Tag: robotics

Robot Bee

welcome to the first aerial and aquatic insect scale robot

The RoboBee is a miniature robot that has long been able to fly. Using a modified flapping technique, researchers demonstrate that the RoboBee can also swim. This is the first-ever aerial and aquatic capable insect-scale robot.

Robot abuse

a drunk man in Japan was arrested for kicking a humanoid robot that was stationed as a greeter at a SoftBank store. Weng is advocating for special robot laws to address the unique nature of human-robot interactions. He argues that humans perceive highly intelligent, social robots like Pepper (which can read human emotions) differently than normal machines—maybe more like pets—and so the inappropriate treatment of robots by humans should be handled with this in mind.

Robot Personhood

A drunk man in Japan was arrested for kicking a humanoid robot that was stationed as a greeter at a SoftBank store. The man was angry at the attitude of one of the store clerks. The “Pepper robot” now moves more slowly, and its internal computer system may have been damaged. Whether a robot can be legally “injured” or not is debatable, and raises the question of what exactly robot laws should look like. Weng has proposed 2 special regulations for robots. First, a “Humanoid Morality Act” would define a proper relationship between humans and robots, including the use of coercive power to constrain unethical applications. Second, a “Robot Safety Governance Act” would extend current machine safety regulations to protect the safety of both humans and robots.

Against Sex Robots

The Campaign rejects the argument that the development of sex robots could actually improve the plight of sex workers around the globe, or that there are plenty of lonely people—of any gender—interested in a robot companion for a variety of reasons. Richardson is also against Amnesty International’s call to decriminalize human sex work. While I do not want to dismiss the ethicists’ concerns or claims entirely—sex bots should be a topic for spirited debate—it seems to me that the Campaign should be focusing more on helping to establish reasonable guidelines moving forward, rather than an outright ban. That ban isn’t going to happen, nor should it. Prohibition is seldom a fix.

DARPA robotics challenge

this is very exciting in light of all the 0 day nonsense. the reason amateurs like “hacking team” have any business is because most people don’t patch their systems. imagine a future where systems patch themselves constantly.

“We held the world’s biggest Capture the Flag and all the contestants were robots.” — Mike Walker, Program Manager of DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge

Robot Boost

Researchers analyzed the economic impact of industrial robots, using a panel of industries in 17 countries from 1993-2007. Industrial robots increased both labor productivity and value added. The use of robots raised countries’ growth rates by 0.37%. Robots increased both wages and total factor productivity. While robots had no significant effect on total hours worked, there is some evidence that they reduced the hours of both low-skilled and middle-skilled workers.