U.S. Army Prepares Armed 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq

"The Army is preparing to send 18 of these remote-controlled robotic warriors to fight in Iraq beginning in March or April.

Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Corp."

From technologyreview.com post:

'Living' robots powered by muscle

From BBC NEWS:

"Tiny robots powered by living muscle have been created by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The devices were formed by 'growing' rat cells on microscopic silicon chips, the researchers report in the journal Nature Materials.

Less than a millimetre long, the miniscule robots can move themselves without any external source of power.

The work is a dramatic example of the marriage of biotechnology with the tiny world of nanotechnology. "

Giant robot helps prevent landslides

From EurekAlert:

"Fighting landslides is dangerous work, but help from space is on its way. Recent testing in Italy has shown that the four-tonne Roboclimber can secure slopes without endangering human lives, thanks to innovations from Europe's space programmes. "

The Future of Robots and Rights

From BusinessPundit:

"This article from Wired is interesting because it highlights some of the issues we are going to face in the future with artificial intelligence. For instance, are most of you aware that some software programs have already out-designed humans?

Evolutionary software has already designed simple circuits, as well as physical mechanisms like the ratchet and cantilever. As these automatic design systems improve and progress from simple geometric forms to novel integrated systems, intellectual property laws must change. If a robot invents, does the patent go to its owner or the patent holder of its artificial intelligence?

I am firm believer that someday Americans will go to the polls to vote about whether or not robots have rights. I believe that consciousness is a function of system complexity, and once we can build systems that are complex enough, they will become conscious. We don't like to think about that because it jars humans out of our sacred place as special creatures here on Earth, but the day is coming when it will happen. Business schools struggle now to teach ethics and make it relevant. I hate to think of the ethical dilemmas that the next generation will have to face when the average person is finally faced with the fact that humans aren't so special. I hope our educational systems can keep up."

Smartest Robot Unveiled

smart robot
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

"South Korean scientists said they had developed the world's smartest robot able to think and learn like a human.

Unveiling their creation, they said the robot that looks like a small teenager wearing a blue and grey space suit was the first wireless network-based human-like robot.

It can become wiser through learning because unlike other robots, the device is linked with an outside computer through a high-speed wireless telecom network, and is able to exchange information with the server and respond quickly to real-life environments."

From Yahoo! News

Invasion of the robots

"The robots are coming. And when they get here, they will take out the trash.

Mobile, intelligent robots that can perform tasks usually reserved for humans are starting to creep into mainstream society and could become a multibillion-dollar market in a few years.

iRobot says it has sold hundreds of thousands of units of the Roomba, a self-guided, self-propelled vacuum cleaner that sells for around $200, in just one year.

Other inventors are eyeing the health care market. Joe Engelberger, widely known as the father of robotics, is trying to get funding to build robots that will dress, cook for and generally take care of senior citizens. Home health care robots are being tested in Japan, while U.S. hospitals are already using machines to deliver charts, carry medicines or even assist in surgery. "

From CNET News.com