Rather than creating a sexbot that can simulate real sex to the best of its robotic abilities, True Companion's aim is to provide its namesake: a true companion. It aims to make a girl or boyfriend instead of a mute doll that you hide during dinner parties.True Companion makes Roxxxy more than just a lifeless doll by including various motors and responses in the model. She is able to move her private inputs — as the company calls them — when they are being utilized, thanks to dedicated sensors. The bot is also able to mimic an orgasm, so you aren't the only one having them.
She is able to listen and carry on a conversation with the help of some light artificial intelligence installed on a computer embedded in the sexbot. On top of all that, the sexbot comes with pre-programmed personalities, such as shy, outgoing, experienced, or new to the whole thing and in need of some guidance. The bot also cycles through moods, such as tired or horny, so sometimes it just won't be in the mood, or sometimes you won't be.You can customize you sexbot's personality, and creepiest of all, you can trade them online with friends if you're proud of your amalgamation of a shy, inexperienced, horny sexbot.
True Companion's product page likens this to wife swapping, but without any of the drama.Though more sophisticated than a doll that just slumps over on the couch, True Companion's tech is more or less responsive to stimuli or running on a pre-programmed loop, rather than acting on its own. There is tech out there that, combined with Roxxxy, could create a much more believable companion. A new type of e-skin is responsive to touch, and if combined with Roxxxy, could create a more dynamic response to human advances.
2013年8月26日星期一
Will we ever want to have sex with robots?
In 2007, the British chess player and artificial intelligence expert David Levy said in his book, Love and Sex with Robots, we would be having sex with robots in five years - and be capable of falling in love with them within 40 years.His argument is based on improvements in robotic engineering and computer programming - and extrapolating from the income generated by the porn industry each year.Female robot from Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis Magnificent but malevolent - Maria the robot from Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic Metropolis
Such robots would be a "Brisbane hosts robot display" for mankind, he argued.As for Roxxxy, she weighs in at 60lb is 5ft 7in high and comes with a variety of hair colours, moveable limbs and 'lifelike' skin.She is the brainchild of electrical engineer and computer scientist Douglas Hines, the founder of TC Systems and True Companion, who formerly worked in the artificial intelligence lab at AT&T Bell Laboratories.He says the sex robot developed from his firm's line of healthcare robots, which were designed to look after elderly or infirm patients."Our skill-set is based on commercial and military robotics and what we did is we looked for an opportunity in the marketplace to apply that technology.
"One very obvious market is healthcare - but there's a less-known which is gaining more and more momentum which is the sex industry."'Exciting time'Mr Hines says his aim in developing his robot's artificial intelligence engine, was to go beyond a simple sex aid and to provide companionship."The life experience with a partner goes beyond that - and that's really what we've gone for."However, no matter how well-programmed a robot may be, it is still a machine, and he agrees a plastic and metal humanoid is not capable of replacing the real thing - yet.
Such robots would be a "Brisbane hosts robot display" for mankind, he argued.As for Roxxxy, she weighs in at 60lb is 5ft 7in high and comes with a variety of hair colours, moveable limbs and 'lifelike' skin.She is the brainchild of electrical engineer and computer scientist Douglas Hines, the founder of TC Systems and True Companion, who formerly worked in the artificial intelligence lab at AT&T Bell Laboratories.He says the sex robot developed from his firm's line of healthcare robots, which were designed to look after elderly or infirm patients."Our skill-set is based on commercial and military robotics and what we did is we looked for an opportunity in the marketplace to apply that technology.
"One very obvious market is healthcare - but there's a less-known which is gaining more and more momentum which is the sex industry."'Exciting time'Mr Hines says his aim in developing his robot's artificial intelligence engine, was to go beyond a simple sex aid and to provide companionship."The life experience with a partner goes beyond that - and that's really what we've gone for."However, no matter how well-programmed a robot may be, it is still a machine, and he agrees a plastic and metal humanoid is not capable of replacing the real thing - yet.
