Hmmmm….. We know about the Tenori-on but the girl having an epileptic fit (1:59 mark) is actually making music? Well… it only happens in Japan.
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…Or four things that Robots can do better
It’s Robocup week. That got us thinking about how zippy mechanoids kicking a little plastic ball could help us develop bigger and better zippy mechanoids.
Why?
‘Cause it’s hard to deny that robots are quite possibly the future. .
As Hans Moravec said in his article: Rise of the Robots --The Future of Artificial Intelligence in 2008…
“I am convinced that the decades-old dream of a useful, general-purpose autonomous robot will be realized in the not too distant future. By 2010 we will see mobile robots as big as people but with cognitive abilities similar in many respects to those of a lizard. The machines will be capable of carrying out simple chores, such as vacuuming, dusting, delivering packages and taking out the garbage.
“By 2040, I believe, we will finally achieve the original goal of robotics and a thematic mainstay of science fiction: a freely moving machine with the intellectual capabilities of a human being.”
It’s 2010 now, and Moravec’s simple robots with lizard-like cognition are appearing here and there. While 2040 is still a while away, we wondered what could robots do for us. So we brainstormed, thought and fought over civet cat coffee and came up with four ways that robots could be used in the future.
Or they’re used to investigate hazardous and dangerous environments such as the inside of a nuclear reactor. Just strap a robot with cutters, cameras, coreborers and sensors, and you’ve got a spy tin man (like The Pioneer robot).
Asimo is a robot created by Honda that responds to human thought. Right now, the technology only allows us to raise an arm or a leg, and you’ve to put on a helmet full of electrodes that are connected to a massive computer. It works by reading your brain’s electrical impulses and converting them into signals that the Asimo robot can understand. So think “raise hand and wave” and the robot will do so.
We’re also thinking of a certain bald action hero -- Bruce Willis, anyone?
Like The Furby -- a Mogwai look-alike electronic pet that “starts out speaking entirely Furbish, the unique language that all Furbies use, but are programmed to speak less Furbish as they gradually start using English.” (from Wikipedia). This touched off a whole slew of robot pets that could do things that other pets couldn’t. Plus, they’re really huggable.
They could train us to handle awkward social situations or just provide companionship for humans, like MIT’s Nexi – a human-like robot that speaks and uses complex hand movements and facial gestures. Of now, the greatest stumbling block is believability, a robot still looks artificial (and creepy). But the Japanese have invented a robot that looks just like a human and acts like one too. Perhaps robot playmates will be hitting the store shelves soon?
‘nuff said…
What else could robots contribute? Leave it in the comments!
Take the Create2011 engineering challenge and tell us your vision of Future Mobility to win the grand prize of: A Nokia Experiential Journey in Beijing and Singapore! Check out our Facebook fanpage for exciting contests & giveaways!
Gerd Leonhard’s a media futurist. That means he’s a trend-spotter on things to do with media. Apparently mobile apps & phones fall within his domain. We happened by this video of him talking about the next big things to happen in the mobile world, and we wonder “Are we there yet?”
What say you?
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“Now once people start looking at this, they say, ‘Ah, this is a laptop project.’ Well, no, it's not a laptop project. It's an education project.” -- Nicholas Negroponte
That’s what his One Laptop per Child’s all about. Have a listen and tell me if I’m wrong.
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Chris Henderson thinks we can use our skin as a touchscreen for our phones (or other mobile devices). We’re all canvases for the machine. But if it means doing away with bulky smartphones and easy-to-crack LCD screens, its got my vote (and $$$)!
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It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have them. Now they’re norm de rigeur for anyone with a mobile phone. We do things with them – from getting directions to staying connected and entertained.
It doesn’t mean that all apps are good. There are weird and wacky apps that should have never seen the light of day; like this one where you lick virtual food off your iPhone. Grosss…
So we’ve decided to make a list of mobile apps that make life easier, better and more comfortable.
Comments welcome!
