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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 30-05-2013 12:08 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | 'Killer robots' pose threat to peace and should be banned, UN warned
Human rights investigator Christof Heyns to call for moratorium on weapons that can kill targets without human involvement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/29/killer-robots-ban-un-warningl
Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian, Wednesday 29 May 2013 13.42 BST
Jump to comments (307)
Science fiction? 'Machines lack morality and mortality, and should not have life and death powers over humans', Heyns will say on Thursday. Photograph: Warner Bros
"Killer robots" that could attack targets autonomously without a human pulling the trigger pose a threat to international stability and should be banned before they come into existence, the United Nations will be told by its human rights investigator this week.
Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, will address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday and call for a worldwide moratorium on what he calls "lethal autonomous robotics" – weapons systems that, once activated, can lock on and kill targets without further involvement of human handlers.
"Machines lack morality and mortality, and as a result should not have life and death powers over humans," Heyns will say.
Heyns's call for a moratorium draws the UN into the realms of sci-fi: fully autonomous weapons have not yet been developed, and exist only in the imaginations of military planners. However, experts in warfare technologies warn that the world's leading military powers are moving so rapidly in this direction that a pre-emptive ban is essential.
"States are working towards greater and greater autonomy in weapons, and the potential is there for such technologies to be developed in the next 10 or 20 years," said Bonnie Docherty of Harvard law school's International Human Rights Clinic, who co-authored a report on the subject with Human Rights Watch.
In his submission to the UN, Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
Drone technology has already moved a step closer to a fully autonomous state in the form of the X-47B, a super-charged UAV developed by the US Navy that can fly itself, and which last week completed the first takeoff from an aircraft carrier. The drone is billed as a non-combat craft, yet its design includes two weapons bays capable of carrying more than 4,000lbs.
Britain is developing its own next generation of drone, known as Taranis, that can be sent to tackle targets at long range and can defend itself from enemy aircraft. Like X-47B it has two in-built weapons bays, though is currently unarmed.
Apart from drones, several states are known to be actively exploring the possibility of autonomous weapons operating on the ground. South Korea has set up sentry robots known as SGR-1 along the Demilitarized Zone with North Korea that can detect people entering the zone through heat and motion sensors; though the sentry is currently configured so that it has to be operated by a human, it is reported to have an automatic mode, which, if deployed, would allow it to fire independently on intruders.
Steve Goose, Human Rights Watch's arms director, said it was undeniable that "modern militaries are looking to develop autonomous weapons. The question is how far that push for autonomy will go."
Given its dominance as the world's leading military power, the US is likely to set the pace. According to Human Rights Watch, the Pentagon is spending about $6bn a year on research and development of unmanned systems, though in a directive adopted last November it said that fully autonomous weapons could only be used "to apply non-lethal, non-kinetic force, such as some forms of electronic attack".
The key issue identified by Heyns in his UN submission is whether future weapons systems will be allowed to make the decision to kill autonomously, without human intervention. In military jargon, there are those unmanned weapons where "humans are in the loop" – ie retain control over the weapon and ultimately pull the trigger – as opposed to the future potential for autonomous weapons where humans are "out of the loop" and the decision to attack is taken by the robot itself.
The possibility of "out of the loop" weapons raises a plethora of moral and legal issues, Heyns says. Most worryingly, it could lead to increasing distance between those carrying out the attack and their targets: "In addition to being physically removed from the kinetic action, humans would also become more detached from decisions to kill – and their execution." |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-06-2013 20:47 Post subject: |
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Ha! Giant Killer Robots will burst in and zap them all.
| Quote: | 'Killer robots': MP Nia Griffith calls for world ban
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22927092
A debate on 'lethal autonomous robotics' is held by MPs on Monday
A Welsh Labour MP has called on the UK government to support a moratorium on the use and development of so-called "killer robots".
Llanelli MP Nia Griffith said the "frightening technology" of Lethal Autonomous Robotics (LARs) had to be stopped.
She said: "That is one step further than a drone which at least has some kind of [human] control over it."
Supporters say the "lethal autonomous robots" could save soldiers' lives.
Ms Griffith is raising her concerns about the weapons in a House of Commons debate on Monday.
The robots are machines programmed in advance to take out people or targets, which - unlike drones - operate autonomously on the battlefield.
They are being developed in the US, UK and Israel but have not yet been used.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
It makes you think of the Terminator movies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and I don't want that kind of world”
Peter Black AM
Lib Dem
Ms Griffith, who is vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on weapons and the protection of civilians, said they raise serious moral questions about how we wage war.
She told the BBC's Sunday Politics Wales programme she was disappointed that the UK government had not signed up to a recent UN report calling for a moratorium on the use and development of LARs.