2013年8月21日星期三
Brisbane hosts robot display
Of course, when the US market does open, it will be the biggest in the world. The FAA predicts that within five years, there will be over 7,500 drones in operation in the US, taking on tasks like inspecting and dusting crops, checking high-tension power lines and pipelines, providing morning traffic reports and checking for building code violations. Maybe they'll even deliver pizza.A robotic clone hosts a lecture at a Brisbane university for his master, who is more than 7000km away in Japan.
A band plays while flying robots light up the sky around them.This isn't the future. It's Robotronica - a futuristic event held at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane on Sunday.QUT creative director Jonathan Parsons says the event doesn't just showcase future possibilities, but highlights how advanced robotics presently is."We tend to use the term robots when it's something a bit alien or strange, but in the '50s dishwashers were robots, but we don't refer to them as that anymore," he told AAP."Now their'pletely part of the fabric of our society and one day, all these things will be too."
Swarm Farm Robotics Director Andrew Bate says his project is the future of agriculture.One his farm near Emerald in central Queensland, Mr Bates is developing small tractors that will operate unmanned with others in a swarm, to replace the bulky, expensive models currently used."We keep getting bigger and bigger, but now the focus is on being smaller and more efficient," Mr Bate said."It's better for the soil and it's far more cost effective."The star of the show was Geminoid, a robotic "clone" of his creator, Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro.Geminoid, who blinks and has other subconscious human traits, had his crowd entranced when he re-presented a lecture his creator did at QUT just days before.
A band plays while flying robots light up the sky around them.This isn't the future. It's Robotronica - a futuristic event held at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane on Sunday.QUT creative director Jonathan Parsons says the event doesn't just showcase future possibilities, but highlights how advanced robotics presently is."We tend to use the term robots when it's something a bit alien or strange, but in the '50s dishwashers were robots, but we don't refer to them as that anymore," he told AAP."Now their'pletely part of the fabric of our society and one day, all these things will be too."
Swarm Farm Robotics Director Andrew Bate says his project is the future of agriculture.One his farm near Emerald in central Queensland, Mr Bates is developing small tractors that will operate unmanned with others in a swarm, to replace the bulky, expensive models currently used."We keep getting bigger and bigger, but now the focus is on being smaller and more efficient," Mr Bate said."It's better for the soil and it's far more cost effective."The star of the show was Geminoid, a robotic "clone" of his creator, Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro.Geminoid, who blinks and has other subconscious human traits, had his crowd entranced when he re-presented a lecture his creator did at QUT just days before.
2013年8月20日星期二
A day at the don't-call-it-a-drone show
Among the thousands of'panies hawking their wares at the event, there were representatives from some 25 teams of state and local authorities, each vying to make its region one of the coveted designated test locations that will be announced by the FAA in December. Some, like Oklahoma, had their own booths set up to draw support from unmanned system manufacturers.And about the "d" word—the members of the AUVSI want us all to drop the word "drone." In the press room, the password for the Wi-Fi network was "It'snotadrone."
Swimming Robot Tested for Billion-Mile Trip to Saturn Moon, thanks to news reports of the US' drone war against terrorists. And indeed, the unmanned aircraft and other vehicles at Unmanned Systems were largely of the kinder, gentler variety, though the biggest booths still belonged to'panies selling to the US military and other customers who wear camouflage.While there were some US-based'panies showing off their unmanned wares, such as startup Titan Aerospace, the conference was evidence of how much more mature overseas drone markets there, I used that word again really are.
Because of current FAA regulations, even small drones in the range of model aircraft can't be flown'mercially; so far, the FAA has issued a limited number of "Certificates of Airworthiness" to non-federal government agencies, other public institutions, and universities.The only'mercial market in the US for drones is the movie industry, which buys helicopter drones for low-cost aerial shots. "You sell one, and then you're done," a representative of one civil drone manufacturer told me.Meanwhile, other countries, particularly in Europe, are allowing for relatively rapid adoption of small unmanned aerial vehicles for'mercial purposes. In some countries, drones have been in operation for over eight years.
