Public meeting will re-examine future of artificial intelligence

For decades, scientists and writers have imagined a future with walking, talking robots that could do everything from cooking your eggs to enslaving your planet.

Trouble is, this fabled artificial intelligence has never happened.

But this weekend, more than 700 scientists and tech industry leaders will gather at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Theatre to plan for the day - still decades away - when computers start improving themselves without the approval of their former masters. Participants wonder whether this will yield the kindly Commander Data of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fame or the mob of killer machines that attempted a world takeover in the movie “I, Robot.”

Source: San Francisco Chronicle.

Robot wars are a reality

The deployment of the first armed battlefield robots in Iraq is the latest step on a dangerous path - we are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and when to kill. Already, South Korea and Israel are deploying armed robot border guards and China, Singapore and the UK are among those making increasing use of military robots. The biggest player yet is the US: robots are integral to its $230bn future combat systems project, a massive plan to develop unmanned vehicles that can strike from the air, under the sea and on land. Congress has set a goal of having one-third of ground combat vehicles unmanned by 2015. Over 4,000 robots are serving in Iraq at present, others in Afghanistan. And now they are armed.

Source: Guardian.

Our Lives, Controlled From Some Guy’s Couch

Until I talked to Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, it never occurred to me that our universe might be somebody else’s hobby. I hadn’t imagined that the omniscient, omnipotent creator of the heavens and earth could be an advanced version of a guy who spends his weekends building model railroads or overseeing video-game worlds like the Sims.

Source: New York Times.

Dancing Robot to Preserve Japan’s Folk Arts

The mighty Transformer Optimus Prime might be able to save the universe, but who’s going to teach the Autobots to do the Hustle?

Enter HRP-2, a humanoid robot designed by Japanese researchers that is programmed to reproduce dance steps with the practiced grace of an electronic geisha. The 5-foot-tall (1.5-meter-tall) robot is seen here at a press demo at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science on January 12, 2005.

Source: National Geographic.

Mmmm, Space Chips

Little spacecraft could hitch a ride on Earth’s magnetic field to search for alien life.

The next generation of robotic space explorers could be smaller than a dime—and cost about that much, too. Mason Peck, an engineer at Cornell University, envisions thousands of miniature spacecraft drifting to different planets, powered only by Earth’s magnetic field. Peck’s novel magnetic-propulsion method recently earned him a $75,000 grant from NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts to bring the idea closer to reality.

Source: Popular Science.

Interview with Vernor Vinge

ActuSF : Your future isn’t hostile, but could appear a bit freaky for readers of today. Is there any state of emergency ?
Vernor Vinge : Unfortunately, I think we face many emergencies. The most serious threats come from cheap superweapons and the social and environmental problems that make the use of such weapons imaginable. On the positive side, we have hundreds of millions of people who are smart, of good nature, and communicating with one another. These people massively outnumber the crazy badguys. In fact, the broad reach of communicating humanity also outnumbers (and intellectually outmatches) the government leaders who play statist games. Furthermore, that broad reach of humanity is the fundamental powerhouse for the economies of all nations which aspire to prosperity or greatness. More and more, governments realize that whatever the laws, they need educated, creative, and relatively satisfied populations. Such populations make very good stewards of the future.

Interview with Vernor Vinge at ActuSF via BoingBoing.

Robot vehicles take on tough jobs

Scientists are focused on developing unmanned machines that can operate in the air, on the ground and under water, doing jobs where deploying people is just too dangerous.

Picture: The GoldenEye takes off and lands vertically and can hover for hours.

Source: BBC.

Robots That Walk on Water

As if signing books and performing surgery on patients were not enough, robots can now walk on water, too, thanks to engineers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). What started as a class project three years ago ended up as insectlike mechanical robots with four to sixteen legs. The “bugs,” two to six inches long and weighing a few grams, can scoot over water, reports IEEE Transactions on Robotics. Called STRIDE, for surface tension based robotic insect dynamic explorer, the robots use water’s surface tension to amble on their spindly legs exactly like water striders, the insects that motivated the challenge.

Source: Scientific American.

iRobot Receives $14 Million Order for PacBots

iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ:IRBT) received a US Navy order worth $14 million, part of an Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract to supply of PackBot man transportable robotic systems to the US forces. The recent order brings the total value of orders received from the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to $66 million. The total worth of the IDIQ contract could reach up to $264 million. Delivery has started in March 2007 and will continue through the end of 2007. The U.S. military’s MTRS program has requirements for up to 1,200 robots through 2012. To date, iRobot has delivered more than 800 PackBot robots to a broad range of military and civilian customers worldwide.

PackBot uses a unique propulsion system developing a road speed of up to 14 km/h. The system is characterized by distinctive “flippers” which offer continuous 360 degrees rotation and negotiation of rough terrain and obstacles such as stairs, rocks, logs, rubble and debris. The platform can climb grades up to 60% and survive submersion in water up to two meter deep. It is built to survive drop from two meter height, on a concrete surface, or being thrown through a window or tumbling downstairs.

Via Defense Update.

Satellite Pit Stop

According to DARPA’s website “the goal of the Orbital Express Space Operations Architecture program is to validate the technical feasibility of robotic, autonomous onorbit refueling and reconfiguration of satellites to support a broad range of future U.S. national security and commercial space programs. Refueling satellites will enable frequent maneuver to improve coverage, change arrival times to counter denial and deception and improve survivability, as well as extend satellite lifetime. Electronics upgrades on-orbit can provide regular performance improvements and dramatically reduce the time to deploy new technology on-orbit.”

Via Defence Tech.