Great video about communication in the new world. And how it’s going to look like in 10 years from now, 2027 and 2050.
I quite like the bit where it says “copyright is illegal”. What say you? ;D
Also, does anyone how what accent it’s in? I just can’t seem to place it.
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Today’s video is about robots and rock stars. At least the robot creators are “rock stars on their campus”, and they’re all women.
They’re known as the Spelbots: a team of computer scientists and engineers who build robots to compete in Robocups (the World Cup of robot soccer).
According to their mentor, Andrew Williams, their biggest strengths lie in “teamwork, collaboration, and the social aspects of engineering”. It culminated in a trip to the RoboCup Japan Open Finals (Osaka, 2009) where they lost on penalties.
PS: Check out Mr Roboto Charles’ dance moves at the 2:16 mark.
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What happened on UCreateChange.com (5-11 Apr 2010)
If you were following last week’s postings on UCreateChange.com, then you’ll notice that it’s all about how technology changes us, humans. That got us thinking about making a superman from last week’s posts.
With all due respect to Dr Manhattan from The Watchmen, here’s we’ll make our superman.
Sorry, I couldn’t figure out how to create an image map on this blog. So I thought I’d just splash up this image and put up the links below:
Comments welcome as usual.
Since we’re talking about bioengineering this week, we searched for videos that have something to do with that field. Somehow we found this fascinating video on Optogenetics: controlling the brain with light.
We’ll let Karl Deisseroth talk about his findings and invention:
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What happened on UCreateChange.com (29 Mar-4 Apr 2010)
At the Singapore Design Conference 2009, Chris Bangle spoke about his car designs (TED talk here). We loved his vision of the future in “emotive mobility” where people use transportation however they want to satisfy them.
If you think about it, Bangle’s emotive mobility doesn’t just apply to cars.
It could easily be a wearable motorcycle that straps on like an Aliens exoskeleton or strolling houses that cater to wanderlusty and treehugger types or even a new way of living out of your car (aka Quno).
We think that Alexander Kendrick’s subterranean texting device beats them all down. The low-frequency radio lets you SMS while underground. The emotive aspect?
How about: "Save Our Souls?" aka SOS!
Apple’s iPad: a machine that’s somewhere between a laptop and a smartphone. It’s supposed to fill a niche for folk who want more power from their smartphones yet retain its mobility. Initial reviews are glowing and we’d want our hands on one.
Given Apple’s indifferent attitude towards Asian markets, I’d say it’ll be a while before we’ll see the likes of the iPad on our shores.
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“I don’t know. Just google it.”
Now look up “ornithopter” without using a search engine. Hard isn’t it? That’s why we’re thankful for search engines like Google, and Google’s thankful to its engineers.
Engineers like Andrew McGlinchey, product manager at Google, who:
“Causes Googley things to happen in Southeast Asia. I am the bridge between the software engineering teams and the users, as well as the other parts of Google (like marketing, business development, and marketing). I figure out what the products should be and work with the engineering team to make that happen.”
This is Andrew’s second appearance on our blog (read his five things to know about engineering). This time it’s all about him and his views on engineering.
Before we let him loose, if you’re “right now in a university dorm room, or a garage or somewhere, creating the next amazing innovation that we’ll all be using five years from now” drop Andrew a line ‘cause he would love to be in your shoes.
What happened on UCreateChange.com (8-14 Mar 2010)
We, the general public of UCreateChange.com, sincerely request that the organisers overhaul the show. In fact, you’re missing out on so much cool stuff out there that we’re utterly shocked into silence.
[silence]
We respectfully submit our list of missing things to you for your perusal. And sincerely hope that you would consider revamping next year’s IT Show to fit our vision for the future.
Thank you for your time.
First up…
I'm the editor of UCreateChange. And I started this blog with the intention of putting up my past weekly roundups 'cause it's a shame they're simply disappearing into people's inboxes. Anyways, if you've a question on engineering, drop me a line at creators.of.tomorrow@gmail.com!
