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Robots Do The Darndest Things

alito writes "15 years ago they couldn't get them to walk, now they are rollerskating (video). Read more about the 2004 Intelligent Robotics and Systems conference in this New Scientist article, and at the conference's site. Also shown at IROS, a childbirth simulator for obstetricians, a capsule that crawls through your intestines, and a 3-mm long swimming robot. (No, I don't get paid by New Scientist.)"

19 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Duping yourself now timothy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    1. Re:Duping yourself now timothy? by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Seeing as we recently had a dupe on the same page with two articles between them, we can probably make some assumptions about how much 'editing' goes on.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  2. I'd really like to see... by Ismenio · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bill Cosby interviewing some of those 'bots' :)

  3. As long as they don't get them confused... by datastalker · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...we should be okay...

    Doctor: Okay, put the robot in.

    Patient: Doc, this feels a little funny...

    Doctor: Nurse, which robot did you use?

    Nurse: Oh dear god, I think I used the roller skating one!

    Patient: AAaagggh...

    Doctor: D'oh, there goes another one!

    Nurse: Well, I'm off to check on the obstetrical robot!

    Doctor: Make sure that one's not wearing rollerskates!

  4. Re:what's the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, maybe you could pack it with explosives and get it into somewhere crowded, then, when all the $NATIONALITY infidels are going "oh, how cute, a roller skating robot" and crowding around it... BLAM!.

  5. Hey.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    That robot is using the same roller blades my little sister does!

    1. Re:Hey.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Is your sister by chance named VICKI?

  6. Re:Well if you did get paid by New Scientist... by mrtroy · · Score: 1, Funny

    As a result of his horrible attempt at a joke, I am avoiding mirrors and torrents for this file and downloading it directly from their site.

    Hopefully you are now disliked by New Scientist.

    :)

    11k/sec and dropping!

    --
    [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
  7. 3mm long swimming robots? by moosesocks · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who thought of The Matrix immediately after reading the blurb about "3mm swimming robots"

    scary.....

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  8. Getting small by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 2, Funny
    From the article:
    "Effectively we would like to enable the doctor to become very small," he says.
    I think Steve Martin has already beaten them to the punch.
    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  9. Re:what's the point? by Amiga+Lover · · Score: 2, Funny

    all well & good making robots for miniscule applications, like the rollerskating one, or a birth trainer, but what about making ones that can help ALL people?

    Last time I checked a very large proportion of the population was born in some way.

  10. Slashcharge effect! by holzp · · Score: 2, Funny

    (No, I don't get paid by New Scientist.)
    Obviously, you get paid by their web host who is now charging them $5 a gig overage charges.

  11. Lessons from the FUTURE! by arcite · · Score: 2, Funny

    Narrator [in movie]: Ordinary human dating. It's enjoyable and it serves an important purpose. [He turns the table over and a crying baby appears. He turns it back again.] But when a human dates an artificial mate, there is no purpose. Only enjoyment. And that leads to...tragedy.

    [The woman behind him turns into a blank robot and the man downloads a celebrity onto it.]

    Billy [in movie]: Neato! A Marylin Monroebot!

    Monroebot [in movie]: Ooo! You're a real dreamboat (mechanical voice) Billy Everyteen!

    Narrator [in movie]: Harmless fun? Let's see what happens next!

    [The scene cuts to Billy's bedroom. He is kissing the Monroebot. Enter his mother.]

    Billy's Mom [in movie]: Billy, do you want to walk your dog?

    Billy [in movie]: No thank Mom, I'd rather make out with my Monroebot.

    [Enter his dad.]

    Billy's Dad [in movie]: Billy, do want to get a paper route and earn some extra cash?

    Billy [in movie]: No thanks dad, I'd rather make out with my Monroebot.

    [Enter his girlfriend, Mavis, from the café.]

    Mavis [in movie]: Billy, do you want to come over tonight? We can make out together.

    Billy [in movie]: Gee Mavis, your house is across the street, that's an awfully long way to go for making out.

    Narrator [in movie]: Did you notice what went wrong in that scene? Ordinarily Billy would work hard to make money from his paper route then he'd use the money to buy dinner for Mavis, thus earning the slim chance of performing the reproductive act. But in a world where teens can date robots why should he bother? Why should anyone bother? Let's take a look at Billy's planet a year later. [The scene changes and a foam hand rolls across an empty American football field] Where are all the football stars? [The foam hand continues to drift across an empty laboratory.] And where are the biochemists? [The scene changes to a split screen of a pair of human and robots making out on beds.] They are trapped - trapped in a soft, vice-like grip of robot lips. All civilisation was just an effort to impress the opposite sex. And sometimes the same sex. Now, let's skip forward 80 years into the future. Where is Billy?

    [The scene changes to a post-apocalyptic world. Billy is an aged man but he is still with his Monroebot and still making out with her.]

    Billy [in movie]: Farewell!

    [He dies.]

    Narrator [in movie]: The next day Billy's planet was destroyed by aliens. [In the movie a fleet of flying saucers destroy buildings with a quick laser shot.] Have you guessed the name of Billy's planet? It was Earth. Don't Date Robots!

  12. Re:what's the point? by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

    Last time I checked a very large proportion of the population was born in some way.

    I'm pretty sure my ex girlfriend wasn't so much "born" as she was "spawned"...

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  13. Speaking of birthing simulators by MmmDee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Being an ob/gyn myself, I read the article on the birthing simulator. Reminds me of the Star Trek episode when Warf delivers a baby and says, "That's not the way it happened in the simulator." I wonder if the simulator squirts body fluids, yells and curses like real life. There's just no telling where techonology will go next. Prostate exam simulator?

    --
    No man's an island, unless he's had too much to drink and wets the bed.
  14. Not everyone on /. is using Windows by Herschel+Cohen · · Score: 2, Funny

    Please save us some time bringing up a player that cannot work. I have to do a search to find RealPlayer 10.

    If it's windows media or apple player only, some us using only Linux would know not to bother.

  15. Re:what's the point? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    *sigh* and you're an illiterate fool. ALL PEOPLE ARE BORN IN SOME WAY was the grandparent post. Jesus fucking KEERIST is it that hard to keep track of a sentence? How do you manage to get dressed in the morning without poking your eyes out? Do you drive? Better stop now!

  16. Re:what's the point? by arose · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just because the Quake bot looks female and plays with you doesn not mean she's your girlfriend.

    --
    Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
  17. SOSDD by Mulletproof · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you kidding? The process is as automated as possible. The reader submits story and a script assigns a 1d20 probability in that story being selected (based on the karma and subscription status of the submitter, of course). If it manages to pass that AC rating check, the script assigns the story an editor name at random and publishes it to the front page. Of course, stories occationaly roll and natural 20, wence they are kicked to a live editor for approval. Obviously this isn't a common occurance as you can tell.

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    You need a FREE iPod Nano