Not Content With Silencing Human Critics, Russia Has Now Arrested A Robot

from the beep-boop-boop dept

You might be forgiven if you were under the impression that the Russian government is a bit behind the times when it comes to modern technology and its never ending desire to stifle every last bit of dissent possible. Between the bouts its had with internet censorship and some strange claims about how binge-watching streaming services are a form of United States mind-control, it would be quite easy to be left with the notion that this is all for comedy. Alas, blunders and conspiracy theories aside, much of this technological blundering is mere cover for the very real iron grip the Russians place upon free speech, with all manner of examples in technology used as excuses to silence its critics.

And now it's no longer just human beings that need fear the Russian government, it seems. Just this past week, a robot was arrested at a political rally. And, yes, I really do mean a robot, and, yes, I really do mean arrested.

A robot has been detained by police at a political rally in Moscow, with authorities attempting to handcuff the machine. The rally was for Valery Kalachev, a candidate for the Russian Parliament, who had rented the robot for his campaign.

Police have not confirmed why they detained the machine named Promobot, but local media was reporting the company behind the robot said police were called because it was "recording voters' opinions on [a] variety of topics for further processing and analysis by the candidate's team".

In other words, it sounds like the robot was acting as something of an automated pollster at a political rally. Given how much pollster data is fed directly into computers and machines upon its gathering, a robotic pollster is probably something of a natural next step. But not if the Russian government has its way, apparently. Yes, the same government that is busy happily hacking into all the things outside its country is busy keeping a robot from doing a menial task within it.

Based on my quick research, I'm not absolutely certain that this is the first formal arrest of a robot in history, but I can't seem to find any others. In which case it seems perfectly on point for that historic moment to be achieved by the Russian government and the fact that they tried to slap handcuffs on iRobot is absolutely perfect. Free Promobot!

Filed Under: protests, robot, russia

DailyDirt: Semi-Automatic Jobs

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Lots of jobs these days couldn't be done as efficiently or as well (or at all) without a little computer help. Computerized assistants (eg. Siri/Cortana/Alexa/GoogleNow) are even helping us with more and more everyday tasks. Increasingly skilled machines are able to perform jobs -- and may be destroying some tedious segments of the labor market. But it's not just manual labor that might be replaced by robots. Automation can help almost anyone become more productive in their work, and as the costs of machines come down with time, we might want to prepare for semi-automated jobs to become fully automated.

• A "semi-automated mason" robot (aka SAM) can lay bricks faster than a human without getting tired, but it still needs a human bricklayer to clean up excess mortar and to do trickier spots like corners. One human and one SAM robot can do the job of four or more masons, and the ratios might favor the robots sooner than we think. [url]
• An unmanned air traffic control tower exists in northern Sweden at a remote airport. Humans are actually monitoring sensors and cameras at the Ornskoldsvik Airport, but they're about 90 miles away. A few of these remotely-operated control towers are being tested in several countries already, but it'll take some time before control towers without human traffic controllers are ready for large commercial airports. [url]
• The jobs that artificial intelligence and automation can't do are usually tasks that require creativity, emotional awareness or dexterity. However, software might be able to approach those tasks from a different angle to achieve human-level results. Chess was once deemed too challenging for computers, so perhaps we shouldn't underestimate the creativity of programmers (or emergent behavior). [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: air traffic controller, artificial intelligence, automation, bricklayer, labor, robot, work

DailyDirt: Paper Airplane Tricks

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Paper airplanes have advanced quite a bit -- with added motors and smartphone controls or fancy new folding techniques that can be found all over the internet. Paper airplanes can become an incredibly complex hobby if you really have the motivation to take them to the next level. If you have the free time, try out some of these paper airplane projects.

• A paper airplane has flown 82 miles, launched from a helium balloon at a altitude of over 96,000 feet. We previously noted a paper airplane launched from 89,000 feet in 2010. [url]
• If you want to make a paper airplane fly "forever" indoors, you need a chair and a hair dryer and the patience to throw a paper airplane dozens of times until you get it just right. This video demonstrates the phenomenon of dynamic soaring which is used by birds and glider pilots to gain some energy under the right conditions. [url]
• There's a robot made from Lego that folds and "throws" a paper airplane. This is cool, but it might be cooler to see a robot arm try to beat the human throwing record of a paper airplane (226 feet, 10 inches). [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: dynamic soaring, helium balloon, lego, origami, paper airplanes, paper planes, record, robot, space
Companies: lego

DailyDirt: Creative Bots Generating An Art Overload

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Some folks are worried that robots are poised to take over too many jobs, leaving a path of unemployed destruction in their wake. Usually, this fear is limited to jobs related to manual labor and manufacturing, but programmers aren't content to make software that will harvest crops or 3D print car parts. Here are a few projects where bots are creating works of art.