She said: "This is extremely frightening technology and we know how quickly this type of technology is being developed.
"There's a lot of secrecy about it and we need an international agreement about it.
"For example, blinding-lasers were banned before they came into use and that is the type of ban we need to be looking at.
"The US has already introduced a moratorium and quite clearly you have to work at an international level on this and the UK has to work with other countries to get a ban worldwide."
Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black told the programme he was also concerned about LARs.
He said: "It's quite frightening, it makes you think of the Terminator movies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and I don't want that kind of world." |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 22:28 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Robo-rockers join rich history of robot music
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23751-roborockers-join-rich-history-of-robot-music.html#.UcoK3TR4JHc
16:21 25 June 2013 by Celeste Biever
(Image: Toru Hanai/Reuters)
Music may seem the last of human activities that robots would encroach on, but this band, Z-Machines, are only the latest proof of the considerable musical skills of robots.
The robotic trio features Mach on guitar, Ashura on percussion and Cosmo on keyboard. They had their first gig in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday, with a guest appearance from human pop duo Amoyamo. Ayamo, one of the humans, praised Z-Machines' flawless performance – just what you'd expect from robots, she said.
Their creator Yoichiro Kawaguchi dreams of sending his android protégés to other planets to perform. Here on Earth, though, robots already have a rich musical history – both for the sake of entertainment and for exploring the boundaries between humans and machines.
The completely robotic Compressor Head reveals that robots can do heavy metal as well as Japanese pop, while jazzy marimba-playing Shimon can improvise along with a human pianist. The idea is to explore how robots and humans can be coaxed into interacting more fluidlyMovie Camera.
Robots have even learned to sing. Eduardo Miranda of the University of Plymouth, UK, created warbling robots that converge on a shared tuneMovie Camera to explore the potential for robots to evolve culture. It's beginning to look like Kraftwerk's 1978 album The Man-Machine really was the shape of things to come. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-06-2013 22:53 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Robo-Pets May Contribute to Quality of Life for Those With Dementia
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130624075748.htm
Professor Glenda Cook with PARO seal Glenda Cook with PARO seal. (Credit: Image courtesy of Northumbria University)
June 24, 2013 — Robotic animals can help to improve the quality of life for people with dementia, according to new research.
A study has found that interacting with a therapeutic robot companion made people with mid- to late-stage dementia less anxious and also had a positive influence on their quality of life.
The pilot study, a collaboration led by Professor Wendy Moyle from Griffith University, Australia and involving Northumbria University's Professor Glenda Cook and researchers from institutions in Germany, investigated the effect of interacting with PARO -- a robotic harp seal -- compared with participation in a reading group. The study built on Professor Cook's previous ethnographic work carried out in care homes in North East England.
PARO is fitted with artificial intelligence software and tactile sensors that allow it to respond to touch and sound. It can show emotions such as surprise, happiness and anger, can learn its own name and learns to respond to words that its owner uses frequently.
Eighteen participants, living in a residential aged care facility in Queensland, Australia, took part in activities with PARO for five weeks and also participated in a control reading group activity for the same period. Following both trial periods the impact was assessed, using recognised clinical dementia measurements, for how the activities had influenced the participants' quality of life, tendency to wander, level of apathy, levels of depression and anxiety ratings.
The findings indicated that the robots had a positive, clinically meaningful influence on quality of life, increased levels of pleasure and also reduced displays of anxiety.
Research has already shown that interaction with animals can have a beneficial effect on older adults, increasing their social behaviour and verbal interaction and decreasing feelings of loneliness. However, the presence of animals in residential care home settings can place residents at risk of infection or injury and create additional duties for nursing staff.
This latest study suggests that PARO companions elicit a similar response and could potentially be used in residential settings to help reduce some of the symptoms -- such as agitation, aggression, isolation and loneliness -- of dementia.
Prof Cook, Professor of Nursing at Northumbria University, said: "Our study provides important preliminary support for the idea that robots may present a supplement to activities currently in use and could enhance the life of older adults as therapeutic companions and, in particular, for those with moderate or severe cognitive impairment.
"There is a need for further research, with a larger sample size, and an argument for investing in interventions such as PARO robots which may reduce dementia-related behaviours that make the provision of care challenging as well as costly due to increased use of staff resources and pharmaceutical treatment."
The researchers of the pilot study have identified the need to undertake a larger trial in order to increase the data available. Future studies will also compare the effect of the robot companions with live animals.
