Pages that are tagged with: robots

• AITopics.Robots
• Don't dismiss robot surgeons.
  Lord Winston in his new BBC1 series, Superdoctors ...worries "...that robotic nurses and robotic doctors are completely contrary to what medicine is about." ... The second half of Superdoctors dealt with two robot surgical assistants. First was a da Vinci robot, the most widely used in the world, performing laparoscopic surgery on an infant. Second was a £12m Canadian neuroArm assisting in the removal of a brain tumour. Unlike human surgeons, neuroArm can operate inside an MRI scanner to make brain surgery extremely accurate. This time the criticisms were that the instruments were too large, which is not hard to fix, and that human surgeons could have performed the operations just as well. Lord Winston concludes, "I hate the idea of the surgeon being removed from the patients." But surely distant control is the biggest advantage of using robots. Human contact is certainly important in medical treatment but it can come from other carers at the site. August 26, 2008. (more)
• 'Frankenrobot' Has Biological Brain.
  Meet Gordon, probably the world's first robot to be controlled exclusively by living brain tissue. Stitched together from cultured rat neurons, Gordon's primitive grey matter was designed at the University of Reading by scientists who unveiled the neuron-powered machine on Wednesday. Their groundbreaking experiments explore the vanishing boundary between natural and artificial intelligence, and could shed light on the fundamental building blocks of memory and learning, one of the lead researchers said. August 13, 2008. (more)
• A panel discussion about Artificial Intelligence.
  The Charlie Rose Show television broadcast: A panel discussion about the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence with Rodney Brooks of MIT, Eric Horvitz of Microsoft Research and Ron Brachman of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. December 21, 2004. (more)
• A.I. and Space Tech .
  Art Chmielewski, project manager for New Millennium project ST6, discusses artificial intelligence and new technologies for NASA spacecraft. October 21, 2002. (more)
• Anybots' humanoid robot trains to do the dirty work.
  Demo of Dexter, a walking robot. Interview with founder of company. 04/10/2007. (more)
• Artificial Intelligence - alive and kicking.
  Artificial intelligence technology (AI) is being used all around us but don't expect any philosophical discussions with your hoover quite yet. "People think of AI and they think of brains in boxes or Terminator - kind of death destroying robots - and actually of course we haven't built those systems and there isn't a brain in a box somewhere worrying about its self existence," head of AI at Southampton University, professor Nigel Shadbolt, told silicon.com. "What AI's done by trying to set itself lofty goals about understanding how to build intelligent software or flexible software, it's produced along the waytonnes of methods and insights that are now routinely deployed everywhere." July 10, 2008. (more)
• Best-of Humanoid League Team Nimbro at RoboCup 2007.
  Short clips showing winning team, NimbRo at RoboCup 2007. July, 2007. (more)
• BigDog.
  The video shows recent testing of BigDog, a rough-terrain quadruped robot developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA. The goal for BigDog is to carry equipment on any terrain where humans can go on foot. (BigDog was developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA.). July 14, 2008. (more)
• Bio-inspired Flying Robots.
  In this video we present bio-inspiration as the main drive for the design of platforms, autonomous navigation strategies and aerial swarming for flying robots.. July 14, 2008. (more)
• CSE Colloquia - 2007: Broadening Computer and Robotics Education and Participation for Women.
  "Women and other underrepresented groups represent a vast amount of untapped human resource potential needed to fuel both industry and academic research needs. Professor Andrew Williams [Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia] describes a cohesive, integrated approach to increase the participation and education of women and African Americans using innovative robotics and computer curriculum and competitions. Williams provides several examples, including how the all-women Spelman College's SpelBots RoboCup Four-Legged robot soccer team, and the joint Spelman and Carnegie Mellon University NSF-sponsored project, C.A.R.E. [Computer and Robotics Education for African American Students], have inspired young girls to pursue education and research in robotics and artificial intelligence." November 14, 2006. (more)
• CSE Colloquia 2001 - Machines with Emotional Intelligence. Speaker: Rosalind Picard, Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  "Over 70 studies on human-machine interaction in the last decade have pointed to an intriguing phenomenon: People interact with machines in a way that is basically social, even when the interaction was not designed to be that way. This program will describe how we're giving computers some social skills, specifically the ability to recognize and respond appropriately to human emotion. Examples are shown on keyboard-mouse-monitor systems that try to assess user frustration for usability feedback, and wearable systems that classify affective state based on skin-surface measurements." Questions from the audience follow the talk. October 18, 2001. (more)
• CSE Colloquia 2001 - Reasoning with Cause and Effect. Speaker: Judea Pearl, University of California, Los Angeles..
