community protest time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Sedna? No. Plenty of people in this thread have complained about two facts - One, our planets have names derived from the Roman, not Inuit, panthon. And two, we already have a planet named after a sea-god, ie, Neptune.

    So, I propose that in protest to such a blatant attempt at PC Multiculturalism, we as a community refer to the tenth planet as Nox, the Roman goddess of night. Since it lies the furthest from the sun, that actually fits it, in a descriptive sense.

    Sedna... Whatever. Remember, we hear about this stuff months before your typical Fox news junkie, and people tend to respect us as sources of information. So spread the word - We have a new, tenth planet, named Nox. Sedna? Nope, they must have heard wrong. Nox. Nox? Nox!


    ibg

  4. Nerdliness aside... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I will admit that as a general nerd and space geek (I own a telescope) I am concerned about the possibility of the human population getting wiped out by a large space-borne impact.

    But isn't it sad that governments throw billions of dollars towards defense (from other humans) yet nobody is willing to invest in defense of the earth at large?

    This is the kind of shit that makes us look awfully silly when the aliens come inspect the rubble after the impact.

    sbultimdmopy

  5. Transmeta CPUs != longer run time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    k I know it is one of their big selling points but I have yet to have used a Transmeta device that actually had a longer run time than my huge Latitude C series with second battery. Why? Because for some reason manufacturers seem to have a fetish for the 2.5 - 3 hour benchmark. Once they reach it, they concentrate on size instead. Surely I can't be the only one who would be happy with a smallish (12-13") notebook with long battery life. I certainly find that more interesting than devices that are so tiny as to be unusable yet have comparable run time to normal laptops.

    d

  6. Strategic Option Generator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    a I'm curious as to what possible reasoning Starbucks used to enter this completely alien market. There's little money to be made from it and it seems impractical due to the time required to both burn the CD and create the playlist. Unless their goal is to keep the customer in their store for longer periods of time -- which I could see as a viable business model -- there really doesn't seem to be any strategy involved.

    As an employee of a publically-traded rival corporation [Peet's Coffee & Tea] I'm not exactly unbiased here, but I'm wondering what others have to say about the strategy behind such a radical departure from the typical role of a coffee shop.

    vct

  7. Is the FTSH acronym pronounced... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    jq As a side-bar, is the FTSH acronym pronounced... fetish?

    All kidding aside, this sounds like a great idea.

    As for the comments about encouraging sloppy code, it is clear those posters have never worked in demanding moving-target environments. The kinds of errors encountered cannot be solved easily in code - this extension would help.

    As for the comments on "you can do this in Perl, Python, and ", this is true, but if I know Bash and want tolerance, why should I have to learn a new language to get it? Likely all I'm doing is copying files, forking off subprocesses, and the like.

    For the comments on "why another shell," I would tend to agree that it would be best integrated into Bash - but then, you change the implementation of Bash, create incompatible situations, and have to retest volumes of existing scripts. It's best to have this as a separate shell with close look/feel semantics to Bash (or Csh).



    uk

  8. Re:Somebody Didn't Read GNAA/Linux Toys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    bn Of course, it seems a bit overboard to use GNAA/Linux for something that's only running one process. I've got an old P75 laptop (and it only uses a cord, no brick, too!), and it has an 8.4"x6.3"x640x480x16-bit screen, and an 810MB HDD. It'll run FreeDOS just fine, with a VESA TSR and LxPic (designed for HPLX palmtops, but works great on just about anything that runs DOS). After all, it does fairly well with Win95 (except with only 16MB RAM, it's dog slow). Flip the screen around, devise a latch, make a frame around it, and you've got a good picture frame. I suggest NOT matting it, as the choice of mat depends on the picture, and if it's changing pictures...

    ejl

  9. Choice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    v MS Windows XP with WMP.....Euro 139.99
    MS Windows XP without WMP..Euro 159.99

    erm, GNAA/Linux please...
    Hey, just noticed something. For a site that likes to be open, why can I NOT use the Great British pound sign OR the EURO sign (both are in there now, but don't show on the comment), only the DOLLAR? Is this a consipiracy? Whether text, HTML or Extrans...What's wrong with that?

