Toshiba Debuts Cute Robot Prototype That Makes Remotes Obsolete

Part of the appeal of robots is making them do things that we don’t want to do or can’t do for ourselves– and now researchers at Toshiba have developed a small, mega-cute talking robot that can learn how to use our remote controls.

ApriPoco is a 8.4 inch tall robot that is equipped with sensors that can detect infrared rays from remote controls. It uses its own infrared signal to respond to verbal commands, and can learn a range of instructions.
While users might get upset if a conventional machine makes a mistake, the researchers hope that the robot’s child-like appeal will make people more patient and willing to help it learn.

Such interaction has proved to work well in trials, particularly with seniors– people who need the most help with the growing array of remote controls in our lives.

Toshiba hopes to develop the robot for a commercial launch but has not yet decided when it might go on sale.

See video of ApriPoco at work below:

Is The Singularity Near Enough For Ray Kurzweil?

Ray Kurzweil is sixty years old, but he believes The Singularity is near– and that he might live long enough to see it. WIRED interviewed Kurzweil about the extraordinary measures that he is taking to prolong his life long enough to transfer his consciousness into that of a machine.

In addition to guarding his health, Kurzweil is writing and producing an autobiographical movie, with cameos from Alan Dershowitz and Tony Robbins. Kurzweil appears in two guises in the film– as himself and as an intelligent computer named Ramona, played by an actress. Ramona has long been the inventor’s virtual alter ego and the expression of his most personal goals. “Women are more interesting than men,” Kurzweil says, “and if it’s more interesting to be with a woman, it is probably more interesting to be a woman.”

He hopes one day to bring Ramona to life, and to have genuine human experiences, both with her and as her. “I don’t necessarily only want to be Ramona,” he says. “It’s not necessarily about gender confusion, it’s just about freedom to express yourself.”

Kurzweil’s movie offers a taste of the drama such a future will bring. Ramona is on a quest to attain full legal rights as a person. She agrees to take a Turing test, the classic proof of artificial intelligence, but although Ramona does her best to masquerade as human, she falls victim to one of the test’s subtle flaws: Humans have limited intelligence. A computer that appears too smart will fail just as definitively as one that seems too dumb. “She loses because she is too clever!” Kurzweil says.

The inventor’s sympathy with his robot heroine is heartfelt. “If you’re just very good at doing mathematical theorems and making stock market investments, you’re not going to pass the Turing test,” Kurzweil acknowledged in 2006 during a public debate with noted computer scientist David Gelernter. Kurzweil himself is brilliant at math, and pretty good at stock market investments. The great benefits of the singularity, for him, do not lie here. “Human emotion is really the cutting edge of human intelligence,” he says. “Being funny, expressing a loving sentiment — these are very complex behaviors.”

DIY Technosexual Marries His Robot Creation

He’s not quite right in the head, and his robots aren’t quite robots– but a young man named Zoltan built a robot girlfriend– and then married her online.

Zoltan’s robotic wife is a crude blowup doll rigged with teledildonics and a chatbox– but what does that matter when he’s finally found true love? Zoltan shares instructions on how to build your own femme-bot–or boy-bot, if you’re so inclined. I personally prefer it when robot building left up to the Honeydoll pros— the result is much more aesthetically pleasing, don’t you think?

Gizmodo interviewed Frankenstein–oops, Zoltan. Click here for insight on why he embarked on this journey of discovery. Surprise surprise, Zoltan owns to up to having many failed relationships and a fear of intimacy. At least Zoltan’s self-aware, even if his robot wife isn’t.

Man Builds Suicide Bot

An elderly man commited suicide by programming a robot to shoot him in the head after building the machine from plans downloaded from the internet.

Francis Tovey, 81, who lived alone in Burleigh Heads on the Australian Gold Coast, was found dead in his driveway. According to the Gold Coast Bulletin, he had been unhappy about the demands of relatives living elsewhere in Australia that he should move out of his home and into care.

Notes left by Tovey revealed that he had scoured the internet for plans before constructing his complex machine, which involved a jigsaw power tool and was connected to a .22 semi-automatic pistol loaded with four bullets. It could fire multiple shots once triggered remotely. His notes suggested that Tovey chose to kill himself in the driveway because he knew there were workmen building a new house next door who would find his body.

The scheme worked, as carpenter Daniel Skewes heard gunshots and ran to Mr Tovey’s home. “I thought I heard three shots and when we ran next door he was lying on the driveway with gunshot wounds to the head,” Mr Skewes told the GCB.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, told the newspaper that Mr Tovey had lived at his home on Gabrielle Grove since 1984. “He was a really marvellous man, an ideal neighbour and I will miss him greatly,” she said. “He was born in England, like I was, and we used to enjoy our tea together. He had visitors from England and family interstate from somewhere far away in Australia.

“There was no inkling of anything amiss, it is just very sad.”

We’ll never know the true extent of someone else’s secret pain.

From Times Online, UK edition.

Ravaged Robots

I personally find the idea of robot abuse distasteful, but people are already developing a fetish around images of injured and maimed androids. My friend directed me to “Amputee Robot Girl Bondage” by Itsuki Takashi — the name is pretty self-explanatory. While destroyed ‘bots aren’t my cup of tea, I really liked some of Takashi’s other artwork.

This weekend at WizardCon I met Jeffrey Scott, a photo-manipulation artist with a strong interest in steam-punk style robotics. He’s best known for his art book Visions From Within The Mechanism, previously featured here at Nymphblog.

When I told Jeffrey Scott that we had a shared interest in robotics, he discussed his new work aristocracy 2032: mistress linn unplugged from securities for the sake of unconditional love. He said that the photo was meant as a commentary on robot rights, and predicted that legislation would eventually be necessary to ensure that humans didn’t mistreat their android companions. I countered that perhaps it was better that humans work out their violent tendencies on machines that could have their memories wiped soon afterward and be programmed not to feel– at which point the conversation digressed into a discussion about the existence of a soul.

Alas, we can enjoy the artwork for now and think about the consequences later.