Weird Robot News Articles

[radioaktivebunny]

Hey so I didn't notice in the new section so I figured I would link it.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10...ag=mncol;title
http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/index.php/EATR
These robots sound pretty strange. They could be prove to be really helpful, I mean everyone knows that renewable resources are the best source of energy because they tend to polute less and we don't run out of them. Of course I am a little curious as to what exactly the military is planning on doing with these things? What do you think is it: good/yay-environmentally-friendly-super-robots or bad/potentially-resulting-in-zombie-meets-terminator-when-experiments-go-horribly-wrong-robots?
Haha...At any rate I think it's certainly an interesting idea with a lot of potential and I'm definitely hoping they can expand this technology to help replace fossil fuels maybe...


Also I was wondering if anyone else has run across any weird robot articles?

[radioaktivebunny]

Ooh and here's another weird one:
http://gizmodo.com/346029/scientists...oser-than-ever
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jan...arn-how-to-lie
Lying robots. Scary.

[Ocalon]

haha yeah EATR can have other field uses other than just chowing down on people. It can be used

gathering fuel from its environment rather than having batteries that need to be either recharged or changed or solar power which does not give a high amount of energy quickly enough.

Its just a piece of the robot paradox. We build in order to make it easier for/on us but it can also turn out to be used against us (take for example nuclear energy/atomic bomb).

As for the lying robots, that just takes it to a whole new level! How can I ever trust my toaster again?!

[radioaktivebunny]

Haha yeah the EATR actually sounds like a potentially awesome solution to our dependency on fossil fuels and the oil industry for things like cars. It would be pretty sweet if all you need for fuel was the left overs from last nights dinner. I mean the idea of it being able to convert organic matter into fuel kills two birds with one stone: you get fuel and you get rid of organic waste without polluting. I must say though if you look on their website it's a little strange how many pictures of rhinos they have...I mean rhinos are cool and all but it's odd.
As for the toaster, I just made mine pinky swear it wouldn't turn on me. Aside from the initial issue with the toaster not having a pinky to swear with I haven't had any problems with my toast. Now the microwave on the other hand...we may have to break out a treaty or something because it just doesn't seem to like making popcorn (it either burns it or it leaves a bunch of unpopped kernals) Don't worry though I'm pretty sure this is an isolated issue and if I clean it more often it will become more cooperative.

[StormyXylop]

Man why was I not aware that Skynet is on the move?!

We must be ever-vigilant!

[n3rdy_m1nd]

As fro the EATR, it seems that it doesn't really move away from fossil fuels as much as it just increases the variety of fuels it can consume. I mean sure it seems to be moving away from petroleum based fuels but is it reallly that much of a comfort to know that they can potentially eradicate and significantly damage the ecosystem?

As for the whole harvesting "green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter" well after these things become available in mass numbers, that so-called "renewable plant matter" will most definately dwinkle down signifcantly thereby having major repercussions in adequate production of sustainable oxygen levels.

As notable as their efforts are, I think they are treading in very dangerous water. Its cool to have the option of it and have that particular technology available to us if we ever find a demanding need for it but otherwise I strongly advocate the use of true "renewable" and reusable electrical energy using electrons and electrical currents.

[n3rdy_m1nd]

Oh and as for the lying robots, thats not much of a surprise considering that robots have infinite capabilities to do anything that we can think of making them do. They lie because we tell them to lie. They can in the future become independent artificial intelligent macro systems if we so choose to make them that way. And from then on, they act according to what we have given them capability to do.

Other than that, I don't believe the whole "terminator rise of the machines with the sole purpose of eradicating humanity" can really happen since it would be incredibly (and astronomically impossible might I add) for such a thing to actually occur.

At most, I think that a virus infecting a lot off the mainstream electronic devices and communication apparatuses is most probable. It would end up as more of an inconvenience that would set us back (technologically-wise) and potentially social-wise in the event that it does set off explosions, missiles or other deadly weapons.