The Last Link

You know what? Just go here for all your evil robot news. They're thorough and probably actually get paid to keep track of world robot domination. I just don't have the energy to pay attention anymore.

You Have 30 Seconds to Comply!

Check out this post over at Sentient Developments.

He reviews a book called Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century
by P W Singer.

From the blog: It's no secret that the U.S. military is developing a variety of unmanned weapons and seemingly futuristic technologies -- everything from automated machine guns and robotic ­stretcher ­bearers to tiny but lethal robots the size of insects.

As these weapons gain more and more autonomy, deeper questions arise. Singer poses difficult questions: "Can the new armaments reliably separate friend from foe? What laws and ethical codes apply? What are we saying when we send out unmanned ma­chines to fight for us? What is the “message” that those on the other side receive?" And ultimately, asks Singer, how will we remain masters of weapons that are immeasurably faster and more "intelligent" than we are?

Gee, you think that could be a problem?

First They Came For The Rolling Stones, And I Said Nothing...

Robot band to perform at rock festival.

Insert gratuitous "Freebird" joke here.

Hunter Killer

The following is a post from Sentient Developments.



It's the product of the Missile Defense Agency and they call it the MKV-L (Multiple Kill Vehicle). The hover bot is meant to be used as a bundle of missile interceptors deployed by a larger carrier. Objectives of this particular test included having the MKV-L hover under its own power and prove its capability to recognize and track a surrogate target in a flight environment.

Terminator style hunter-killer, here we come.

For Your Reading Pleasure

How to build robots who won't kill us.

See, We Told You So

The Pentagon is looking for contractors to build packs of robots that will hunt down uncooperative humans.

Somebody's Working On It

Hope?

Isaac Lives

Asimov's Laws are actually being followed.

Of course, many of his robot stories involved ways that the laws were broken, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope that this will hold back the robot rebellion.

Nerd Builds Robot Clone

Robot Aliens? "Sure, Why Not?," Says Smart Guy.

Odds are about 50/50 that alien robots are even now plotting our destruction.

As if we didn't have enough to worry about here on our own little rock.

Last Call

Robot bartender. Seems to be able to only serve beer at the moment, which may help lessen the opportunity to slip you a mickey.

LegoBot is Smarter Than You

A Swedish fellow built a robot out of legos that solves Rubik's Cube in 60 moves or less.



Another blogger's algorithm for solving the Rubik’s cube puzzle is much faster and only requires a hammer and a quarter pound of superglue.

Game Over

That's it, folks. We're done.

They've gone and built a biologically based robot brain.

The robot’s biological brain is made up of cultured neurons which are placed onto a multi electrode array (MEA). The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot. Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes. In response, the brain's output is used to drive the wheels of the robot, left and right, so that it moves around in an attempt to avoid hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is from its own brain.

We're now officially doomed.

I'll Buy That for a Dollar

Crime fighting robots by 2040.

"The robots themselves will not be super-intelligent and will not be motivated to take over themselves, but those who control the robots will control society."


The study that came to this conclusion was sponsored by the dvd release of The Sarah Conner Chronicles. Conflict of interest?