  "This talk [given by Judea Pearl, University of California, Los Angeles] summarizes concepts, principles, and inference tools that are useful in modeling aspects of causal reasoning. The principles are based on structural-model semantics, in which modifiable functional relationships, representing autonomous physical processes are the fundamental building blocks." Questions from the audience follow the talk. October 4, 2001. (more)
• Cart at Mech. Eng. Dept. prior to Stanford AI Lab.
  Stanford M.E. Dept. 1966. (more)
• Celebrating the UK's Computer Pioneers.
  The computer seems the very essence of the modern world, especially as the gadgets we sit before and carry around shrink as fast as they become more powerful. But if truth be told the computer has had a long and honourable history that stretches back to the closing years of the World War II. And, say conservations and computer history enthusiasts, Britain played a big part in the development of the modern computer... [Alan] Turing established the conceptual and philosophical basis for the rise of computers in a seminal 1936 paper called "On Computable Numbers". July 24, 2008. (more)
• Cell phone tech for swarm robots.
  The tiny motors normally used to vibrate cell phones can provide researchers with a significantly more affordable option for building robots. A team of students led by Alexis Johnson at the University of Southampton's electronics and computer science school realized the tiny motors intended for cell phone vibration are already designed and manufactured to be attached to circuit boards making them ideally suited for use in swarm robots. August 6, 2008. (more)
• Collection of Industrial Robot Videos.
  Collection of 88 short videos from several different manufacturers, showing robots welding, cutting, painting, etc. (more)
• Complex classic meets robotic complexity.
  Robotics and a rose garden are two seemingly disparate elements that Quantum Theatre will use to bring William Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" to life. A collaboration between Quantum Theatre and The Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, "Cymbeline" will begin performances Thursday in the Rose Garden of Mellon Park. Using 21st-century technology and an outdoor setting are not just gimmicks to get attention, says Quantum Theatre's artistic director Karla Boos. "It maximizes how to facilitate what I want to experiment with and serves the exploration of the play," she says. Don't come expecting to see R2-D2 or Robbie the Robot substituting for actors. "This is something far different from a walking, talking android," says Illah Nourbaksh, an associate professor at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University who has been working with Boos and her design team on the production. Instead, Boos hints, the production will employ elements of robotic technology in more symbolic ways that may surprise and involve the audience. July 27, 2008. (more)
• Computer Chronicles: Computers and the Pentagon - Part One (1986).
  "The world's biggest computer user is the U.S. government and the military in particular. This program reviews the military uses of computer technology. Shot on location at various research centers around the country. Featured are the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Advanced Decision Systems in Mountain View, California. Demonstrations include the Pilot's Assistant and the Battlefield Commander's Assistant. Also flight and battle simulators from Singer Link." 1986. (more)
• Computer Chronicles: Neural Networks.
  "Neural networks are artificial intelligence systems modeled after the human brain. This program looks at several examples and applications. Included are Braincel 1.1 from Promised Land Technologies [demonstrated by Murray Ruggiero], BrainMaker Professional 2.0 from California Scientific Software [demonstrated by Mark Lawrence], MacBrain 3.0 from Neurix [demonstrated by Matt Jensen], NeuroSMARTS from Cognition Technology [demonstrated by Richard Mansfield], and ExploreNet from HNC. Also includes visits to NASA [Max Reid describes HONN: Higher Order Neural Network] and Intel [Mark Holler describes ETANN: Electronically Trainable Analog Neural Network] to see the work they're doing on neural networks." Also appearing on the show is Tom J. Schwartz (The Schwartz Assoc.). Hosted by Stewart Cheifet and Jan Lewis. May 15, 1991. (more)
• Computer Chronicles: Robots - Japanese Style (1985).
  Host Stewart Cheifet visits High Tech Expo '85 in Tsukuba (Science City), Japan, to look the latest computer and robotics technology. 1985. (more)
• Discussion of and Demonstrations of Learning Programs for Robots.