• E-David is a welding robot programmed to paint forgeries of human-made art. It only paints with acrylics, so it's not going to fool any experts, but with a few more software upgrades, it might churn out some nice originals someday. [url]
• Computer generated poetry has been around for about as long as computers have existed, and one poetry software project produced at least a few poems that were a bit quirky and sometimes oddly dark. In 2003, the Darwinian Poetry website attracted the attention of a human audience willing to rate a few thousand poems, but that website is gone now. All those... moments... will be lost in time, like... tears... in... rain. [url]
• Emily Howell isn't a person -- UC Santa Cruz professor David Cope used that name for his software that composes music, a successor to his previous project called Experiments in Musical Intelligence (aka EMI or "Emmy"). EMI produced music that mimicked the styles of human composers, but Emily has developed her (its) own style and can modify her compositions based on audience feedback. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: algorithms, art, artificial intelligence, automation, computer generated art, david cope, emi, emily howell, music composition, painting, poetry, robot, software

DailyDirt: Making Artificial People Look Less Creepy...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If we're going to have armies of robot servants, we probably shouldn't make them look like scary terminator exoskeletons or creepy rubber-skinned mannequins. It's actually not that easy to avoid the uncanny valley, but that difficulty isn't going to prevent folks from trying to create ever more life-like (yet fake) people. Here are just a few links pointing to some cool projects to design our artificial replacements.

• In about ten years, computer-generated images (rendered in real time) might be nearly indistinguishable from live action video. This CGI prediction comes from an employee at Industrial Light & Magic -- but will the uncanny valley really disappear over the next few years? [url]
• Disney Research is working on ways to make robots behave in a more human-like way, and one of the actions they've figured out is a hand-off between a robot and a human. If a robot blindly sticks its arm out and a person has to place an object into a mechanical hand, the interaction feels very unnatural. But if the robot anticipates the hand-off with some trained gestures, the transfer won't be as off-putting. [url]
• Disney is also working on robots that can be 3D printed quickly and operate with just one motor instead of using more complicated mechatronics. The robots are limited to cyclical motions, but it's still quite impressive how natural the movements can be when a few gears are appropriately positioned to generate animated actions. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: animation, cgi, creepy, gesture, graphics, mechanical hand, mechatronics, robot, uncanny valley
Companies: disney, ilm

Robot Makers Redesign Robot After Google Refuses To Give Permission To Make Android-Style Bots

from the open-source? dept

So the folks over at "Be the Robot" decided to make a cute little robot that could be controlled via your mobile phone. Not surprisingly, they decided to launch the thing on Kickstarter. You might notice that the robot has some resemblance to the Android robot... but it's not quite the same. Why? Well, originally it was going to be designed as the Android robot... but then at the last minute, they realized that might be a legal issue. Even though Google encourages the use of the robot, it wasn't clear if this was allowed. So the team delayed launching the Kickstarter campaign to go visit Google and to seek permission... where hilarity (and no actual answer) ensued:

Just after we had uploaded the complete project on Kickstarter and about to press the “Submit to the world button” …we started to second guess ourselves and wanted to know are we really allowed to do this?

After further investigations, as well as talking to a few lawyer friends, we discovered that the Google Bug Droid in 2D form and in printed materials is in fact Open Source, so anyone can stick it on posters and make cut outs. But there seemed to be a gray area regarding the issue of whether a 3D version is in fact allowed for resale. So instead of killing the project or possibly getting into legal issues, we thought it would be a good idea to meet with some higher-ups at the Google Android headquarters and hear what they had to say. To make a long story short, at this meeting (during which we felt like we were on a reality TV show) the concept was well received, but there was not definitive answer as to “Yay” or “Nay”.

Not wanting to kill the project after having already put so much work into it, and to make sure we could launch without any issues; we redesigned the outside shell to have a different appearance, while maintaining the same internal integrity and design we developed in the BERO secret lair.

