DailyDirt: Robots That Move (Sometimes In A Creepy Way)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

There's an uncanny valley for artificially-generated images that look almost too human. And as robots become more advanced, they could also go through their own version of an uncanny valley. Here are some projects that might be creating some creepy-looking robots. By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: ballistic rolling, caterpillars, goqbot, robots, terminators


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 12 May 2011 @ 8:15pm

    Creepy Robots Go Back Over Half A Century

    I remember reading an old (1950s-era) book called The Living Brain, by W Grey Walter, when I was younger. This guy was a pioneer in studying brain physiology, back when the most advanced equipment available was an EEG. He also built electronic circuits to try to mimic things like conditioned reflexes. He included circuit diagrams in the book—amazing what you could do with little more than couple of vacuum tubes.

    In the book he casually mentions that one of his machines was so eerily lifelike, it drove a certain woman (presumably his wife) to run upstairs and lock herself in her room.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2011 @ 4:56am

    Thought the caterpillar idea sounded neat until I watched the video. It's attached to a wire, and rolls like a mongo! Looks like something straight out of 1990.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Michael Ho (profile), 13 May 2011 @ 11:06am

      Re:

      Early prototypes are usually attached to a wire... :P I'm sure this little robo-caterpillar will be wireless and rolling around the streets in no time.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.