Swimming Robot Tested for Billion-Mile Trip to Saturn Moon, thanks to news reports of the US' drone war against terrorists. And indeed, the unmanned aircraft and other vehicles at Unmanned Systems were largely of the kinder, gentler variety, though the biggest booths still belonged to'panies selling to the US military and other customers who wear camouflage.While there were some US-based'panies showing off their unmanned wares, such as startup Titan Aerospace, the conference was evidence of how much more mature overseas drone markets there, I used that word again really are.
Because of current FAA regulations, even small drones in the range of model aircraft can't be flown'mercially; so far, the FAA has issued a limited number of "Certificates of Airworthiness" to non-federal government agencies, other public institutions, and universities.The only'mercial market in the US for drones is the movie industry, which buys helicopter drones for low-cost aerial shots. "You sell one, and then you're done," a representative of one civil drone manufacturer told me.Meanwhile, other countries, particularly in Europe, are allowing for relatively rapid adoption of small unmanned aerial vehicles for'mercial purposes. In some countries, drones have been in operation for over eight years.
2013年8月15日星期四
Swimming Robot Tested for Billion-Mile Trip to Saturn Moon
The robot works pretty well — as long as the boxes are pretty much rectangular and aren't moving, says Stanford University'puter science professor Gary Bradski, co-founder of Industrial Perception, the start-up that invented the robot. But it isn't quite ready to replace human workers in the mailroom or on the factory floor."It's easy to get 80 or 90 percent of the way there," he said. " But it's getting the speed and reliability to make it economic. You can't fail very often; otherwise, you're not saving any labor."Getting robots to smell is one of the bigger challenges. A recent project out of the University of Tokyo takes a step in that direction. Scientists there recently unveiled a tiny robot that is driven by a male silkworm moth responding to a female moth's seductive pheromone aroma.
The researchers built a motorized wheeled car that moves when a moth, spurred by the smell, launches into a mating dance of repeated zigzags on top of a trackball, similar to the ones used inside a'puter mouse. As the moth does its dance, sensors transmit its motions to the robot's motors, allowing it to follow the path chosen by the male.It's not filled with liquid methane, nor is it -297 degrees Fahrenheit, but otherwise Laguna Negra does a passable impression of an alien sea. That's because it's surrounded by a barren environment with a thin atmosphere and is vulnerable to storms, avalanches, and possibly volcanoes.Due to global warming, the glacial lake is also rapidly changing, ideal circumstances for a robot being taught to recognize shifts in a fluid environment.
Titan has the distinction of being the only other body in our solar system known to have stable liquid on its surface. That liquid is mostly made of the gases methane and ethane, but the fact that the moon has seas, lakes, rain, and glaciers make it closer to Earth than anything else in our solar system. Related: "Saturn Moon Has Tropical 'Great Salt Lake,' Methane Marshes."The lander's science team, led by SETI astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol, first launched the Planetary Lake Lander in Laguna Negra in 2011. The prototype robot has spent the last two years exploring its surroundings, determining the lake's size and depth, measuring its pH, and observing all meteorological phenomena.
The researchers built a motorized wheeled car that moves when a moth, spurred by the smell, launches into a mating dance of repeated zigzags on top of a trackball, similar to the ones used inside a'puter mouse. As the moth does its dance, sensors transmit its motions to the robot's motors, allowing it to follow the path chosen by the male.It's not filled with liquid methane, nor is it -297 degrees Fahrenheit, but otherwise Laguna Negra does a passable impression of an alien sea. That's because it's surrounded by a barren environment with a thin atmosphere and is vulnerable to storms, avalanches, and possibly volcanoes.Due to global warming, the glacial lake is also rapidly changing, ideal circumstances for a robot being taught to recognize shifts in a fluid environment.