  The first half of the film is a lecture by Marvin Minsky describing the basic ideas of Patrick Winston's learning program, using examples and "near misses" to refine the program's model of what an "arch" is. The second half of the film is a narration by Dave Waltz describing other robotics research at MIT. He discusses Tim Finin's program that uses Winston-like models to recognize objects that match the model even when parts of the object are obscured. It uses hypotheses about dimensions of the objects that it can not directly observe. 1975??. (more)
• Domo Robot Helping With Chores.
  The MIT CSAIL Humanoid Robot Domo helps a person with everyday chores. One of several Domo demonstrations on YouTube. 2007. (more)
• Ethical Robots: The Future Can Heed Us.
  Abstract: "Bill Joy’s deep pessimism is now famous. “Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us,” his defense of that pessimism, has been read by, it seems, everyone — and many of these readers, apparently, have been converted to the dark side, or rather more accurately, to the future-is-dark side. Fortunately (for us; unfortunately for Joy), the defense, at least the part of it that pertains to AI and robotics, fails. Ours may be a dark future, but we can’t know that on the basis of Joy’s reasoning. On the other hand, we ought to fear a good deal more than fear itself: we ought to fear not robots, but what some of us may do with robots." May 8 2006. (more)
• Flying Saucers and Mini-Tanks Highlight Spy Robot Competition.
  Eleven teams, including universities, defense contractors and small companies, are competing in the British Ministry of Defense’s Grand Challenge with autonomous information-gathering vehicles that include flying saucers, a mini tank, several mini-helicopters and darts, among other machines. ... During the competition, the robots have to identify threats such as potential snipers and enemy vehicles and other threats, with minimal human guidance. The machines then have to report the information back to troops preparing for an assault. The judges will reward accuracy and autonomy. August 18, 2008. (more)
• Four students in Portugal have built a robot which will helps clean floors..
  Four Students in Portugal have built a cleaning robot designed to clean floors. July 09, 2008. (more)
• Game-Based Learning.
  On a mission to teach their Aibo robo-dogs to play soccer, the Brown Robotics Group is designing an online video game experience where users can remotely control the dogs in real soccer matches. The data logged from the games will be used to teach these old dogs some brand new tricks!. July 14, 2008. (more)
• Google Author Series: Daniel Wilson - How to Survive a Robot Uprising.
  “Daniel H. Wilson discusses his book ‘How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips On Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion.’” He then takes questions from the audience. January 30, 2006. (more)
• HRP-2.
  HRP-2 is a humanoid robot designed by Japanese researchers that is programmed to reproduce dance steps with the practiced grace of an electronic geisha. The 5-foot-tall (1.5-meter-tall) robot is seen here at a press demo at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science on January 12, 2005. (more)
• Handle With Care .
  “The complexity of newly engineered systems coupled with their potential impact on lives, the environment, etc., raise a set of ethical issues that engineers had not been thinking about,” said William A. Wulf, a computer scientist who until last year headed the National Academy of Engineering. As one of his official last acts, he established the Center for Engineering, Ethics, and Society there. Rachelle Hollander, a philosopher who directs the center, said the new technologies were so powerful that “our saving grace, our inability to affect things at a planetary level, is being lost to us,” as human-induced climate change is demonstrating. ... “It’s a hot topic,” said Ronald C. Arkin, a computer scientist at Georgia Tech who advises the Army on robot weapons. “We need at least to think about what we are doing while we are doing it, to be aware of the consequences of our research.” ...Dr. Arkin said robotics researchers should consider not just how to make robots more capable, but also who must bear responsibility for their actions and how much human operators should remain “in the loop,” particularly with machines to aid soldiers on the battlefield or the disabled in their homes. August 11, 2008. (more)
• Hands-Free Human-Robot Interaction.
  Using emerging sensing technology, the iRobot Packbot is demonstrated responding to voice and gesture-based commands in real time. July 14, 2008. (more)
• Have you hugged a robot today?
  "Mechanical creatures that respond to humans are cute, but are also a step on the way to improving our relationship with machines. ... to [Steve] Bannerman, a former Apple staffer who set up Quicktime TV (which became the iTunes Store), Pleo, as the dinosaur is called, might just be the future of human-machine interaction. Pleo, made by a company called Ugobe, coos and even sings. Rub its neck and stomach and it blinks its baby-like eyes and turns towards you and writhes happily. ... Pleo fascinated him: "I fell in love with this dinosaur," he says. "I loved the artificial intelligence component." July 31 2008. (more)
• Hear Here.
