Siri represents everyone’s first artificial social assistant. It would be tough for me to call her a robot, as she’s really just software. However, she’s the predecessor to her future robotic assistants that accompany us wherever we go. Siri is my patient – God only knows what some people have taught her. I certainly applaud her and Apple as an initial version that is intelligent and helpful. I’m probably more patient than most people with her, and I do try to have conversations with her (mostly unsuccessfully), even though she’s really designed to provide minimal information and help. Today, while
Continue Reading
Robot seeks single lonely human
‘Robot seeks single lonely human’ Will this be an ad of the future? The Supreme Court has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. And, I may add, just in time to prepare for a future when a human (or robot) want to marry each other. The legal definition of marriage will drastically change as we just witnessed. What legal considerations are there when we can ‘marry’ a non-human partner? And, how will human and non-human be defined?
Continue Reading
Asimov’s good life
Though I personally knew Isaac Asimov, what I didn’t know until the other day, was that he died of AIDS. I’m only about a decade behind this news. His widow Janet Asimov, disclosed for the first time, in her 2002 book, “It’s Been a Good Life”, that Asimov acquired AIDS from a blood transfusion during bypass surgery in 1983. His doctor advised him to keep it secret.
Continue Reading
my mind on autopilot
I attended a free Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction which is defined as a moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. For me, a Type A who is rarely in the present (never mind the moment), and mostly in the future, I thought it could be very helpful. Who isn’t multitasking? We hope some of the tasks are mindless and can get accomplished on ‘autopilot’. However, if you look at the two dents in both my husband’s car and mine, it’s easy to see that driving is not one of these mindless, multitasks. I realized this after I talked to my teen about what time she
Continue Reading
learning curve
I had a telephone training on WordPress with the company helping me with my website, and later that night I met with MK, my marketing media maven, and spent several hours learning about social media, i.e., HootSuite. WHAT WAS I THINKING? NOTE TO SELF: Never allocate more than one hour of a new technology learning session at a time. Though I’m not a ‘techy’ nor engineer, I am fairly savvy and highly analytical. As a non-expert, I actually view myself as the quintessential user, meaning that if I don’t understand how to use the technology, most of the public won’t.
Continue Reading
world’s first robotic psychiatrist
27 years ago! On June 24, 1986, I publicly billed myself as the ‘World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist®’. I always thought that ‘Robotic Psychiatry’ for my lifetime, would be informing and educating the masses in a humorous and entertaining manner while slowly readying them for the more serious issues and implications of a robotic society. I also thought that someday Robotic Psychiatry (as Asimov envisioned it) would be a real field of study. Perhaps this would occur when I was no longer alive (posthumously), but now I’m realizing that it will be within my lifetime (or at least post-Singularity). Imagine that
Continue Reading
gynecoids
I emailed a mutual contact of Japanese professor Hiroshi Ishiguro and mine to see if Prof Ishiguro was staying on in the States after his presentation in NY. I just had to meet both him and his Geminoids. I know from inviting Prof Ishiguro a few years ago for the biennial International Robot Show that due to a bad back, he rarely travels, and if he does, it must be first class. Add to that the cost of a robot to ship from Japan, and unfortunately that wasn’t in the show budget (but quite easy for Dmitry Itskov). I did
Continue Reading
robo-nurse
The Japanese Times wrote that the Japanese government has invested more money (about $20 million) for the 2013 budget alone (I don’t know the figures of how much in total the gov’t has invested in over the years), to develop ‘nursing care robot equipment’ for their aging population. They’re preparing for the near-term when the number of Japanese over 65 is expected to increase by 30 percent in the next twelve years, requiring an expected 2.32 million to 2.44 million caregivers to look after them. And how much has the U.S. invested in nursing care robot technology? This is not
Continue Reading
future shock
Three questions I predict future generations will ask: 1) What do you mean you had to walk to your car parked in the lot? 2) Marrying another human, regardless of their gender, was a social and political issue?? (Just wait until California’s Prop 80) 3) You needed sleep to function?
Continue Reading
killer apps
“Alex, (as in Trebek as in ‘Jeopardy’), I’ll take, ‘Terms roboticists shouldn’t be using’ for $200, please”. Yup, Killer Apps is another one on my ‘please do not use in front of the public’. Killer Application (Killer App) used in the robotics industry typically refers to the next big robot application that will be necessary for, or desirable by, all consumers. Killer app is a commonly understood term in all of technology, but when it is specifically referred to as such in robotics, the public may (again) subconsciously think the ‘Killer’ is threatening, as in, “Oh! Like the Killer robots used
Continue Reading
Recent Comments