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US Navy Funds 'MacGyver' Robot
another random user writes "A US team aims to build a robot that can work out how to use nearby objects to solve problems or escape threats. The machine has been dubbed a 'MacGyver Bot,' after the TV character who cobbled together devices to escape life-threatening situations. The challenge is to develop software that 'understands' what objects are in order to deduce how they can be used. The US Navy is funding the project and says the machines might ultimately be deployed alongside humans. It is providing $900,000 to robotics researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology to carry out the work."
and use it as a club.
This is the kind of research that creates Skynet. I don't want adaptive problem solving robots. I don't want to live in post-nuclear wasteland.
MacGyver never had $900,000. He just had household products and a heart full of courage.
If it is for the navy, will it follow the three laws of robotics? A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. Enemies are humans too....
The hypothetical machine has been dubbed a 'MacGyver Bot,'
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
a pie-in-the-sky but science fiction-sounding objective, vague enough to mean almost anything but providing many opportunities for defining convenient "subgoals" and spinoff projects along the way, and pitched to the military.
yup! this grant and its extensions may well keep a lab swimming in $$$ until the Singularity.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
Why isn't the Phoenix Foundation funding this?
The challenge is to develop software that 'understands' what objects are in order to deduce how they can be used. The US Navy is funding the project and says the machines might ultimately be deployed alongside humans.
Seems like it would get pretty annoying having one of these around...
"That is a wool sock. It can be used to cover your feet, carry small objects, hold small heavy objects to be used as a bludgeon, or to masturbate."
"That is a bottle of ranch dressing. It can be used to top a salad, as a bludgeon, or to masturbate."
"That is a cheese grater. It can be used..."
The enemies of Democracy are
"after the TV character who cobbled together devices to escape life-threatening situations"
We've reached the point where we now have to explain who MacGyver is when he's referenced? Damn i feel old =P
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
why the Navy and not the air force?
That funding moved to the SGC.
and WOPR just don't hook it the missiles systems
Have gnu, will travel.
... to see if the robot came up with the same solution as jury-rigged by the Apollo 13 engineers for the carbon dioxide removal problem.
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
Yes, there is a Portuguese word for a "MacGyverism"
Never Give A Robot Gum
... when it makes it's first accepted "Ask Slashdot" submission.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
The project demo video for this...
Was hoping they had a Guyver power armor instead
A machine that is a Deus Ex Machina, machina?
"The scientists who invented the robot say they are thrilled that it worked out how to use two tampons to escape a flooding room, but disappointed that it did not foresee Johhny 5's jealousy that ultimately lead to its destruction."
Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
I thought it said "US Navy Funds 'MacGyver' Reboot" and I just about creamed my pants... (although Mac's first mission would be to shed 30 pounds)
Oh well, robots are cool, too... I guess.
Too late. SciFi's gone.
Now we're left with 'paranormal', reality crap and wrestling.
Now admittedly, wrestling is fiction, but even if they explained the physics behind hitting someone with a folding chair, I don't think it counts as 'science fiction'.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
is not going to make a mullet anywhere near awesome enough
Sounds like they're building autonomous worker bees; next they'll fund "manager bots" that instruct them to do things that are not logical.
I need to sleep before read Slashdot news.
Don't put macgyverbot in a room full of guns.
Sounds a little like what ended up happening on Saturn's moon, Titan, when a damaged factory ship landed there. A whole robotic ecology with robotic grazers, predators and all the way up to sentient robots.
What happened to working hard for a living? People want to DELEGATE EVRYTGHING these days.
Everyons i fat and lazy these days. We optimiseeverything to levels that allows us to have ample spare time.
We then KILL that spare time with endless hours of LoL, WoW, SC2, COD etc etc (insert your game poisoin here).
Then we spend some more money on gym to offset the obesity gained at work and gaming.
So if we spent more time working, less time at home we would be overall happier. Less time spent arguing with the wife and yelling after the kids.
Less time gaming is less time strestting out about raid strats, bis gear, who is not pulling weight and needs replaceing, screaming and slamming the keyboard against the monitor when some noob sniper APWs your ass and constantly griefs you with "no skillz".
so BE HAPPY = WORK HARDER :)
It's going to have sensitive testing and measuring equipments to examined materials, so it can make lego like materials found in the area, ranging from prescribed materials in the database to the most unsuspecting eventuality where only an handful of materials may be seen, and using the fastest possible method to achieve the objective.
"MacGyver! I'm stuck in an iceberg with MacGadget!"
Hey, I never said it'd be an *accurate* quote.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
.
First one in can try to take over a certain portion of the operational budget and can claim to have been in the domain longer and thus worthy of more money. It's kind of like (to use an example from mom the doctor) the turf war for the carotid artery that gets operated on by general surgeons, by neurosurgeons, and vascular surgeons, each of which claims to be the best at it.
.
Or like spinal surgery fought for by neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons, or like carpal tunnel surgery with a tug-of-war between hand-surgeons from general surgery, neurosurgery, or plastic surgery. [in case anyone sees a bias, i listed each specialty in alphabetic order ;>) ]
Plant the flag on the field and claim all of that turf as your branch's domain!
Make sure it knows that:
- A towel can double as a blindfold
- A small container of oil has myriad uses, from repairing corrosion to providing a light source.
- Bits of meat/ offal can be used to pacify and even train hostile animals.
- A mirror is useful for frightening off or distracting many aggressors.
- Large boulders can be used to block chokepoints, bridge pits and holes, can be broken down into ammunition and can even (in certain circumstances) be a food source!
- Always carry a dead lizard around.
What would happen if you made 2 of them fight?
Exterminate!
If too obscure, here's a reference to the souce: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Daleks
Creativity is exactly what computers are NOT good at.
what good is building a robot with a mullet? You'd think they would want to give the robot good hair, like George Clooney.
Now if the MacGyver bot was made out of chicken wire, duct tape, and powered by a ceiling fan motor then I'd be impressed.