  Raj Reddy, et al. Video made in 1969, showing work from 1968. (more)
• Humanoid Tai Chi Robot.
  Robo-Erectus Humanoid Robot performing Tai Chi at Singapore Robotics Games 2008. The robot is developed by the Advanced Robotics & Intelligent Control Centre (ARICC) at Singapore Polytechnic. April 2, 2008 (more)
• Language Lessons for Robots.
  "Language-learning techniques designed for children are being used in a bid to break new ground by developing algorithms that enable robots to learn and understand concepts. As part of the project by Plymouth University researchers, two robots will be built featuring software that allows them to interact with each other to exchange learned information like humans." 28 July 2008. (more)
• Lighthill Controversy Debate at the Royal Institution with Professor Sir James Lighthill, Professor Donald Michie, Professor Richard Gregory and Professor John McCarthy.
  Professors Donald Michie [Edinburgh], Richard Gregory [Bristol] and John McCarthy [Stanford] challenge the pessimistic findings & views of Professor Sir James Lighthill [Cambridge], author of "The Lighthill Report" [Artificial Intelligence: A General Survey, in Artificial Intelligence: a paper symposium, Science Research Council (1973)]. June 1973. (more)
• MIT's Nexi MDS Robot.
  Early demo of MDS capabilities of Nexi. April 6, 2008 (more)
• MIT's Nexi MDS Robot: First Test of Expression.
  This video shows an initial test of the MDS (Mobile Dexterous Social) Robot designed and built in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab's Personal Robots Group, UMASS Amherst's Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics, Xitome Design, and Meka Robotics. It illustrates the robot's expressive range of movement using scripted animations and pre-recorded speech. April, 1, 2008 (more)
• NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Video Gallery: Rover Navigation 101 - Autonomous Rover Navigation animation.
  Simple explanation of Mars Exploration Rovers' autonomous driving software. January 13, 2004. (more)
• NOVA: The Great Robot Race.
  Join NOVA for an exclusive backstage pass to the DARPA Grand Challenge—a raucous race for robotic, driverless vehicles sponsored by the Pentagon, which awards a $2 million purse to the winning team. Armed with artificial intelligence, laser-guided vision, GPS navigation, and 3-D mapping systems, the contenders are some of the world's most advanced robots. The program is divided into seven segments: A Hard Problem; The Red Army; Team Dad, TerraMax, and Ghostrider; Stanley; Making the Cut; The Race is On; and Everybody Wins. March 28, 2006. (more)
• Nanobot pushing a nanoball across the field.
  Video of a nanobot scoring goals released to promote the 2007 RoboCup Nanogram Demonstration Competition. June 28, 2007. (more)
• New ASIMO Receiving and Delivering a Tray.
  Short video showing ASIMO carrying a tray of coffee. December 2005. (more)
• Nova scienceNOW Profile: Cynthia Breazeal.
  Nova scienceNOW broadcast segment about "a daring engineer designs robots to communicate and interact the way people do." "Thinking outside the box of traditional engineering, Breazeal designs these robots with theories of child development and parent-child interactions in mind, equipping her creations with an ability to learn and giving them expressive, human-like features. And if, as Breazeal hopes, robots are to become our partners, they need to develop the same social skills as people, including emotions. NOVA scienceNOW joins Breazeal in her lab and introduces viewers to some of her seminal inventions: the famous toddler- like robotic head named Kismet; Leonardo, a million-dollar joint project with Stan Winston, legendary in Hollywood for The Terminator robots; and a touch-sensitive teddy bear called the Huggable, which may someday comfort patients and assist caregivers in hospital pediatric wards." November 21, 2006. (more)
• Of Robots and Men - Rights for the Artificially Intelligent.
  "KJZZ's Dennis Lambert speaks with Scottsdale attorney David Calverley, whose research into bioethics is driving him to artificial intelligence." January 23, 2007. (more)
• Paraplegics take first steps with robotic legs.
  The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, based in Israel. ReWalk consists of motorised leg supports, body sensors and a back pack that contains a computer and rechargeable batteries. Users still need crutches to help with balance. Goffer himself became paralysed in an accident in 1997, but because he lacks full use of his arms cannot use his own invention. To move, the user picks a setting with a remote control wrist band – "stand", "sit", "walk", "descend" or "climb" – and then leans forward, activating the body sensors and setting the robotic legs in motion. ReWalk is in clinical trials in Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Centre, with more scheduled at the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in Pennsylvania, US. August 26, 2008. (more)
• Pneumatic robot arranges limbs for MRI 'sweet spot'.