Titan has the distinction of being the only other body in our solar system known to have stable liquid on its surface. That liquid is mostly made of the gases methane and ethane, but the fact that the moon has seas, lakes, rain, and glaciers make it closer to Earth than anything else in our solar system. Related: "Saturn Moon Has Tropical 'Great Salt Lake,' Methane Marshes."The lander's science team, led by SETI astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol, first launched the Planetary Lake Lander in Laguna Negra in 2011. The prototype robot has spent the last two years exploring its surroundings, determining the lake's size and depth, measuring its pH, and observing all meteorological phenomena.
2013年8月13日星期二
Grabs In 2014 NASA, WPI Robot Challenge
NASA and the WPI will be looking for robots that can autonomously navigate varying terrain in search of geologic samples. These bits of mineral, soil, rock and more are then collected and returned to be tested. The 2014 Sample Return Robot challenge is held as an extension of NASA's Centennial Challenges program. NASA is responsible for raising the reward money for the'petition with some help from nonprofit organizations and'mercial and private partnerships."The objective of the'petition is to encourage innovations in automatic navigation and robotic manipulator technologies that NASA could incorporate into future missions," explained Michael Gazarik, Speaking robot has sent to the space from Japan.
"Innovations stemming from this challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore an asteroid or Mars, and advance robotic technology for use in industries and applications here on Earth."In June NASA awarded a $5,000 prize purse to Team Survey of Los Angeles when they successfully'pleted the Level 1 portion of the 2013 Sample Return Robot contest. Sam Ortega, the program manager for Centennial Challenges, said at the time that the teams have been improving their robots with each level in the contest."It is evident from the level of improvements the teams have shown from last year's event to this week's Level 1 win that the technology has significantly progressed, and the desired results of this challenge are within reach," Ortega said when the prize money was doled out in June.
Teams are expected to continue improving on their designs as technology improves and teams continue to push their designs to their limits. Registration for the 2014 Sample Return Robot challenge is open now through January 7, 2014."We're honored and excited to once again host the Sample Return Robot Challenge," said Philip B. Ryan, WPI's interim president in a statement."This year, 10,000 people turned out to watch the'petition and to enjoy WPI's fantastic 'Touch Tomorrow Festival' of science, technology and robots. It's a pleasure to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in the wonders of this'petition, this festival and this emerging field."
"Innovations stemming from this challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore an asteroid or Mars, and advance robotic technology for use in industries and applications here on Earth."In June NASA awarded a $5,000 prize purse to Team Survey of Los Angeles when they successfully'pleted the Level 1 portion of the 2013 Sample Return Robot contest. Sam Ortega, the program manager for Centennial Challenges, said at the time that the teams have been improving their robots with each level in the contest."It is evident from the level of improvements the teams have shown from last year's event to this week's Level 1 win that the technology has significantly progressed, and the desired results of this challenge are within reach," Ortega said when the prize money was doled out in June.
Teams are expected to continue improving on their designs as technology improves and teams continue to push their designs to their limits. Registration for the 2014 Sample Return Robot challenge is open now through January 7, 2014."We're honored and excited to once again host the Sample Return Robot Challenge," said Philip B. Ryan, WPI's interim president in a statement."This year, 10,000 people turned out to watch the'petition and to enjoy WPI's fantastic 'Touch Tomorrow Festival' of science, technology and robots. It's a pleasure to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in the wonders of this'petition, this festival and this emerging field."
2013年8月7日星期三
Speaking robot has sent to the space from Japan
He is only 34 centimetres tall and weighs just one kilo, but he's going to be launched into space. Kirobo, a knee-high talking robot, rocketed off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on Sunday in an unmanned cargo vessel headed to the International Space Station.The black-and-white bodied robot in red boots was developed by the University of Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp and Dentsu Inc and will stay in space until late 2014. He'll be there to help the work of Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Kirobo's name'es from the word "kibo" and "robot".He speaks only Japanese and is equipped with voice- and facial-recognition technology.