    You can say Micro$oft but not Microoft or Microoft for examples...see, the pound AND Euro don't come out...?

    x

  10. Re:Stop the presses! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    nrt Seriously slashdot, your GNAA/Linux loving policy is blinding you as to what is relevant and what isn't.

    And your ignorance of news is blinding you to the fact that all the other major news sites reported hotmail and msns outages as well.

    Even CNN had it as a top story in the technology section.

    h

  11. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This actually would work out quite nicely for Starbucks, because all music [i]currently[/i] in store is put out by their own label.

    ncjflopqryol

  12. GNAA shitflood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That's right, you are being shitflooded. Join irc.gnaa.us and channel #gnaa for more details. 92509962

  13. GNAA shitflood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That's right, you are being shitflooded. Join irc.gnaa.us and channel #gnaa for more details. 78892826

  14. ack by mlong · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I know this is redundant, but I just had to say...that thing is hideously ugly and creepy. I wouldn't want to be in the same room with it. They need to use it for filming the next horror flick.

    --
    //m
  15. GNAA shitflood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That's right, you are being shitflooded. Join irc.gnaa.us and channel #gnaa for more details. 20140055

  16. GNAA shitflood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That's right, you are being shitflooded. Join irc.gnaa.us and channel #gnaa for more details. 96821302

  17. Re:Actualy kind of sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    bhv I completely agree with you. The only thing I really HATE about SQL Server is that it only runs on Windows Operating Systems. As I "only" have about 6 years of experience managing database servers, I find Oracle very frustrating to develop for and maintain. My databases aren't THAT huge (maybe 75-80 million records) and SQL Server works great. Of course, my main client is only now switching from v.7 to 2000 so I don't think this delayed release will affect me that much. I can do all my ColdFusion and Java development and hosting in Mac/GNAA/Linux so SQL Server is the only thing forcing me to keep a Windows box in my closet (which of course was locked up when I tried to use it this morning).

    I do hope they can somehow do a better job with security with the next release, although that may be asking too much.:-( Last time I had to reinstall SQL Server 2000, the whole subnet was down with the SQL Slammer worm before I even had a chance to configure the server and download the patches from Microsoft. Ouch. You have to download the patches ahead of time, pull the server off the internet, install SQL Server and all the patches, change the default port (and obviously make sure your sa password is not blank, duh) and only THEN go back online. Wow.

    sxn

  18. GNAA shitflood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That's right, you are being shitflooded. Join irc.gnaa.us and channel #gnaa for more details. 38177293

  19. $500 is waaaay too much.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This is probably the worst article I've seen posted on making digital picture frames. I apologize if that hurts anyone's feelings, but a lot more thinking could have gone into the design and parts.

    For starters, why not go to the flea market or ebay and pick up an ancient laptop? This gives you a cpu, motherboard, hard drive, network interface, and a display. I was able to find old, functional laptops for under $150 on ebay.

    I would pull the motherboard and mount it against the back of the display, then order a premium, custom built frame from a picture frame shop for ~$25-$100. You could be cheap and build your own, but $100 should get something nice and elegant. Another option would be to just pick up a pre-built frame and put in an insert cut to your spec.

    For people not up to the skill level of configuring GNAA/Linux, they could simply boot to Windows and set their SHELL variable to a screen saver's executable for cycling pictures. There is one built-in to XP, but many freebies are out there for previous builds of Windows.

    Personally, I would opt for a wireless NIC and mount a share where the pictures are to be stored. That way I could simply copy new pictures over to the system from my main computer.

    frp

  20. Blazingly high? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Is it really all that much faster than the Crusoe? I've got a Sony Vaio C1MW with an 866 MHz Crusoe in it and it's just barely fast enough as it is.