So, it's sorta a little like the Android bot, but not quite, because no one could tell them definitively one way or the other if doing what they wanted to do was allowed. Isn't permission culture just great?

Filed Under: android, copyright, design, open source, robot, trademark
Companies: be the robot, google

DailyDirt: Making Sweet Music

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Plenty of people complain about how pop music sounds formulaic and that several boy bands seem to be manufactured with minimal variations between them. Someday soon, though, computer algorithms might create more pop music than humans can even attempt to compose. Here are just a few steps towards a world filled with machine-made music.

• Researchers have developed a piano tuning algorithm that can perform the task almost as well as a trained human ear. Yet another job that robots are going to take away from humans.... [url]
• Genetic algorithms are often taught in machine learning classes, and these algorithms have been applied to all sorts of fields -- including music. Computer-generated fugues might not sound too pleasant, but neither does trance music... [url]
• Using a 'Hit Potential Equation', computers can analyze pop singles and predict future hit tracks. The researchers behind this project admit, "musical tastes evolve, which means our 'hit potential equation' needs to evolve as well." [url]
• To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: algorithm, machine learning, music, pop, robot, trance

DailyDirt: These Robotic Exoskeletons Were Made For Walking...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Cyborgs are on the way whether we're ready for them or not. The Segway was supposed to revolutionize transportation, but it hasn't quite caught on. But there are a few other personal mobility vehicles that could help folks get around more easily. Here are just a few.

• A recent grad from UC Berkeley walked across a stage to get his diploma using a robot exoskeleton. The stripped-down exoskeleton cost about $15,000 -- down from $90,000+ versions that are on the market already. [url]
• Eythor Bender demonstrates his robot exoskeleton work for a TedTalk. Military use for these exoskeletons would allow soldiers to carry around a lot more gear... [url]
• The Walk Again Project aims to create brain-machine interfaces (BMI) in the form of neuroprosthetic devices that can control exoskeletal robots for mobility assistance to persons with severe paralysis. The brain implant technology sounds pretty ambitious -- and could be useful for a lot of other applications, too. [url]
• Robot Suit HAL is another robot exoskeleton designed to interpret the wearer's intentions for movement and assist with those movements. Hopefully, it will also allow users named Dave to open the pod bay doors. [url]
• To discover more interesting tech-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: bmi, exoskeleton, hmi, neuroprosthetic, robot
Companies: segway

DailyDirt: To Serve Mankind

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Robots are becoming more and more advanced every day. And as their software improves, they're also becoming more useful for tasks that humans can't do. They can seal off deep sea oil wells at extreme depths. They'll fight dangerous fires. And someday, in the distant future, we might have to debate whether or not it's ethical to send robots to their deaths -- after we grant personhood to artificial intelligence. (And also deal with crazy folks who'll want to marry their laptops....) Progress, FTW!

• Remote-controlled, radiation-proof robots are preparing to enter the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in order to scope out the most dangerous parts of the facility. These robots will hopefully be able to inspect the containment systems and help keep any more nuclear materials from escaping. [url]
• Other robots are being used to help find survivors (or casualties) and to assess the damage of hard-to-access infrastructure. This may be one of the few non-creepy-looking applications of "snake-like" robots... [url]
• For fire-fighting missions, the US Navy is building some humanoid robots. The Navy will be spending about $2M a year to develop these Terminator precursors. [url]
• As always, there's also humanoid robots just waiting to take over manufacturing jobs, and the newest models will even look bored if you don't give them enough work to do. These bots will smile happily as they replace human workers. Great UX! [url]
• To discover more interesting AI-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: ai, humanoid, robot

DailyDirt: Extreme Origami

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Almost any hobby can be taken a bit too seriously, depending on how enthusiastic its practitioners really are. Origami has some extremely cool applications (eg. unfolding solar panels in space, trisecting angles), and it's being studied by mathematicians just for fun. Even if you've only folded paper planes, here are some interesting origami links for you.

• MIT is just one institution that studies origami and has a club dedicated to folding stuff. Apparently, the first rule of OrigaMIT is not to not talk about OrigaMIT. [url]
• The history of curved origami is covered by the folks at Makezine. MacArthur fellow Erik Demaine goes over some curved origami scuptures dating back to the 1920s. [url]
• An 'origami robot' can fold itself into various shapes all by itself. It's too bad GPS devices have made self-folding maps somewhat obsolete.... [url]
• To discover more interesting crafts, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: origami, robot