PolyThinkers Pad

You probably thought robots were a relatively modern invention. According to some sources, they have been around as long as one of the early enablers of the Industrial Revolution,  the steam engine. Read about the world’s first robot, Steam Man, created in 1865, and other “Mechanical Marvels of the Nineteenth Century.” Be sure not to miss the profile of the most illustrious of these Victorian era robots, the legendary boilerplate, who “served with Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and fought alongside Pancho Villa.”

A Robot driving competition, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was won by a team from Carnegie Mellon. The race highlighted the great advances in robotic technology, featuring such maneuvers as making a left turn in the face of incoming traffic, and even cheating a little to get out of tricky situations.

The prize was given to the vehicle that could maneuver a 60 mile course in under six hours in a simulated city. The vehicles were unmanned, and once started, should not require any human instructions before the race was completed. Many variables, including how well the vehicles adhered to California driving regulations were factored into the judgment, and it was always understood that the winning vehicle was not necessarily the one with the fastest time. (A robot designed by Stanford actually crossed the finish line first). [Read more →]

Ok, so we’re a little early, but it’s not too soon to prepare for pre-Halloween weekend fun. If you’ve been preoccupied with exams and homework, chances are you haven’t had time to put together a costume yet. Not to fear - print out a Star Wars mask and you’re good to go. Or how about some anatomically correct bone socks? Check out these fun Halloween chemistry projects and learn how to make your own fake blood or dry ice.

The do-it-yourself technology gurus at Make magazine have plenty of photos to inspire amazing costumes, technologically advanced pumpkins, and disgusting food presentation ideas.

If you are feeling especially ambitious, skip the boring jack-o-lantern carving and build a radio-controlled robotic pumpkin (pictured left).

Not only does this little guy keep extraordinary rhythm without any arms or legs, Keepon is helping researchers develop robots that can interact with people.

From New Scientist:

Marek Michalowski of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US, and Hideki Kozima of the National Institute of Communications Technology (NICT) in Kyoto, Japan, programmed the squishy, yellow robot, called “Keepon”, to pick out the beat in a piece of music and move along in time. It can also track the rhythmic motion of a person or another object and move in time to that.

Psychologists have shown that people are more engaging when they synchronise their movement to their voice or to the voice or movement of another person. Michalowski argues that robots will need a sense of rhythm if people are to accept them. “In the future you are going to be talking to some robot and just the ability of the robot to nod to what you are saying will make it easier to interact,” he says.

The dancing bot has developed quite a following and is attending this week’s WIRED NextFest in L.A. He also has a staring role in Spoon’s music video “Don’t You Evah:”

Link to New Scientist article
Link to BeatBots project page