Personal gardening robot

FARM-BOT (Open-source)

Introducing robots in the train stations of France

This is a cleaning robot that will shortly be deployed in the Gare de Lyon. I wander how this is considered from the socialist party of François Hollande. Of course, cleaning jobs will be shortened but engineering posts will be opened, but in the end, what is the real (economic and societal) cost for the introduction of such robotic technology?

On the other hand, a robot "valet" that carries your suitcases and follows you, is indeed within the french culture and in my opinion should have no problem to be accepted as technology...

Are we robots ourselves?

Perhaps this is not the most common question one may ask to him/herself. The original question that i posed to myself was whether we will eventually be able to build robots as we envision them today. Is such a goal really feasible, it is realistic?

Below is the definition of the word "Robot", quoted from different on-line dictionaries:

- A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.

- A person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another's will; automaton.

and so on... The origin of the word "Robot" is from Czech, literally meaning "forced labor".

The above two definitions are particularly interesting. Because they both clearly suggest that one can immediately turn himself into a robot if he simply put himself at the service of an external authority-power. 

Afterwards, the degree to which somebody is more skillful and effective compared to others in doing things automatically and repeatedly, only concerns how good or bad robot he or she is. It is not so much a matter of the quality of the "forced labor" to actually be a robot. This only affects the level of responsibility that will be appointed to the voluntary human robot.

So i ask again, are we robots ourselves? I think the answer is undeniable. Human behavior tends to be identical to the very definition of robot. But is this actually truly human or not? Or better, are we still in the state of robots before having accomplished to express our pure human nature?

We are trying to build artificial robots, and still we seem not to have accomplished much of our expectations. We all however become robots whenever we give away our own will to someone else's and provide our skills to another's service.

Given the current status, it seems to me more likely that we are going towards a robotization of ourselves. Metaphorically and literally...

As of the time of this writing, the hour is late. Time for me to recharge...

The Uncanny Valley Phenomenon

... a concise introduction to the "Uncanny Valley Phenomenon".

First ever conversation between human and a robot, in space

The first ever documented conversation between a human and a robot just took place in the International Space Station (ISS) between Japanese commander Wakata and robot Kirobo.

Kirobo is a small humanoid robot designed to serve as a companion for astronauts who normally spend several months in space before returning to earth. This implies extended periods of time of isolation from human-human interactions which is also something that is expected as plans are made for longer-term space missions (as for example within the Mars One project).

The following video shows parts of the conversation that was documented in ISS last days, between Kirobo and Wakata.

Dog-Robot Interactions

I recently came upon an interesting article talking about experiments on the behavior of dogs in encounters with robots.

Quoting from the article' s abstract:

"...Dogs spent more time staying near the robot experimenter as compared to the human experimenter, with this difference being even more pronounced when the robot behaved socially. Similarly, dogs spent more time gazing at the head of the robot experimenter when the situation was social..."

Full article can be found here:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0670-7

and THEN... i remembered when i witnessed for the first time an (accidental) encounter between a robot and dog, sometime around 2011-2012. Below you can watch the corresponding video :)

TED Talk by Rodney Brooks: Why we will rely on robots

This is recent talk given by prof. Rodney Brooks on why robots seem to become part of our present and future, from industry to our everyday life.

A robot that flies like a bird

Plenty of robots can fly -- but none can fly like a real bird. That is, until Markus Fischer and his team at Festo built SmartBird, a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull, that flies by flapping its wings. A soaring demo fresh from TEDGlobal 2011.

Terrain Traversability Analysis Methods for Unmanned Ground Vehicles; A Survey

Motion planning for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) constitutes a domain of research where several disciplines meet, ranging from artificial intelligence and machine learning to robot perception and computer vision. In view of the plurality of related applications such as planetary exploration, search and rescue, agriculture, mining and off road exploration, the aim of the present survey is to review the field of 3D terrain traversability analysis that is employed at a preceding stage as a means to effectively and efficiently guide the task of motion planning. We identify that in the epicenter of all related methodologies, 3D terrain information is used which is acquired from LIDAR, stereo range data, color or other sensory data and occasionally combined with static or dynamic vehicle models expressing the interaction of the vehicle with the terrain. By taxonomizing the various directions that have been explored in terrain perception and analysis, this review takes a step toward agglomerating the dispersed contributions from individual domains by elaborating on a number of key similarities as well as differences, in order to stimulate research in addressing the open challenges and inspire future developments.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2013.01.006