  A pneumatic robot that positions patients' limbs inside an MRI scanner allows physicians to exploit a bizarre phenomenon where hard-to-see tendons jump into sharp focus when held at the right angle. That "magic angle" effect happens when a tendon is at 55° to a scanner's powerful magnetic field and can help with diagnosing tendon injuries. ... The robot judges its own position, and even uses image processing software to check whether it has reached the right angle. (with video). August 01, 2008. (more)
• Radio Interview with Rodney Brooks.
  Fresh Air. WHYY-FM / available from NPR. "Rodney Brooks, the director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). His new book is called Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us. Brooks offers a vision of the future of humans and robots." March 4, 2002. (more)
• ReadyBot Goes to Work.
  First prototype of kitchen-helper robot. "Readybot is intended to be a general-purpose, moderate-dexterity robot. It is built with commonly available components and is capable of being mass-produced. It is designed to perform common household and commercial tasks." January 2008. (more)
• Researchers develop "robotic apprentices" .
  University researchers have developed an artificial intelligence that can learn by watching "experts" perform a task. The artificial intelligence was developed by Stanford University for use in robotic helicopters which learn to fly and perform stunts by watching "expert" helicopters perform the same tasks, rather than by having software engineers input every individual instruction. Sept. 02, 2008. (more)
• Robo-Cup German Open 2005.
  RoboCup German Open 2005 at Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum Paderborn. Short video clips of robot teams in soccer competition & other events. 2005. (more)
• Robo-relationships are virtually assured: British experts.
  Both Heart Robot and iC Hexapod are "emotibots" -- robots programmed to react to human emotions -- on display this week at the Antenna Gallery at London's Science Museum. For McGoran and iC Hexapod's inventor, Matt Denton, creating robots that recognise and respond to basic human emotions is a logical step as people's daily lives become increasingly dependent on technology. "People know about artificial intelligence but the perception is that robots are cold and calculating industrial automatons," McGoran, who is studying robotics at the University of the West of England, told AFP. "But over the last decade, there has been a new field where robots have become the opposite of that." June 30, 2008. (more)
• RoboCup German Open 2008, Humanoid League Winner NimbRo
  The video shows the performance of the Humanoid League team NimbRo at RoboCup German Open 2008. For the first time, 3 vs. 3 soccer games were played. The NimbRo robots clearly won the competition. May, 2008. (more)
• Robot Conducts Orchestra.
  A robot designed by Honda conducts a Detroit Symphony performance of 'Impossible Dream'. May 14, 2008. (more)
• Robot arm assembles water pump.
  Richard Paul, et al. 1973. (more)
• Robot arms assemble bearings and a hinge.
  Hand Eye Project. 1973. (more)
• Robot fliers racing to catch the Zephyr.
  The Pentagon's hope of having a squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) capable of staying in the air and performing surveillance for years rather than hours recently took a small step forward. Working with U.K.-based idea factory QinetiQ Group PLC, researchers from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) managed to keep the solar-powered Zephyr high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft in the air over the Arizona desert for 82 hours 37 minutes. ... The flight, which took place between July 28 and 31, researchers guided the Zephyr by remote control to an operating altitude in excess of 60,000 ft (18 km), according to BBC News. After that, the aircraft, which carried a 4.4-pound (2-kilogram) payload, flew on autopilot and via satellite communication. August 25, 2008. (more)
• Robot hand stacks toy cubes.
  Robert Bolles. 1972. (more)
• Robot risk 'is worth it'.
  BBC HARDtalk's Lyce Doucet interviews Rodney Brooks. August 19, 2002. (more)
• Robot takes to Antarctic skies.
  Unmaned robotic aircraft flies over Antarctica for the first time. March, 2008. (more)
• Robotic animal thrives on land, in sea.
  The Salamander Robot is an experimental machine that has been developed at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). It can operate in three modes: swimming, slithering and walking. See the device in action, and find out why it's a technological first. CNET News.com's Zamir Haider reports. 03/22/2007. (more)
• Robotics Engineer.
  Dr. Ayanna Howard takes us to JPL's Mars Yard and more as she describes how engineers design and test future rovers for Mars. August 21, 2003. (more)
• Robotics Principles.
