Hasta La Gadget!

H+, our favorite transhumanist magazine, has just published a chat with Peter Asaro, the author of a paper titled “How Just Could a Robot War Be?” In this interview (co-authored by our old friend R.U. Sirius) the gentleman from Rutgers explores the philosophical implications of things like robot civil war, robots and just war theory, and the possibilities of installing some sort of “moral agency” in the killer machines that our military increasingly relies on. But that ain’t all — the big thinkers also discuss the benefits of programming automatons to disobey (certain) orders, drop science on a certain Immanuel Kant, and more. We know you’ve been dying to explore the categorical imperative as it relates to the robot apocalypse — so hit that read link to get the party started!

Filed under: Robots

Philosopher ponders the implications of robot warfare, life with a degree in philosophy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 May 2009 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sylvain Martel, what hast thou sown? The director of the NanoRobotics Laboratory at the École Polytechnique de Montréal this week is presenting his latest microbot at ICRA in Japan, and it’s got a pretty crazy trick. The solar panel-equipped device sizes up to about 300 x 300 microns, and using a sensor to detect nearby pH levels, it’s been shown as capable of controlling a swarm of 3,000 bacteria using electromagnetic pulses. Sure, Martel suggests there’ll be some eventual medical uses for the technology, but we’d be lying if we said the video demonstration didn’t give us the willies. See for yourself in the video linked below.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots

Microbot controls swarm of bacteria, puts all flea circuses to shame originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 May 2009 16:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The folks at Boston Dynamics have already made quite a name for themselves in the world of creepy robotics, but it looks like they’re not ones to keep all their know-how to themselves, and they’ve now lent the University of Pennsylvania’s Kod*lab a hand with this new RiSE V3 pole-climbing robot. That, as you’ve no doubt surmised, is a followup to RiSE V1 and V2, which were developed without the help of Boston Dynamics and were more suited to climbing flat surfaces than poles. In addition to a vastly different leg mechanism, this latest model also makes use of some brushless DC motors that increase the power density to let it climb poles at rates up to 22cm per second, which the researchers say make it well-suited for a wide range of tasks. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the bot mostly seems to work remarkably well, although it’s obviously not quite ready to tackle critical jobs all by itself just yet.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

Continue reading Boston Dynamics-designed RiSE V3 robot climbs poles, haunts dreams

Filed under: Robots

Boston Dynamics-designed RiSE V3 robot climbs poles, haunts dreams originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 00:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Forget those “sporting” Halls of Fame — the real HOF is right here. Since 2003, the Robot Hall of Fame has been honoring robots and creators at an exhibit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and now we’re seeing the latest handful of noteworthy creatures take their rightful place in history. For those unaware, the Robot HOF is maintained by Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Science Center, and an international jury of researchers, writers, and designers has just selected five new bots to join the cast: Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the T-800 Terminator (yes, that Terminator), the Da Vinci surgical system, iRobot’s Roomba and ‘Huey, Dewey, and Louie’ from the 1972 sci-fi flick Silent Running. Could you have imagined a more fitting five? If so, sound off below!

Filed under: Robots

Robot Hall of Fame expands to include Da Vinci, Terminator, Roomba originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 May 2009 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we’ve seen some wild Roomba mods, but overall it’s pretty much a low-to-the-ground affair — unless you get the cats involved, of course. That’s apparently changing, though — check out this robotic grasping system, which can pick up foreign objects and deliver them to you at about waist height. The system was 95 percent effective in picking up objects of all sizes and shapes during trials, and it was apparently quite simple to build and code. Nice for a Roomba, sure, but we’d rather be partying with SOBEaR. Video after the break.

[Thanks, Travis]

Continue reading Roomba mod allows it to pick things up, hand them to you

Filed under: Robots

Roomba mod allows it to pick things up, hand them to you originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 May 2009 10:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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