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Northumbria University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Wendy Moyle, Marie Cooke, Elizabeth Beattie, Cindy Jones, Barbara Klein, Glenda Cook, Chrystal Gray. Exploring the Effect of Companion Robots on Emotional Expression in Older Adults with Dementia: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 2013; 39 (5): 46 DOI: 10.3928/00989134-20130313-03 |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-06-2013 14:07 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Video: Cat Robot Stands and Runs, On Its Own Four Legs
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/06/video-cat-robot-stands-and-runs-.html?ref=hp
by Elizabeth Pennisi on 17 June 2013, 4:40 PM | 2 Comments
Credit: Biorobotics Laboratory, EPFL
The latest addition to the growing field of fast four-legged robots is no bigger than a housecat, yet it can tackle more realistic terrain than its larger predecessors. Three years in the making, "Cheetah-cub" runs about 5 kilometers per hour and can descend steps up to 20% its leg length. For its size—23 centimeters long and 1 kilogram in weight—it may be a record-holder among other robo-quadrupeds, its developers say, attaining speeds seven times its body length per second. It even has an advantage over real cats: It runs with no brain telling it what to do. As researchers report today in the The International Journal of Robotics Research, Cheetah-cub self-adjusts its movement as needed because of three springs in each leg that adapt dynamically to the irregularities in its stride. The legs are modeled after a cat's, with three segments (think foot, calve, and thigh) moved via cables that connect to motors in the body. Power is supplied through a leash attached to the robot. The researchers hope to use the robot to study the biomechanics of animal locomotion and eventually to come up with quadruped robots that can be used in search and rescue operations. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-06-2013 23:04 Post subject: |
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Cat, now an ape.
| Quote: | German team creates robot ape (w/ Video)
June 25th, 2013 in Electronics / Robotics
The four-legged robot in DFKI's artificial crater environment. Credit: Daniel Kühn, DFKI GmbH
(Phys.org) —Researchers at Germany's Research Center for Artificial Intelligence are working on a project they call iStruct—its purpose is to create robots that more closely resemble their natural counterparts. To that end, they have created a robot imitation of an ape—it walks on its back feet and front knuckles. Impressively, the robot ape moves without cables connecting it to something else and is able to walk forwards, backwards and even sideways. It can also turn itself in a new direction.
Robots that imitate real animals (and humans of course) are nothing new; what's new in this effort is the target—an ape. In actuality, it appears to more closely resemble a gorilla than a chimpanzee or other ape. Also new is the approach the team is taking in attempting to replicate the way a real ape moves. Each part of the body is seen as both a single entity and as a part of a larger system. Thus, each body part has been designed to accomplish certain goals as both a single unit and as a part of a larger whole system. The back feet, for example, each have pressure sensors, rather than simple joints. Those sensors provide information to the Control and Information Processing Compartment which relates what the feet are "feeling" to information coming in from other parts of the body.
The initial result is a robot that has the shape of an ape and walks roughly like one. The team notes that they are only still in the beginning stages of development of the robot. The plan is to refine all of the robot's parts to gradually remove the stilted movements with the smooth transitions seen with real animals. One of those changes will be replacing the current rigid spine with an accentuated spinal column. This will allow the robot to twist as it turns, and perhaps, to stand up on two legs and pick fruit from trees at some point in the future.
The robot ape is part of a larger overall program funded by the Agency of the German Aerospace Center. Still unclear, however, is if the ultimate goal of the program is to create a robot that can serve aboard a spacecraft, or perhaps one day, even take on the role of pilot instead of the more expensive option—a human astronaut.
More information: robotik.dfki-bremen.de/en/research/projects/istruct.html
via IEEE
© 2013 Phys.org. All rights reserved.
"German team creates robot ape (w/ Video)." June 25th, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-06-german-team-robot-ape.html |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-06-2013 23:49 Post subject: |
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And now a bloodhound!
| Quote: | Bloodhound robot navigates by its sense of smell
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829236.200-bloodhound-robot-navigates-by-its-sense-of-smell.html#.UdC1X2J4JHc
27 June 2013 by Paul Marks
Magazine issue 2923.
A ROBOT that quickly homes in on odour sources could be used to sniff out the source of a fire, a chemical leak or even where a bomb has been planted.
There have been many attempts to give robots a sense of smell, from sensors that work like electronic noses to living biological tissue that responds to certain chemicals in the air. But what's been missing is a way for the robot itself to close in on a chemical plume as fast as possible.
Now engineer Tien-Fu Lu at the University of Adelaide in Australia has an answer: mimic the way insects do it. He has written a software routine that allows a robot to seek a hydrogen sulphide source – which stinks like rotten eggs – in a set of offices.
The algorithm can only store the current odour concentration and the previous two, as well as the robot's position when the measurements were taken. If the level goes down as the robot moves, it means it is no longer facing the source – so it returns to the previous position to try another direction (Robotics and Autonomous Systems, doi.org/m2g).
