Carnegie Mellon Introduces RoboBowl To Spur Robotics Advances

coondoggie writes "With the goal of taking ideas for new robots off the drawing board and moving them into real-life situations, Carnegie Mellon University will host a series of competitions aimed at bringing new robotic technologies for manufacturing, healthcare and national security applications. Carnegie calls the competitions 'RoboBowls' and says they will feature next-generation robotics challenges 'intended to find and foster start-up and early-stage companies seeking to develop 'big idea' products and services.'

Comments

Robo Bowls!

[ColdWetDog]

Two Robots enter!

One Robot leaves!

Re:Robo Bowls!

[anyGould]

Didn't we already have this? (Robot Wars, etc.)

Not to say I wouldn't pay money for some PPV robot fighting, built and funded by some startups.

Re:Robo Bowls!

[Anonymous Coward]

"And we've added a surprise sixth competition as a bonus event to thank you all for coming out here".

*everyone's cell phones ring at the same time*

"Hello! Are you worried about losing your hair as get older....?"

Re:Robo Bowls!

[artor3]

While I did enjoy those shows, they weren't really robots so much as tricked out RC cars. An actual robot fight might be interesting, but based on video I've seen of robot races and robot soccer games, a battle between robots would be as exciting as one between rabbits.

Re:Robo Bowls!

[anyGould]

While I did enjoy those shows, they weren't really robots so much as tricked out RC cars. An actual robot fight might be interesting, but based on video I've seen of robot races and robot soccer games, a battle between robots would be as exciting as one between rabbits.

I think that's a case where speeding up the film a bit would go a long way. Either that, or get baseball fans interested - they're used to slow paced games. ;)

Re:Robo Bowls!

[geekoid]

5 robots enter, one robot leaves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uS5b8aQ6z8

Re:Robo Bowls!

[Anonymous Coward]

You sir have not experienced the glacial fury of CRICKET

Re:Robo Bowls!

[HornWumpus]

How do we get the robots to drink during the match?

Re:Robo Bowls!

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh.. Robo "bowls"

Re:Robo Bowls!

[anyGould]

I am totally stealing that line.

really..

[Anonymous Coward]

Any bending units?

Robots and the Economy

[mfh]

My position is the same as the Alan Watts, philosopher and author of "The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are".

We have the technology to never have to worry about economy at all with the advent of robotics. This is truly a great time to be alive!

Re:Robots and the Economy

[somersault]

The problem is politics and the economy..

Also I think all the stuff about "boosting consumer confidence" is kind of hilarious after the media trying to scare us for so long. If there wasn't such a fuss made in the media, I wonder how much things really would have changed.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[mfh]

This generation is very lazy. It won't be long before everyone figures out that if you have twenty robots working on your behalf you can make a decent living and have a lot of fun with life.

Human beings were given senses that promote our lifelong enjoyment or our lifelong pain and suffering. In my opinion I think we should all enjoy life as Epicurus dictates; that a life without suffering can be a noble life and a good life. Robots are unable to suffer and therefore they make the perfect place-holders for the concept of suffering. Everything that makes human being suffer is meant for robots to endure. They will feel good one day knowing they helped to save humanity.

Either that or they'll get drunk and wonder why.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[mangu]

The big problem will be the things that robotics cannot produce. Real estate, for instance. How would you buy or sell a home in a world where everyone has robots to produce all they want and no one earns a salary?

Re:Robots and the Economy

[geekoid]

Every generation is very lazy.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[geekoid]

Presumable, the guy with the robot with the biggest gun.

Seriously, though, I ahve thought about this a klot..probably too much.

When a line of robots come out that acn do 'menial level' tasks, the economy is fucked, If McDonalds can hire robots to do that work, at worse, one robot will replace 3 people, at best 1 robot will replace 6-7 people. If the robot cost 100K, it wouls still be a deal for them. So, what do we do with that other 6-7 people? How do we get tax money?

Will we need to make a law where a person can only own 1 robot and chose to either work, or have his robot work? DO we make some 5 dollar an hour tax on all robots? Do we outlaw robots? Do we create little 'rabbit' holes for people to sleep, but then spend all there free time in community parks and community centers?

once we are at that level, robots will be building robots, and doing a vast amount of there own maintenance.