  Collection of URLs for many demonstrations of robots from 1980s to the present.. various. (more)
• Robots aim to mimic humans.
  Over the last few years, research into the fields of vision, speech recognition, artificial intelligence, and robotics has become fragmented. This has limited the ability of researchers to develop cognitive robots that require the incorporation of many developments in each one of these disciplines. Now a consortium of universities under the auspices of the EU-funded Cognitive Systems for Cognitive Assistants (CoSy; www.cognitivesystems.org) project aims to merge ideas from several relevant disciplines to develop a cognitive robot capable of emulating the abilities of a young child. The project has already led to the development of interactive robots that understand human speech and objects and react to their environment. Jul 1, 2008. (more)
• Robots aim to top humans at air hockey .
  First, a supercomputer beats a chess master. Then, an artificial intelligence program deals defeat to a poker champion. Next: A robot takes on humans in air hockey. July 08, 2008. (more)
• Robots that climb walls.
  "US scientists have developed robots using the same principles of electro-magnetics that make balloons stick to ceilings after being rubbed. The robots, developed by a team in SRI's Mobile Robotics and Transducers Programme, are around the size of a remote-controlled car and have caterpillar tracks similar to those on toy tanks. The technology could be used to enable robots to work in areas that are difficult for humans to go, such as tunnels or outside large buildings." July 8, 2008. (more)
• Rover Flight Director Report: May 23, 2007.
  The Spirit rover found soil deposits on Mars that were formed by processes that require the presence of water. Half a world away, Opportunity continues to survey "Victoria Crater." Report by Richard Morris, Rover Flight Director. May 23, 2007. (more)
• STARMAC: Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent Control.
  STARMAC, the Stanford Testbed of Autonomous Rotorcraft for Multi-Agent is a testbed of 6 quadrotor helicopter unmanned aerial vehicles that fly indoors and outdoors to experiment with autonomous agent algorithms. This video presents an overview of the control system, the vehicle capabilities, and the experimental applications for the testbed. Results of many experimental flights are shown, along with some fun flight results that push the limits of what the vehicles should be able to handle. July 14, 2008. (more)
• Sci-fi film: The apes weren't cuddly.
  Classic sci-fi films address issues that make adults think. 'Wall-E' promises the moon, then ends up just chasing the Happy Meal set. July 13, 2008. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "Almost Human" segment from the "Robots Alive!" broadcast.
  Rodney Brooks is beginning to build the first robot with human-like senses, allowing it to learn about the world for itself, like a human baby. April 9, 1997. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "Go, Team!" segment from the "Natural Born Robots" broadcast.
  Robot soccer teams test their mettle in RoboCup 99. In these games, speed and strategy are the keys to victory. November 2, 1999. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "I, Robot" segment from the "Life's Really Big Questions" broadcast.
  Philosopher and author Dan Dennett marvels at the human machine and its unique ability to wonder. December 19, 2000. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "Look, No Hands!" segment from the "Robots Alive!" broadcast.
  Computer engineers are developing autonomous cars that can follow the highway and avoid obstacles without human intervention. April 9, 2007. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "Mazes and Squiggles" segment from the "Robots Alive!" broadcast.
  The world’s best robots compete to navigate mazes and chase after tennis balls, to test out the latest artificial intelligence programs. April 9, 1997. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "RoboFlyers" segment from the "Robots Alive!" broadcast.
  Students compete to build a flying machine capable of autonomous flight. January 7, 1996. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "Robot Independence" segment from the "Life's Really Big Questions" broadcast.
  Natural selection is at work in the artificial world, as robots learn to reproduce without us. December 19, 2000. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "Robots Have Feelings, Too" segment from the "Natural Born Robots" broadcast.
  SAGE, Bit and Kismet are robots with social skills. Researchers hope robotic emotions will make tomorrow's technology more user-friendly. November 2, 1999. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: "World Cup for Robots" segment from the "Games Machines Play" broadcast.
  Teams of robots programmed for soccer go head-to-head in RoboCup 2001. May 21, 2001. (more)
• Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda: Robot pals.
