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Robot Interprets, Plays Back Dreams

foobarx writes "Digital artists have created a humanoid robot which uses brainwave activity recorded during sleep to playback an interpretation of your dreams. The artists, Brendan Burns and Fernando Orellana used machine learning to find patterns in the brainwaves and then matched these patterns to dreams which they remembered having. Others have noted the possible hazards of this new technology."

7 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting to me because I know 1 of the artists by tpjunkie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Fernando Orellana was my professor for a digital art class I took in college. He was way into the computer as a tool for creating artwork, and the fusion of traditional art with the modern and bleeding edge digital techniques. Interestingly, he asked the class one day what each of us would do with an unlimited budget for an art project. No one thought to ask him what he would do but it looks like this is certainly a hint. He's a great guy and has some cool ideas, I'll have to look him up when I'm at school for alumni weekend this year.

  2. Raises the question.. by wellingtonsteve · · Score: 4, Interesting

    of whether you are responsible for what your robot does while re-enacting your dreams...

  3. A speculation machine? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Interesting
    From TFA (emphasis mine):

    Periods of high activity (REM) where associated with dynamic behaviors (flying, scared, etc.) and low activity with more subtle ones (gesturing, looking around, etc.). The "behaviors" the robot demonstrates are some of the actions I might do (along with everyone else) in a dream.

    "Might" do? So, if I'm experiencing high-activity REM, I might be flying...or I might be scared? There's a big difference between those two activities (well, alt least there is for me).

    It sounds like Fernando Orellana and Brendan Burns have created a robot whose function is to speculate wildly on what someone might have been dreaming.

    Big deal. I can do that right now, and I can do it for free.
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

    1. Re:A speculation machine? by redlaceparasol · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Forget that. If you've read the latest research on dreaming, this robot can't even tell if you are dream or not, as sometimes during REM people aren't even dreaming. This is about as wildly, ridiculously inaccurate as possible.

  4. Philp K. Dick wants to know.... by SethJohnson · · Score: 2, Interesting



    Yeah, robots reading human dreams, but whoop. Wake me up when we can read robot dreams. When we find out if they dream of electric sheep, then you'll have something.

    Seth

  5. I'm reminded of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader by greenguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The ship is sailing merrily along, when the sailors rescue a man floating on a piece of driftwood. He tells them he's fleeing an island where dreams come true. The sailors want to set a course for this island immediately. "Not daydreams," he tells them, "real dreams!"

    The sailors quickly decide they don't want to go there after all.

    --
    What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
  6. Re:Just Imagine.... by alex4u2nv · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I battle dragons, and demons every night. But I always wake up just before I climax w/ the elvish fairy princess =(
    Why is this torment!!!

    One interesting feeling that I would never forget, is dieing in my sleep. It was a weird cold rush starting from my limbs rushing inwards, almost reaching my heart as I woke with a very deep inhale, and felt the exact opposite, as the coldness rushed outwards. I had it twice in one night. Episode one: CSI, I was shot. I was also the detective solving the case. Episode 2: I was in a cage, that dropped to the bottom of the sea. I was also the detective finding the body, and the mortician doing the autopsy.

    Thankfully I stick to fighting dragons!

    When I was in elementary school, I would remember myself having a lot of trouble with my dreams. I would be riding a bike, and I want to get off, but I could never get off the bike. I would want to turn left/right but it wouldn't happen. So every night I would be fighting w/ that same dream, untill one night, was able to get off the bike. Couple weeks later, I learnt to fly!!
    These days, I have more control over my dreams when I'm active, and working out. Probably has something to do with bloodflow, but thats a guess in the dark.