And of course if we end up with robots that can generate their own ideas.. well, lets be sure they are always programmed for benevolence.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[king neckbeard]

I think you are too attached to our current economic models. The problem is that economic models exist to deal with scarcity, and what's happening is that scarcity is disappearing. You can panic about how that means things will change, or you can be excited about how that means things will change. Basically, it would a transition to a Star Trek economy, which means we get to devote our time and labor towards more meaningful endeavors, like holodeck sex.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[HornWumpus]

I've only got six robots working for me and keeping them running is running me ragged. These are special purpose machines and are relatively simple verses a general purpose robot.

There is a flaw in your plan.

Unless you know how to keep yours running they will all wind up belonging to me and others like me.

Then it's back to digging ditches for you and the rest of the navel gazers/philosophers. I assume someone who needs a ditch dug and also doesn't understand robots will hire you. Not my problem in any case.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[HornWumpus]

There will always be scarcity in some things. Awesome land is the obvious example. Original art worth owning is another.

Look at the USA. Our poor are already fat. Hasn't changed a thing. Now they 'suffer' for lack of big screen tvs and new cars.

When they each get a new 'TV wall' and electric car the Al Shaptons of the future will poverty pimp on them not having beach houses.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[i_b_don]

On the holodeck, everyone has awesome land, fantastic art, and hot chicks.

d

Re:Robots and the Economy

[blue trane]

3d printer will print me a new robot part according to open source schematics put on the internet by real innovators, not just emotional manipulators like you...

Re:Robots and the Economy

[HornWumpus]

'Real innovators' need to eat too.

Besides who is going to fix your 3d-printer? Will they work for free too?

Who will install the part? Will they work for free?

Good luck with the ditch digging.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[blue trane]

We produce more food than anyone can eat. Remember the slashdot story a while back saying 30% of food produced does not enter a human stomach?

3D printers will print themselves! Open-source schematics and instructions on the internet can allow those who don't want to pay an expert to DIY...

The only reason you want someone to dig a ditch is so you can tell them to fill it up again, thereby getting your control fix for the day. That's not innovation, that's an opportunity cost squandered on stupid ppl games.

Re:Robots and the Economy

[HornWumpus]

I bet it has only gotten down to 30% recently. Before modern times you can bet vermin ate as much food as humans.

You have gotten to the point of postulating VonNeuman machines, not just 3d printers. Might as well just go full on holodeck.

Two Words....

[lindoran]

Robot Football ...

Discuss

Re:Two Words....

[geekoid]

With the newest rules, they might as well be robots.

Re:Two Words....

[timeOday]

"Robot Football ..."

RoboCup (which is football - or soccer to us Americans) is the original RoboBowl. From my involvement in RoboCup as a grad student, I think it's fantastic. To spur innovation, you need competition and information-sharing. Normally, academia has information-sharing but no objective criteria for competition, while industry has competition but too little information sharing. RoboCup has both. I am certain a recent team would destroy those of just a few years ago, which is what it's all about.

They've had that soccer one for a while...

[GoodNewsJimDotCom]

I remember when I went to CMU back in the second half of the 90s, and they had robotic soccer there.

King of the Hill

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm dimly remembering a competition between RC-car-sized robots I watched on (probably public) television - I think it was some sort of pan-university engineering thing. Two robots started, each at opposite ends of a hill, and attempted to plant a flag-like object at the top for a certain amount of time. I seem to remember that it was semi no-holds-barred - you could remove the other guy's flag, or go for speed: plant your flag first, then physically block the other robot from reaching the top. This led to all sorts of strategies and "armaments," and I remember it being really cool how some robots would have certain implements to disarm or negate the potential strategies of their rivals. I dunno, maybe I just dreamed it in a flashback. Either way, it was way better than Robot Wars, which was like the XFL of robot competitions: let's just be really violent and have commentators sputter inane comments in overwrought voices.

Robots or "Robots"?

[AP31R0N]

i hope these will be robots, not "robots".

In Robot Wars they were remote controlled cars with armor and weapons. A show about actual robots fighting would be AWESOME (once they get them to actually work).