Lu is now honing the technique, adding ultrasound sensors so the robot can sense walls and travel to the source even faster, without wasting time zig-zagging along corridors.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Bloodhound robot stays on the scent" |
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| Monstrosa Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Total posts: 506 |
| Posted: 01-07-2013 07:36 Post subject: |
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| So now they can find out "who dealt it" |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 07-07-2013 00:21 Post subject: |
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Bet the dog, cat & ape would be smarter than that.
| Quote: | Human gestures perplex Asimo, Honda museum robot guide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23196867
Asimo in action
Asimo is reported to have had problems identifying arm gestures
Honda's popular robot Asimo faced problems with gesture recognition on its first day as a museum guide at the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo.
The machine struggled to differentiate between museum-goers raising their hands to ask a question and raising their hands to take photos, Associated Press reported.
It is "working" as a tour guide at the museum for the next four weeks as a trial.
Asimo cannot respond to voice commands.
The robot is instead designed to answer 100 questions selected via touchscreen from a written panel.
But during a demonstration it froze and asked: "Who wants to ask Asimo a question?" repeatedly when people pointed their cameras at it.
"Right now, it can recognize a child waving to it, but it's not able to comprehend the meaning of the waving," said Honda robotics technology specialist Satoshi Shigemi.
'Not able to comprehend'
Asimo has been in development since 1996.
Speaking to the BBC last year, Prof Chris Melhuish, director of the British Robotics Laboratory at the University of the West of England, said that interaction with humans was the next big step for robotics.
"The key thing, and it's what we're working on at the moment, is safe human-robot interaction," he said.
"That's not just making the robot compliant, it's making it have advanced social intelligence. If a robot is handing you something hot or sharp, for example, it needs to know whether it has your attention." |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-07-2013 22:15 Post subject: |
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And now a humanoid robot.
| Quote: | US unveils 'Atlas' humanoid robot test bed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23286266
So far, Atlas has only been put through its paces in a lab
A humanoid robot called Atlas could pave the way for intelligent machines to help in the wake of natural disasters.
The two meter tall robot was created as a test bed for a US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency challenge.
The Darpa challenge demands Atlas completes eight tasks that it might have to perform in an emergency.
Six teams have until December 2013 to develop software that will help Atlas complete the tasks.
Atlas has been developed by the Boston Dynamics robotics firm which has been working on robots that can aid the military.
Like a human, Atlas has two arms and legs and gets around by walking. It sees using a stereo laser scanning system and has gripping hands developed by two separate robotics companies. Unlike humans, it has a high speed networking system built-in so it can communicate with its creators and pipe data back from disaster areas.
Before now, the teams taking part in the robotic challenge have only worked with virtual versions of Atlas. In the next stage of the competition, algorithms and control programs for the virtual Atlas will be transferred to the real thing.
The teams will then have five months to refine Atlas's abilities before taking part in a series of trials. During those, a tethered version of Atlas will be expected to complete tasks which include driving a car, removing debris blocking doors. climbing a ladder, finding and closing a valve and connecting a fire hose.
The best performing teams in the December 2013 trials will win funding to continue refining Atlas so it can perform all eight tasks autonomously during the challenge finals in late 2014.
"We have dramatically raised the expectations for robotic capabilities with this challenge," said Gill Pratt, programme manager for the challenge in a statement.
Darpa kicked off the competition in a bid to help drive breakthroughs in robotics. Current autonomous machines tended to be highly specialised and limited in their ability to cope with the real world.
The teams taking part include researchers from Carnegie Mellon, Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Virginia Tech and hi-tech firm Schaft. |
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| Mythopoeika Boring petty conservative
Joined: 18 Sep 2001 Total posts: 9109 Location: Not far from Bedford Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 13-07-2013 08:49 Post subject: |
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I see Auntie Beeb is now using American spelling. 'Two meter tall' indeed.
Makes me think - would they be gas meters, or electricity meters?  |
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| trevp66 Great Old One Joined: 29 May 2009 Total posts: 251 Location: Hertfordshire Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-07-2013 09:46 Post subject: |
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| I've only ever really considered 'american english' as being unable to spell correctly. |
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| trevp66 Great Old One Joined: 29 May 2009 Total posts: 251 Location: Hertfordshire Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-07-2013 09:50 Post subject: |
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| and while we're on the subject, since when (and why/how) did the americans start calling aluminium 'a-loo-min-um'??? |
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rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-07-2013 12:54 Post subject: |
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| Mythopoeika wrote: | I see Auntie Beeb is now using American spelling. 'Two meter tall' indeed.
Makes me think - would they be gas meters, or electricity meters? |
Missed that! Now I'm doubly annoyed. |
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