Category Archive Browsing Category: robotics
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Embodiment, Stigmergy, and Swarm Intelligence
Here is a chapter from a book by Michael Dawson, Brian Dupuis, and Michael Wilson (all of the Biological Computation Project, University of Alberta) that has just come my way and is entitled From Bricks to Brains: The Embodied Cognitive Science of LEGO Robots. In fact, all the chapters in draft are freely available to be downloaded…
Biomechatronics
For an excellent resource on this and related matters see the What Sorts of People website. A step in the right direction Hugh Herr lost his lower legs as a teenager. He has since gone on to become a leading light in the development of artificial limbs Mar 4th 2010 | From The Economist print…
Swarm Theory
Here is an article (admittedly a few years old) and some accompanying photographs from National Geographic.
How long until robots are running off with someone’s wife?
An article from Silicon.com pitched at a general audience. I love the last photo caption: How long until robots are running off with someone’s wife?
The Bionic Body
As is usual for the National Geographic, here is a super article beautifully illustrated on the latest developments in bionics. Check out the hard copy for more detailed case studies and real world applications.
Small is beautiful
Over at Vitorino Ramos’ ever thoughtful blog is a post extolling the virtues of the “small”. The point is twofold: First, the superb detail afforded by the photographs that Vitorino has assembled shows a rather complexly “designed” creature – a design that belies the supposedly simple life-form that ants are typically taken to be. The…
Robotic pet
Meet Paro. He’s a robotic seal developed by Japanese researchers to help dementia patients feel that they have companionship and a feeling of security, without the responsibilities of a living pet. (Thanks to Suzie Katz for alerting me to this story). Made to emulate a live pet as much as possible, he can cuddle, nod and…
Guilty Robots
Dov must surely have intended “stigmergy”! David McFarland certainly does: pp. 166, 178, 198. I hope this is picked up for the hardcopy review of McFarland’s Guilty Robots, Happy Dogs: The Question of Alien Minds. Robots can be simply reactive to certain elements of their environment; they can demonstrate ‘stigmercy’, or ‘[t]he production of behavior…
iCub hype
Telling aspect to this article: “Is perception consciousness? The ability to understand that somebody has a goal, is that consciousness?” he asked. “These kinds of questions, we will be able to ask with much more precision because we can have a test bed, this robot, or zombie, that we can use to implement things,” he…
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