Boil Before Drinking » Robots

Warren Ellis’ Three Laws of Robotics

The Runs — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:59:00 +0000

www.warrenellis.com: Three Laws of Robotics

#2:

“Robots couldn’t really give a fuck if you live or die. Seriously. I mean, what are you thinking? “Ooh, I must protect the bag of meat at all costs because I couldn’t possibly plug in the charger all on my own.” Shut the fuck up.”

If those new robots that can learn emotion and attitude hang out with Warren too long, we may be in a teeny bit of trouble. I’m not too worried, though. The crocodile people are more likely to stay with the ‘program’. And hell, they are CROCODILE PEOPLE.

Cockroach Controlled Robots

The Runs — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:34:00 +0000

Continuing on the theme of insect controlled robots, we have the Cockroach-run robot created by Garnet Hertz.

Link: Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot

There is a ton of information and multimedia content on the site, so check it out. The author’s has some interesting comments under the heading Why are you doing this project?. One that stuck out for me:

It is okay for highly technological systems to be novel. As a matter of fact, it’s better to build a novel system and admit that it’s absurd – as opposed to doing interesting research and framing it as “scientific” post-facto. It is my opinion that much of scientific discovery occurs in “non-scientific” methods: it’s more of a creative process than one might imagine, and is often constructed to appear methodological as the paper is being written up for publication. Take a look at current research funded by the Defense Sciences Office of DARPA: despite appearances of being utilitarian, it’s littered with projects (with large budgets) appearing more “novel” than this.

Right on! Now we need to get the cockroach bot to fight the moth bot.

Moth Brain Drives Robot

The Runs — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:49:00 +0000

Can a moth brain drive a robot? Hell yeah! Researchers at the University of Arizona have built a robot that has its motion guided by neural impulses from a moth’s brain.

Article: Researchers Create Robot Driven by Moth’s Brain

The robot’s motion is guided by a tiny electrode implanted in the moth’s brain, Higgins said, specifically to a single neuron that is responsible for keeping the moth’s vision steady during flight. The neuron transmits electrical signals which are then amplified in the robot’s base and through a mathematical formula, a computer translates the signals into action, making the robot move.

This is very interesting stuff. I was getting worried that we wouldn’t see any Moth battle robots in my lifetime, and that the crocodile men would run unchecked. Now I can sleep without the help of Scotch.