There seem to be an abundance of movies that feature robots and we keep coming across them, so of course we are going to encourage you to also enjoy the outdated effects and convoluted plots. This time we found "Making Mr. Right" from 2008 with John Malkovich as both a scientist and inventor of Ulysses, a robot made in his own image. Asimov is undoubtedly very restless in his grave right about now.
Verizon Wireless may think that your average human would pick an LG Spectrum over R2-D2 but it really is apples and oranges. Even so, it is nice to see that our old robotic buddy can still get work.
Check out this 1963 video from Muppeteer Jim Henson. He created it for Bell as a promotional tool to show the relationship of robots and humans (aka "Man and the Machine".) Recently discovered in AT&T's archives, Computer H14 may think he can do it all, but we know better.
This creature belongs under that category of the Uncanny Valley, the school of thought created by Dr. Masahiro Mori in a 1970 paper in the journal Energy. His thesis claims that when we see something lifelike we tend to empathize with it and then look at it with a disquieting sense that it is not, (in this instance its lack of skin.) We then accept it for what it is.
And if the above was not enough to spook you, here's another example. This is just so wrong in so many ways.
Sadly, Dick Tufeld, the voice of the robot (the actor was Bob May) in the TV series "Lost in Space" died Sunday, Jan. 22 at the age of 85. Still, we are fortunate to always have him with us when watching some of the old TV shows or movie. He was even featured in a 1998 documentary with John Larroquette, Will Robinson and Dr. Smith. And he is immortalized in toys as a Remote Control Replica turns, moves forward and back, and will keep on repeating "Danger, Will Robinson" forever (or until his batteries need replacing.)
"Real Steel" has finally come out on Blu-ray for those of you who missed the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em film starring Hugh Jackman. Just think of it as "Rocky" on robotic steroids. Add to that a dysfunctional father/son relationship and you have an instant family viewing night.
If you want something G-rated and on the cheese ball side, "Short Circuit" was released in 1986 and stars Ally Sheedy and Steve Gutenberg. This was pre-CGI animation and consisted of a bot named Johnny 5, who was designed by Syd Mead of "Blade Runner" fame. Because he was voiced by his creator during filming, #5 sounded much more human than previous movie bots.
Take your basic rescue dog and pair it with a Snakebot and you get Carnegie Mellon and Ryerson University's answer to finding disaster survivors. The dog sniffs out humans and the snake deploys from a pack around his neck when he barks. The bot can then send back video to the operators. This video demonstrates both finding a human and the robotic snake's perspective.
Divers sent down an Ageotec Perseo ROV to search the wreckage of the Costa Concordia. Hopefully they will help in seeking the still unaccounted for passengers. There is no sound on this video but you can see just how well the robotic camera can get into small places. The five function vehicle is part of the equipment being used by the Italian Fire Department.
You have to learn to appreciate fellow bloggers when they relate embarrassing interesting encounters on their journeys. Such is the case of Mashable's Lance Ulanoff meeting Justin Bieber at the CES 2012 while in search of Tosy's mRobo Ultra Bass, a speaker system that can grow limbs and dance. Programmed with pre-recorded dance movements, it can hold up to 500 tunes in its 2 GB memory. Clearly, no one clued the Bieb in on just what he was promoting.
We digress, but after reading Ulanoff's odyssey when meeting the tween throb, from his offering to get him an iPhone mic to not realizing when a mini-idol says now, he means now, we have to admit that this video far surpassed the one designed to sign us all up to buy the $199 mRobo. Lance, remind me to tell you about that lunch I had with Sean Connery.
Give my cat a catnip mouse and she's a happy camper. Not so with Taylor Veltrop who took a 21" Nao robot, some Wiimotes, Kinect sensor bar, mini-cam, treadmill and brush to tend to his. We admire him for sticking to his project for over a year and hope his feline forgives him for that slight bonk in the head. We cannot wait for the 2-way audio chat that is to come next.
Robert Full and a team at UC Berkeley studied Agama lizards to see how they utilized their tails for balance when they run and jump. It seems that the reptiles needed to tilt their bodies upward to land properly. They applied this principal to their Tailbot, a wheeled lizard. The idea here is to create a robot that can jump over gaps and land safely and the team figured that the motion involved went as far back as dinosaurs. The results of their study can be found in the January 2012 edition of Nature.
Watch the video and note the subliminal glee that Full gets when he realizes that the velociraptor in the film Jurrasic Park has that same balance of body and tail.
Copora's Q.bo Daniel 123 has certainly been busy and can now identify himself in a mirror via his flashing nose. Because he is equipped with the Festival speech synthesizer and Julius recognition program, he can relate to people. Even more impressive, he recognizes another Q.bo (Jane 234) and the two have a brief, even flirty chat. As robots "approach consciousness" we are wondering if someday they be clever enough to perform experiments with humans.
This isn't the first time that we have explored artbots, like the Aikon ii Project. Japanese artists So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi have built a Senseless Drawing Robot that can use spray paint to create its own version of art. We guess that you really have to be into abstract genre to appreciate his work because after about a minute we were ready to turn the thing off. Still, to each his/her own.
Fans of "Nightline" were surely almost impressed with David Hanson's Phillip, a robot that comes close to looking and sounding humanish. If you missed it, here is your chance to take a look at the segment that also features Zeno, Watson and a few other familiar bots.
Must Have: Making Mr. Right
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