I heard from an old friend and mentor, Dennis Dupuis. I am making this blog a tribute to Dennis, who is the one that actually helped me come up with ‘Robotic Psychiatry’ 27 years ago with his ‘Aladdin’s Magic Lamp’ exercise. Here’s what he just wrote in an email to someone else and forwarded it to me: “20 years ago, a gal named Joanne Pransky worked for me, and I knew she had potential to be something, but like most people, she had no idea what she could do with her life. She would always complain about “all the things” that
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Blowback against DARPA’s Atlas
I can’t believe all the negative publicity Darpa’s Atlas is getting. I’m even more surprised that some of it is coming from robotic news sites: http://io9.com/meet-the-pentagons-latest-robotic-abomination-atlas-754134125 http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57593396-1/be-afraid-darpa-unveils-terminator-like-atlas-robot/ http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421687,00.asp Of course there’s some positive reporting on this humanoid and its capabilities: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/science/modest-debut-of-atlas-may-foreshadow-age-of-robo-sapiens.html?smid=yt-nytimes&_r=0 However, I expect robot publications to taut the technical advantages and benefits, regardless of what the public may fear or feel, especially as robotic developments result in a physical resemblance to robots in science fiction. I do wonder how DARPA is promoting this robot ‘out of the shoot’. In 2004, I witnessed a PR problem first-hand while working at the DARPA
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Hole in one
Ari Popper sent me this great golf video – That’s robotic psychiatry! (the past 27 years anyway…) Robots, if promoted properly, create the BEST watercooler talk (better than using children in ads, skits, etc). That ad got it right because it showed the positive aspects of the robot and golf –good competitiveness, friendship, humor, reaching beyond one’s human capability, etc. There’s practically a robo-trainer for every sport. Makes perfect sense – a robot can physically, precisely, and repetitively train an athlete, it never tires, it won’t accidentally hit the athlete with the ball, and it won’t yell. Adding some verbal
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Defensive robots
Darpa unveiled its ATLAS robot – – another brilliant robot built by Boston Dynamics. It slightly resembles Robby in the movie Forbidden Planet. Another sci fi robot in the ‘flesh’. What isn’t apparent upon a first look at Atlas, are the years, experience, and man hours put into this robot. Its evolution started probably nearly 30 years ago by Marc Raibert. It is designed to be a team member in the military and will get tested in practice by the Darpa Robotics Challenge. Love the criteria for this challenge, especially number 3, ‘must be able to be operated by non-engineer”.
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Genius machines
I heard back from David Hanson (who liked the idea of Zeno in Space). I then started doing more research and came across the GENI Lab, ‘Genius Machines–robots with greater-than-human consciousness, creativity, and compassion’. It’s ‘Dream Team’ are 4 of the world’s best for this: David Hanson, Mark Tilden, Ben Goertzel, and Gino Yu. They just started this nonprofit in 2013 and I’m so proud to say I’m their second Twitter follower! Speaking of ‘Dream’, I’m dying to be their resident ‘Robotic Psychiatrist’!
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Making Mr. (Robo) Right
I think the most advanced social robots in terms of both intelligence and physical features are Hanson’s RoboKind. David Hanson is brilliantly creative, and I’ve been dying to have his robots (Zeno, Adam, etc.) as some of my patients. Since reading this article – http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2013/jun/27/japanese-robot-astronaut-floats-zero-gravity-video – all I can think of (naturally, as a Robotic Psychiatrist), is how lonely Kirobo will be, and then it dawned on me – why not have Zeno as his companion? Together, they can communicate to the astronauts, each other, and the world regarding their experiences. (And, I would be Zeno’s doctor to make sure
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robo majordomo
I so need a robo-majordomo. I wrote and published about it over 20 years ago, and if you had asked me then, I would have guessed I would have had one by now. The RoboDomo would oversee and communicate with all the smart household appliances, and take care of my day-to-day business of running both the home and office. Kind of like a butler and secretary all in one. It could unload food that was delivered while simultaneously verbally update me on the top 3 medical robot news items of the day. I guess I am hoping to spur a
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Human error
Both the crash of the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 at San Francisco Airport, and the New York Metro North train crash were the both due to human error, (the first from lack of proper training and the latter a lack of attention, apparently from fatigue). How can we NOT afford for our transportation systems NOT to rely on human judgment and decision making? Human error accounts for 90% of all road accidents, resulting in an approximate 30,000-40,000 fatalities per year. I hope that each day is one more day closer to autonomous vehicles on the road. I have a 17-year
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biomimetics: it’s the bees’ knees
I was talking with my creative, musician neighbor from Costa Rica who also has an incredible green thumb. We’ve hired him to take care of our yard and landscaping, and he is incredibly knowledge on all aspects of both. Through experience, he knows how to rid of bees’ nests in the corner of our gutters, protect our cherry trees from being eaten by birds, close up mole holes, and today he enlightened me with the bent ‘knees’ of birds, something I had never paid any attention to. However, as he spoke about them, it seemed like it would make for
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robot-assisted 5k
I really could have used an exoskeleton or robot-assist device to run in the steep hills of the Kenwood 10K as well as the 6 mile Fireworks hike on Sugarloaf Mountain. I can’t run the 10K and I barely walked it. I was the last person (out of hundreds) to complete it. 2.5 hours and by the time I finished, the bananas, bagels, watermelon, and water were gone. Forget-about-it – the Parade had started. Between the heat and the difficult walk, the combined lack of sleep, stretching out, and food, I was not in good shape at the end. (That’s
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