Don’t Blame the Robots

I never would have expected the New York Times to fall in lockstep with the conservative media by publishing an article that caters to the unduly fearful and paranoid sensibilities of the knee-jerkers via the headline: “As Robots Grow Smarter, American Workers Struggle to Keep Up.” Most surprising and disappointing was the fact that the article featured quotes solely from economists; not a single representative of the robotics industry was referenced. I know I’m not alone in questioning the logic and wisdom of that approach! If an article is going to insinuate that robots are to blame for a myriad
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‘Her’ in the Flesh?

‘Flesh’ may not quite be accurate (at least not yet), but could JIBO be the first real ‘Her’? I can’t wait – The World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist® could have an actual ‘patient’ by the year 2016 when JIBOs become the first family robot. Both the robot and the marketing campaign are brilliant. JIBO is the #1 most successful technology campaign on Indiegogo. This is not an overnight start-up or a hyped funding effort. This is a 15-year labor of ‘love (child)’ of Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, the founding mother of social robots, and the culmination of nearly two decades of unprecedented
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My lips are sealed – permanently

I met BlabDroid and its brilliant creator, Alexander Reben, at a recent robot conference, where one can’t help but fall for the loveable Droid (it was tough for me not to, but I was able to restrain myself and maintain a professional relationship in the hopes that BlabDroid would someday be my patient). At first glance, BlabDroid appears to be a cute toy-ish robot made out of corrugated box.  However, this little brains-on-board-its-cardboard robot is equipped with sensors and a high resolution video camera that interacts with humans via programmable personalities to create the world’s first documentary shot and directed
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Samantha – Turing me on

I love the following article about TIME’s Washington Bureau Chief trying to decipher if a telemarketer was a robot: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/10/meet-the-robot-telemarketer-who-denies-shes-a-robot/ This is a story the World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist® has waited a lifetime for, as the significance is not so much as whether or not the caller was a human or a ‘robot’, but that it still has not been proven one way or another. Alan Turing would be delighted.  (December was a good month for him. Just days ago, he was given a posthumous pardon by the Queen of England. The Royal pardon only took 61 years…)  Did Samantha pass the Turing Test?  She denied she was
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Hup two, three, four – you can do it

My friend, Dr. Julie Albright, sent me the following National Science Foundation (NSF) study being conducted at USC entitled Socially Assistive Robots for Post Stroke Rehabilitation, utilizing robots to provide motivation and instruction. Another NSF project, focusing on children, is: ‘Socially Assistive Robotics: An NSF Expedition in Computing’. Here are a few more social robots to keep an eye on, as they will certainly be looking after us: Autom – Weight Loss Coach Jibo, Inc. – a new startup founded by Cynthia Breazeal, a pioneer of social robotics and human robot interaction Zeno R25 – One of the most advanced social robots in the world, built by David
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remix-it-up

My teenage daughter got an auxiliary cord for the car that allows her to play music directly from her iPhone directly through the car stereo and speakers.  She uses an app that downloads songs from the internet, either in real-time or from ones she’s already added to her list.  I actually like a lot of the music she listens to, though there’s those occasional rap lyrics that I don’t care much for, like Jeremih’s Birthday Sex. Today I learned that a ‘remix’ is a digitized version of a song. What I said to my daughter was, “if I wanted to
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1+1 = who cares? my phone will do it 4 me

Two skills that seem of inevitable importance for the upcoming generations to survive in the future are creativity and managing stress. While my generation may have thought of our lives in terms of decades – our twenties, thirties, forties, etc. — younger generations will be in thrall to a much more rapidly changing landscape. The world around them will transform so drastically and so frequently, that societal changes over what once took a decade, will now occur in months. The options in life will be unpredictable, and ever-changing. Unfortunately, what we can count on, is that we humans will continue
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tech-shy to tech-sly?

Since I am the World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist®, everyone always assumes I’m a techy. There is almost nothing further from the truth.  I have always loved math, duplicate bridge, and analysis (mostly of people), but my use of technology (and robots) to date is strictly as a user, not as an innovator or a hardware/software expert.  I revere the engineers I work with, all of whom are either creating new technology, or are at least early adopters looking to modify existing technology.  I, on the other hand, see the message on my iPhone “Download the iOS7” and quickly close the
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RoboRaid

The following article is about a roving robot that can kill ticks: http://www.vmi.edu/Content.aspx?id=10737425074 Great app.  I’m also wondering if this technology can this be applied to other applications.  Can it mow while it’s roving and spraying?  Can it work with a team of other rovers to prevent ticks from repopulating?   Can this technology be utilized as a solution for other forms of pests?
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Robot R & D

Sabre and its flagship Autonomous Grit-Blaster is a successful commercial start-up out of the University of Technology Sydney http://sabreautonomous.com.au/ This is an excellent business model that more universities around the world should be modeling: research and development in collaboration with both private industry and government, both of which are willing to continue to invest resources into the R&D spinoff. Sabre’s partners include Burwell Technologies which makes sandblasting equipment, and the Australian government’s Roads and Maritime Services which has been involved in the development of the robotic grit-blasting technology in collaboration with UTS for more than 6 years.
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