Hasta La Gadget!

If you thought Disneyland’s Hall of Presidents was awesome before, imagine how great it would be if you could play catch with Abraham Lincoln or Richard Nixon? That’s seemingly the goal behind this latest engineering—err, imagineering—breakthrough that let will let the park’s non-human characters now interact with guests. More »

If you feel like you’re being watched when you’re shopping, you might be right. Some stores, like the ones owned by Benetton Group SpA, have set up EyeSee mannequins that have a camera embedded into one eye. It then feeds data into facial-recognition software, and would log age, gender and race of the people it sees. The original rationale of such technology was to identify criminals in places like the airport, but retailers are apparently now using it to personalize store offerings. For example, one store found that a lot of shoppers after 4 pm were Asian, so it placed Chinese-speaking staff by the entrance at that time. Made by Italian mannequin maker Almax SpA, the EyeSee went on sale last December and is currently in use in three European countries as well as the US, though major chains like Nordstrom and Burberry have publicly stated they have not implemented them. Future mannequins might even have the ability to “eavesdrop” on passers-by, allowing store owners to hear what they have to say about the mannequin’s outfit. It’s not quite as unnerving as see-through security cams and that Japanese android mannequin, but it’ll still make us avoid a mannequin’s stare the next time we head to the shops.

[Image Credit: Elvert Barnes, Flickr]

Filed under: Robots

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Source: Bloomberg

Want to try out ROS (Robot Operating System) on an official Willow Garage product, but don’t have the $400,000 required to pick up our old pal, PR2? You’re precisely the audience the company is looking to hit with the TurtleBot, a (relatively) low-cost robotics kit (around $1,500) that looks a bit like small shelving united seated atop a Roomba. A couple of months back, the Bay Area-based company unveiled a sequel built on top of a new base, Yujin Robotics’s Kobuki, which promises more speed, letting the plucky little ‘bot run over small bumps.

Pick up the full kit and you’re also getting a Kinect sensor and a low-end laptop. Willow’s also got some add-ons like a small robotic arm that you can use to modify the thing. Stay tuned after the break to check out video of the ‘bot’s creators talking up the reptilian robot.

Continue reading Willow Garage talks TurtleBot 2 (video)

Filed under: Robots

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Source: TurtleBot

El Goog has been experimenting with autonomous vehicles for a while, and now it’s hiring a government man to help handle the red tape and get them on the roads. Ron Medford will be leaving his job as second in command (Deputy Administrator) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and joining the search giant in January as the Director of Safety for Self-Driving Cars. Google’s prototype robot chauffeurs have navigated over 300,000 miles of US road, but to graduate from the testing stage will require just as much regulatory expertise as it will tech smarts. That’s where Medford comes in, who will be paying close attention to the NHTSA’s multi-year project to define standards for self-driving cars, which started only recently. Now, hopefully, we won’t have to wait as long for those stressful journeys as pilot to become relaxing jaunts as fleshy cargo.

[Image Credit: Getty Images / Brendan Hoffman]

Filed under: Robots, Transportation, Google

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Via: Wired

Source: The Detroit News

Human rights groups are calling for a universal ban on robotic weapons systems that are able to determine when to fire without human interaction. Clearly, someone has watched The Terminator too many times. Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic have both called for all states to agree to ban the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons.

The US military has several robotic weapons systems that are capable of operating autonomously that are equipped with weapons. However, those weapons are controlled by humans when it comes time to attack a target. The same human rights groups want the designers of robots to enact a “code of conduct.” That sounds like an effort to prevent Skynet.

The fear is that numerous automated weapons systems in use around the world that currently identify, target, and give humans only a little time to decide whether the target is obliterated might be turned into fully automated systems. Some of those weapons systems may need only a software upgrade. The human rights groups say, “action is needed now, before killer robots cross the line from science fiction to feasibility.”

A ban on fully automated weapons systems would reportedly require a new and major arms treaty amongst nations. Those who support the ban point out that fully autonomous weapons systems wouldn’t be able to comply with international humanitarian law. Others believe that fully autonomous weapons systems could be more reliable than humans because people can make bad decisions under stress.

John McGinnis, a Northwestern University Law professor, suggests, “artificial-intelligence robots on the battlefield may actually lead to less destruction, becoming a civilizing force in wars.”

[via The Globe and Mail]

Human rights groups call for ban on automated killer robots is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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