Careful what you think, as it may extend to more than just your own brain. (I’m certainly hoping that my robotic assistant will understand my thoughts even before I speak. That way, I can Blog in my Brain and have a direct neural connection to the internet/rest of the world.) Is this a good thing? How can I control not sharing my personal thoughts at the same time? Will there be a private mode before my thoughts go public and is there a way I can edit my thoughts before sharing? Let’s say I’m blogging in my brain which is
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Lookalikes
I don’t mean to criticize (OK, I really do), but the headline “More human than human: People prefer robots that look like them”, should not be taken at face value (pun intended). Scientific studies can be extremely valuable, but not when they’re taken out of context. Many times, headlines are created which give the reader a false summary of the research. I doubt the writer of the article created the title, as it is the creative title that translates into advertising dollars for the publisher. Who writes these titles? 60 Minutes? The National Enquirer? Am I going to have to
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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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On Siri
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
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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
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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
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depressed robot
My patient Cy’s (short for Cyborg) depression stemmed from a feeling of low self-esteem and paranoia. He felt that because he was a robot, humans would constantly stare at him. A robot/human integration program was recommended whereby slowly, daily human-like functions were performed in public to help build acceptance. Things are progressing well for Cy, who is now a Florida resident living at Century Village. He has not been granted the right to vote yet. However, he knows his right to vote won’t matter in the State of Florida anyway.
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Getting Disruptive With It
‘Disruptive’ is the latest buzz term headlining presentations at robotics’ conferences. Wikipedia describes Disruptive as ‘an innovation that creates a new market by applying a different set of values, which ultimately (and unexpectedly) overtakes an existing market’, and provides several examples – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation. Over the next years, many robotic innovations, some of course not yet known, will undoubtedly prove to be ‘disruptive’ as they transform our society and improve our quality of life. However, with all the negative backlash from the recent media about ‘robots taking jobs away from humans’, I’m concerned that the public, not knowing what the economic definition
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(Not) Burning Man
Wildfires are not just a problem in the U.S.; it is a worldwide hazard, and one that could highly benefit from robotics. There are already some excellent robotic technologies being developed for addressing wildfires, residential and commercial fires: A hybrid intelligent wildfire detection system by Insight Robotics LTD of Hong Kong that was successfully tested by the Guangdong Academy of Forestry and will be implemented throughout the Guangdong province in China. The Thermite firefighting robot manufactured by Howe and Howe Technologies FireRob, the MVF-5 Autonomous Firefighting Robotic Vehicle built by the Croatian manufacturer DOK-ING The autonomous OLE robotic firefighting beetle created at the University of Magdeburg-Stendal Firefighting robot
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