2017-04-09, 19:24 | Link #1 |
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Robotics
Disney Could Go Westworld With New Patent Filing
for Soft 'Humanoid' Robots: "Disney has sent in a new patent application for “a robot that will move and physically interact like an animated character” that has been “adapted for soft contact and/or interaction with a human.” The robot has soft skin and body parts, with some of the body filled with air or gas, and it’s operated by a controller that changes the interaction to keep the child safe (safety for kids is Disney’s biggest noted concern). The patent doesn’t name specific characters, but they did confirm they made a toy-sized prototype based on a Disney character, and the sketch included with the application shows a round, plush body. All signs point to the first design being the Baymax robot from Big Hero 6." See: http://io9.gizmodo.com/disney-could-...-so-1794152225 |
2017-08-20, 17:30 | Link #4 |
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Join Date: Jan 2008
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Since the thread at:
https://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=56346 is on holiday ......... Welcome to your future sex life: "Birds do it, bees do it, robots do it. Turned On, a CNET special report, explores the fascinating intersection of technology and sex." See: https://www.cnet.com/news/sex-future...row-turned-on/ |
2017-11-28, 02:41 | Link #5 |
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Super robot muscles for lifting 1000 times its own
weight is like a duck lifting a car: "Researchers have created origami-inspired artificial muscles that add strength to soft robots, allowing them to lift objects that are up to 1,000 times their own weight using only air or water pressure. The team constructed dozens of muscles using materials ranging from metal springs to packing foam to sheets of plastic, and experimented with different skeleton shapes to create muscles that can contract down to 10 percent of their original size, lift a delicate flower off the ground, and twist into a coil, all simply by sucking the air out of them." See: https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/1...ing-a-car.html |
2018-01-02, 17:59 | Link #6 |
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When You Die, You’ll Live on as a Robot
Memories die with those who keep them, but data last forever. "Robotic replicas of real people are becoming more common and more convincing. Hiroshi Ishiguro created a robot doppelganger that acts an emissary, attending lectures and meetings on his behalf. Bina48 is a robotic version of Bina Rothblatt, co- founder of United Therapeutics Corp. While Ishiguro and Rothblatt are alive, these robots, equipped with chat capabilities and personal data, could continue functioning after their human inspirations have died. The Philip K. Dick android is one such example. The famed sci-fi author died in 1982, but his likeness lives on in the robot created by Hanson Robotics. The android’s data bank contains Dick's books, interviews, and essays, so it talks and looks like Dick (at least from the neck up—it doesn't have a full body). When we couple hardware and software, the notion of someone, or someone's likeness, transcending death becomes surprisingly plausible." "Perhaps the endgame when it comes to immortality involves transferring one’s mind or consciousness into a non-biological form such as robot, a computer, or a digital or holographic avatar. Neuroscientist Michio Kaku believes it’s possible to reconstruct a person’s brain by mapping all of its neural connections or “connectome.” The idea is thus far theoretical and raises questions about whether humans consist of data or whether there’s something more. The thorny problem of consciousness comes into play here—can we replicate or relocate it when we don’t fully understand what it is?" See: https://www.thedailybeast.com/when-y...robot?ref=home |
2019-02-09, 21:21 | Link #7 |
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Robot Love: Why romance with machines is a foregone conclusion:
"One of the big robotics storylines of 2018, at least in the mainstream press, was the arrival of multiple sex robots on the market. Most of these take a female form, anthropomorphic fantasies like Synthea Amatus's Samantha and RealBotix's Harmony, which have raised eyebrows and prompted international coverage, spurred in no small part by boisterous founders and burgeoning rivalries. Robot brothels, meanwhile, have popped up in Toronto and Paris, and another was barred from doing business in Houston. Pontificators have pontificated about whether this is a good thing or a sign of a society on the skids, and much of the criticism has (rightly, in my opinion) focused on how these robots represent women, both in appearance and as passive objects of desire. Almost like clockwork, "male" robots with bionic penises are now on their way. This was inevitable, of course. The sex tech industry is worth $30B, and sex has long been a driver of technological innovation, from King Edward VII's kinky sex chair and network connected sex toys with serious security flaws to new forms of participatory VR porn. The current spate of sex robots are just that, devices for fantasy-fullfilment and physical pleasure, and the technology, frankly, isn't that much more compelling than non-robotic sex dolls. But a day is no doubt coming when a robot will leap across the Uncanny Valley and pass muster as a thinking and thoughtful companion. We often use words like "love" and "obsessed" to describe our connection with gadgets, but from a human standpoint is it even possible to love a machine the same way we can love another person?" See: https://www.zdnet.com/article/robot-...ne-conclusion/ |
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