His job will largely consist of talking with Wakata, who will be his partner during the first robot-human chats in space until his take off for the space station with six other crew members in November.On Sunday a rocket launched from Japan bound for the ISS with about five tons of supplies for the astronauts aboard the space station. Also on board for Japan's future astronaut Koichi Wakata was a 13-inch-high robot, said to be the first talking robot in space.The small humanoid machine, called Kirobo, was specifically designed to be a digital'panion for Wakata. Kirobo was designed with the help of Toyota and will'municate with another robot back on Earth.
It's capable of more or less natural speaking interactions, and can choose its responses to conversational gambits from among the words it has learned.Kiribo builds on a Japanese trend of using cute robots as'panions. Experiments with the robotic seal toy Paro after the earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster in early 2012 showed great success in helping lift the spirits of survivors.Kirobo will join the much larger and future-facing Robonaut 2 humanoid robot aboard the ISS. Robonaut is an experimental tool that may be able to replace astronauts in some dangerous space-walking tasks.
His job will largely consist of talking with Wakata, who will be his partner during the first robot-human chats in space until his take off for the space station with six other crew members in November.On Sunday a rocket launched from Japan bound for the ISS with about five tons of supplies for the astronauts aboard the space station. Also on board for Japan's future astronaut Koichi Wakata was a 13-inch-high robot, said to be the first talking robot in space.The small humanoid machine, called Kirobo, was specifically designed to be a digital'panion for Wakata. Kirobo was designed with the help of Toyota and will'municate with another robot back on Earth.
It's capable of more or less natural speaking interactions, and can choose its responses to conversational gambits from among the words it has learned.Kiribo builds on a Japanese trend of using cute robots as'panions. Experiments with the robotic seal toy Paro after the earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster in early 2012 showed great success in helping lift the spirits of survivors.Kirobo will join the much larger and future-facing Robonaut 2 humanoid robot aboard the ISS. Robonaut is an experimental tool that may be able to replace astronauts in some dangerous space-walking tasks.
2013年8月6日星期二
Kirobo the talking robot blasts into space on historic mission
Kirobo, a knee-high talking robot with red boots and a black and white body, has blasted off from Japan for the International Space Station to test how machines can help astronauts with their work.The Japanese-speaking robot, equipped with voice- and facial-recognition technology, was packed into an unmanned cargo vessel along with tons of supplies and equipment for the crew of the orbital research base.The cargo vessel, launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan on Sunday, will arrive at the outpost on Friday, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's website.
Six-legged robot loses a leg, thinks about it, trundles on regardless, Kirobo said it "hoped to create a future where humans and robots live together and get along".As it carries on the first robot-human chats in space, Kirobo's main conversation partner will be Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who is expected to take off for the space station with six other crew members in November.Wakata is due to take'mand of the'plex, a $100 billion project by 15 nations, next March. Kirobo - jointly developed by the University of Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp and Dentsu Inc - will stay in space until late 2014.No need to feel alone in the vastness of space anymore -- thanks to the world's first talking robot astronaut.
Kirobo, the 2.2 pound creation of Tokyo University's Tomotaka Takahashi , has taken off in an unmanned rocket also carrying supplies for crew onboard the International Space Station. He will a'pany astronaut Kochi Wakata the future'mander of the International Space Station once he makes it to his destination.What for? To keep him'pany, of course. Kirobo is part of a study to see how machines can lend emotional support to humans that have to be isolated in space for extensive periods of time. He will relay messages from the control room to Mr. Wakata, record all their conversations, and is even capable of remembering Mr. Wakata's face once they meet again up among the stars.