  3 segments: Part 1 - Ripley: Ripley is a robot that can see, hear and manipulate its environment. Alan watches him figure out how to 'pick up the heavy one' from an array of objects. Part 2 - Leonardo the Lovable: Cute little Leonardo learns from his interactions with people and their reactions to him. Robonaut is meant to become a robot that's just another member of an astronaut team. We see how a remote operator could control Robonaut to do complicated tasks in space. April 13, 2005. (more)
• Seaglider.
  The animation is a 3D simulation of how the Seaglider maneuvers. Cut-away views of the internal mechanics show how the Seaglider pitches, rolls, dives, ascends, and surfaces. These Seaglider animations demonstrate how the Seaglider moves through the ocean and communicate with satellites to transmit data and determine its global position. As the Seaglider dives and ascends its wings cause it to glide, allowing horizontal movement. Internal sensors monitor the depth, heading and attitude of the vehicle. External sensors are constantly scanning the ocean to determine water properties. 2008. (more)
• Searching with an Autononmous Robot.
  We discuss online strategies for visibility-based searching for an object hidden behind a corner, using Kurt3D, a real autonomous mobile robot. This task is closely related to a number of well-studied problems. Our robot uses a three-dimensional laser scanner in a stop, scan, plan, go fashion for building a virtual three-dimensional environment. Besides planning trajectories and avoiding obstacles, Kurt3D is capable of identifying objects like a chair. We derive a practically useful and asymptotically optimal strategy that guarantees a competitive ratio of 2, which differs remarkably from the well-studied scenario without the need of stopping for surveying the environment. Our strategy is used by Kurt3D.. June 11, 2004. (more)
• Shakey the Robot.
  Shakey's organization and performance. Peter Hart and Nils Nilsson. 1972. (more)
• Singularity Summit 2007 Keynote Speaker - Rodney Books: The Singularity, A Period Not An Event.
  Whatever writes future history will look back at what we are calling the singularity not as a single event but as a period of time. The singularity period will encompass a time where a collection of technologies were invented, developed, and deployed in fits and starts, driven not by the imperative of the singularity itself, but by the normal economic and sociological pressures of human affairs. A Hollywood treatment of the singularity would have a world just like today's, plus the singularity, as a singular event. In reality, the world will be changing continuously due to rapid growth in technologies that are both related and unrelated to the singularity itself. The future will be embedded in a different world than the one we inhabit. And the AI systems we create will not have the same desires, beliefs, and goals as today-us. Tomorrow-us will be much better equipped for the changes that will take place in our world. This talk will explore how things might unfold and how we will transform ourselves along the way. September 8, 2007. (more)
• Social Referencing with Leonardo.
  The furry robot Leonardo engages in an interaction with a human teacher based on infant social referencing. Leo learns how to react to a number of novel objects by attending to the emotional reactions of his caregiver. July 14, 2008. (more)
• Surgical Robotics: Is R2D2 in Your Future?.
  "Surgical Robots are here now; they have their roots in Stanford-based research and Silicon Valley development. How do they work? What can they do? Thomas Krummel, MD, [Emile Holman Professor and chair, Department of Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine] addresses the current uses of surgical robotics, the reasons for using them and their role in future medical treatments." Questions from the audience follow the talk. March 23, 2006. (more)
• TED Conference - Hod Lipson: Robots that are "self-aware".
  “Hod Lipson demonstrates a few of his cool little robots, which have the ability to learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate. At the root of this uncanny demo is a deep inquiry into the nature of how humans and living beings learn and evolve, and how we might harness these processes to make things that learn and evolve.”. March 10, 2008. (more)
• Talking Robots: The Podcast on Robotics and A.I..
  This podcast series features interviews with high-profile professionals in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for an inside view on the science, technology, and business of intelligent robotics. Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, EPFL, Switzerland. (more)
• The Age of Intelligent Machines: The Film. By Raymond Kurzweil.
  From the original video notes: A survey of Artificial Intelligence showing AI at work and under development. The paradoxes, promise and challenges of advanced computer science, with authorities Marvin Minsky, Roger Schank, Raj Reddy and other leaders in the field. 1987. (more)
• The Future of Robotics.
  Bruce Gellerman hosts this episode of Living on Earth, distributed by Public Radio International. "From vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers to military landmine detectors, robots are becoming increasingly present in our daily lives. Living on Earth’s Bruce Gellerman visits MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) to meet a humanoid robot named Domo, its creator, PhD student Aaron Elsinger, and the man behind all the magic, CSAIL director Rodney Brooks." Links to various audio formats are offered and the transcript is also available. January 12, 2007. (more)
• The Next Big Thing (Series Two): Machines with Minds.