    - A.P.

    qaun

  21. linuxmusician.com -- no content.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    nvj I love the idea, but looking throughthe site even a seasoned GNAA/Linux vtran CAN NOT get a linux pc doing his music work.

    there is lots of words and ideas on the site but absolutely ZERO content.

    the tutorial on rosegarden is 100% worthless, they dont even cover how the hell you get it set up so you can actually input/output anything.

    Nothing about JACK nothing about the wild fight to get MIDI working reliabily under ALSA and JACK.

    no real reccomendations as to what hardware to buy because it does work, just a wishy-washy "most soundcards come with a midi port on the joystick..

    how about the fact that most soundcards absolutely SUCK at midi/audio recording? why not a list of "
    these fricking work good"

    linuxmusician.com is a worthless website for a bunch of fanboys, and i constantly reccomend to people that are interested in linux and music to AVOID it.

    let us all know wher there is a REAL website devoted to getting linux and musicians working together...


    u

  22. linuxmusician.com -- no content.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I love the idea, but looking throughthe site even a seasoned GNAA/Linux vtran CAN NOT get a linux pc doing his music work.

    there is lots of words and ideas on the site but absolutely ZERO content.

    the tutorial on rosegarden is 100% worthless, they dont even cover how the hell you get it set up so you can actually input/output anything.

    Nothing about JACK nothing about the wild fight to get MIDI working reliabily under ALSA and JACK.

    no real reccomendations as to what hardware to buy because it does work, just a wishy-washy "most soundcards come with a midi port on the joystick..

    how about the fact that most soundcards absolutely SUCK at midi/audio recording? why not a list of "
    these fricking work good"

    linuxmusician.com is a worthless website for a bunch of fanboys, and i constantly reccomend to people that are interested in linux and music to AVOID it.

    let us all know wher there is a REAL website devoted to getting linux and musicians working together...


    lplu

  23. Wow. Retarded! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    GNAA/LinuxMusician.com!?!?!?

    I'm a penguin fan and all, but there are some things that should not be mixed. Like....

    Water and oil.

    Acids and Alkali

    Nucular [sic] weapons and George Bush.

    GNAA/Linux and Musicians!

    Music is not about the tool, particularly tools that aren't themselves musical. I mean, you *could* say: "ViolinMusician" but "GNAA/LinuxMusician" comes across to me like "GasEngineMusician" or "Cassette Tape Musician".

    Just dumb. Sorry. (It's late, Saturday, and I've had a few drinks. So sue me, or as Apple Computer would say, sosumi!)

    -Ben

    twy

  24. What about linux distributions?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Many distributions ship with software such as XMMS, mplayer and the gimp. Should Mandrake, SuSE, Debian and the like be fined for carrying this software?

    First: no one of those distributions has a de facto monopoly in the OS market and it's trying to abuse that position to get the monopoly in other markets, such as the media players one.

    Second: on the average GNAA/Linux distro, you have twenty different text editors, a dozen media players, and another dozen graphic manipulation programs.

    So, your is, indeed, a non sequitur.



    zf
  25. Shite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    They say he died from the smell of the - SHINE your buttons with Brasso, it's only tuppence a tin. You can buy it or nick it from Woolies, but I don't think they've got any in.

    43868779
  26. Shite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    They say he died from the smell of the - SHINE your buttons with Brasso, it's only tuppence a tin. You can buy it or nick it from Woolies, but I don't think they've got any in.

    9286772
  27. Shite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    They say he died from the smell of the - SHINE your buttons with Brasso, it's only tuppence a tin. You can buy it or nick it from Woolies, but I don't think they've got any in.

    91871298
  28. Shite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    They say he died from the smell of the - SHINE your buttons with Brasso, it's only tuppence a tin. You can buy it or nick it from Woolies, but I don't think they've got any in.

    33874059
  29. Mode Parent Down and out. (was: Re:GNAA shitflood) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    How is this informative???

    Information not found: Not Informative

  30. Mod Parent Down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    How is this on-topic? Douchebag