Six-legged robot loses a leg, thinks about it, trundles on regardless, Kirobo said it "hoped to create a future where humans and robots live together and get along".As it carries on the first robot-human chats in space, Kirobo's main conversation partner will be Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who is expected to take off for the space station with six other crew members in November.Wakata is due to take'mand of the'plex, a $100 billion project by 15 nations, next March. Kirobo - jointly developed by the University of Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp and Dentsu Inc - will stay in space until late 2014.No need to feel alone in the vastness of space anymore -- thanks to the world's first talking robot astronaut.
Kirobo, the 2.2 pound creation of Tokyo University's Tomotaka Takahashi , has taken off in an unmanned rocket also carrying supplies for crew onboard the International Space Station. He will a'pany astronaut Kochi Wakata the future'mander of the International Space Station once he makes it to his destination.What for? To keep him'pany, of course. Kirobo is part of a study to see how machines can lend emotional support to humans that have to be isolated in space for extensive periods of time. He will relay messages from the control room to Mr. Wakata, record all their conversations, and is even capable of remembering Mr. Wakata's face once they meet again up among the stars.
2013年8月1日星期四
Six-legged robot loses a leg, thinks about it, trundles on regardless
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has created the world's first stainless-steel robot, a robotic arm actually, with seven degrees of freedom. This new robot has unprecedented levels of movement, due to those seven degrees, for a robot made of this material. The seven degrees translate into seven joints which give it precision and agility to get its work done. The robot will be used to automate experiments that use dangerous chemicals in the drug discovery and pharmaceutical fields.Creating the robot with a stainless steel body allows it to work in a sterile environments and withstand sterilization with hydrogen peroxide gas. Kawasaki plans to introduce the robotic arm to market in January 2014.
What good is a robot if, when left to its own devices, it breaks down at the first sign of trouble? What if that robot has been sent off to some inhospitable place where rescue is impossible, much less repair. Robots on the cutting edge are expensive things, so the ability to self-repair could be extremely valuable. But if it can't self-repair, the ability to simply make do would be rather useful too. That's the thinking behind this hexapod robot which can work out how best to adjust its gait in the unfortunate event that it loses a leg.Developed by roboticists at the Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University, the hexapod uses what the team calls a T-resilience the T standing for Transferability-based algorithm.
With six legs, the hexapod tootles along quite happily at 26 cm/s. But cut one of its front legs in half and, attempting to walk with the same gait, it manages only 8 cm/s. But after running 20 minutes' worth of simulations and tests, the robot has worked out a new way of walking, and is able to cover 18 cm/s, more than twice its initial post-damage speed.Essential to this approach is that the robot is fore-armed with what the researchers refer to as a self-model, which is basically an understanding of its ideal undamaged anatomy. Previous thinking on the issue had it that it's necessary for the robot to analyze its new gait to diagnose the damage and 'pensate accordingly.
What good is a robot if, when left to its own devices, it breaks down at the first sign of trouble? What if that robot has been sent off to some inhospitable place where rescue is impossible, much less repair. Robots on the cutting edge are expensive things, so the ability to self-repair could be extremely valuable. But if it can't self-repair, the ability to simply make do would be rather useful too. That's the thinking behind this hexapod robot which can work out how best to adjust its gait in the unfortunate event that it loses a leg.Developed by roboticists at the Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University, the hexapod uses what the team calls a T-resilience the T standing for Transferability-based algorithm.
With six legs, the hexapod tootles along quite happily at 26 cm/s. But cut one of its front legs in half and, attempting to walk with the same gait, it manages only 8 cm/s. But after running 20 minutes' worth of simulations and tests, the robot has worked out a new way of walking, and is able to cover 18 cm/s, more than twice its initial post-damage speed.Essential to this approach is that the robot is fore-armed with what the researchers refer to as a self-model, which is basically an understanding of its ideal undamaged anatomy. Previous thinking on the issue had it that it's necessary for the robot to analyze its new gait to diagnose the damage and 'pensate accordingly.
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