  Real moving, interacting robots is one promising direction in artificial intelligence. But what about the original hope of matching human performance, and what has A.I. told us about the human brain? When science of artificial intelligence was launched in the 50s, its goal was to match the intellectual achievements of human beings. Why isn't machine intelligence already far superior to that of people? Chaired by Colin Blakemore [Oxford University], the panel consists of Professor Aaron Sloman (University of Birmingham), Dr Amanda Sharkey (University of Sheffield), and Professor Igor Aleksander (Imperial College). 2002. (more)
• Top Ten Robot Videos.
  Links to ten robot videos. (more)
• Two Generations of Robots for Human-Robot Interaction Research.
  In our research on engagement and collaboration in human-robot interaction at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) from 2003 to 2007, we developed first a "penguinoid" and then a humanoid robot which can recognize and track human faces, detect and respond to human nods and gaze, and which itself uses pointing, gaze and simple spoken dialogue to communicate. This research is continuing at WPI. July 14, 2008. (more)
• UBC's Dynamo Project: The World's First Soccer Playing Robots. A collection of 4 videos from the University of British Columbia's Laboratory for Computational Intelligence.
  "Alan Mackworth and his group [at the Laboratory for Computational Intelligence, Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia] proposed and built the world’s first soccer-playing robots, which led to the development of robot soccer as the premier global platform for multi-agent robotic research through the International RoboCup Foundation, where he has been honoured as 'The Founding Father'." This early work by The Dynamo Project is shown in the four videos, and explained in the first (the only one with a soundtrack). 1992 - 1993. (more)
• UK Future TV: Future Technology episode with Austin Tate.
  "Austin Tate of the University of Edinburgh talks about artificial intelligence techniques and their use in emergency response centres." March 10, 2007. (more)
• UMass startup's uBot builds other robots.
  Academic robotics research often includes building a robot from scratch, a labor-intensive process that a base robotics platform could eliminate. The uBot balances on two wheels, can pick objects up with its arms, and can interact via Skype using a camera and a computer monitor for a “head,” giving researchers the core robotic functions they might need when developing their own specialized robot. August 29, 2008. (more)
• Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle.
  DARPA created the Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle (UGCV) program to develop vehicle prototypes based on novel designs unrestrained by the need to accommodate human crews. The resulting prototypes demonstrate advanced configurations and technology that are applicable to UGV design programs for the US Army’s Future Combat System (FCS). NREC with its three first level subcontractors (Boeing, Timoney Technology and DRS-TEM) developed and tested Spinner, a highly durable, invertible, six-wheel-drive, hybrid-powered vehicle that responds to the need of a UGCV to surmount challenging terrain obstacles, be easily teleoperated, and able to withstand an occasional moderate crash and rapidly recover. Date unknown (more)
• Video of First Computer with a CPU and ERNST ARM Robotic Arm.
  Film switches between clips of Ernst arm moving through picking up and stacking blocks and between shots of the TX-0 Computer. 1955?. (more)
• Visual Elements in Robotics: excerpt from "AI: What Can it Do? Where is it Going?".
  Excerpt from lecture by Herbert A. Simon. March 21, 1990. (more)
• Washburn Lecture Series at the Museum of Science, Boston: "2001: A Space Odyssey. Are we there yet?" Lecture one (of three) - Human/Computer Conversation: HAL and Beyond, with Justine Cassell, Ph.D..
  Justine Cassell's lecture, "Human/Computer Conversation: HAL and Beyond," was the first in the three speaker lecture series: "2001: A Space Odyssey. Are we there yet?" November 6, 2001. (more)
• Winograd-Demonstration SHRDLU.
  1971???. (more)
• Wired Science Interviews: Red Whittaker, Roboticist.
  Ziya Tong talks to Red Whittaker about his career path, autonomous robots in hazardous environments and emergency situations, the DARPA Urban Challenge, his favorite robot, and much more. Film clips of his robots at work are interspersed throughout the discussion. 2007. (more)
• iRobot preps pared-down PackBot for civilians.
  iRobot announced a new addition to its lineup of industrial robots Wednesday.... Like the PackBot, the Negotiator can climb stairs, work by remote control, and be outfitted with tools for reconnaissance and chemical detection.. August 6, 2008. (more)