Archived Threads

[roschler]

Hello all,

I hope everyone doesn't mind this off-topic post. I recently uploaded a video I made with the help of a free piece of software called Robodance, and my Roboquad robot. In this video, I turn my Roboquad spider robot into a voice controlled remote spy, that I can control from anywhere in the world there is an Internet connection, thanks to Skype's video call service. Since I wrote Robodance I'm very proud of this video so I hope you don't mind me sharing. I do intend to use this system to check up on my Pleo when he's at home:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eK_qg6a29qM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eK_qg6a29qM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

You can read about how I put everything together here on the <a href="http://www.robodance.com/skype-robot-demo.php">Skype Robot</a> demonstration page.

[pleoguy101]

roshler thats really cool!!! i'm gonna sign up to be in the the mailing list right now:)

[amjoie]

Well, you've done it, roschler. You've got *all* robots (including Pleo) banned from government offices (if they weren't already, that is). LOL

Expect a call from a semi-official/semi-hidden government department, with letters for a name, any time now ....

[pleoguy101]

hey roshler, what robot do you recomend for me to use for robodance, robosapian v1 or robopet??

[roschler]

Hello all,

I can't wait until I can post Pleo videos but that's kind of hard at the moment. :confused:

Here's a video where I took my Robosapien RS Media robot and turned him into Elmo, complete with furry red Elmo suit!

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_A2Fs1hwYQo"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_A2Fs1hwYQo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

I hope it makes you smile! :)

Here's the detail page for Elmosapien (http://www.robotsrule.com/html/elmosapien.php).

http://www.robotsrule.com/assets/images/elmosapien-2w-sml.JPG (http://www.robotsrule.com/html/elmosapien.php)

[cmadmacs]

I have an rs media. That is a coooool idea!

[amjoie]

I'm imagining Elmo with a long green tail. LOL

Thank you for the fun! :)

[pleoguy101]

ROTFLOL:D:D HOW ON EARTH DID YOU DO THAT:D??? you have such a way with robots:)

[BauerMECH]

Ha! Hey robert, just saw the article on Robots Dreams (http://www.robots-dreams.com). As always, slick hack!

[pleoguy101]

I love pleo t-shirts and mugs!!! AWSOME :D click on that picture in the top left that says, robot books,toys etc

[mweed]

Yeah, but does it giggle and laugh when you squeeze its tummy?

[roschler]

Hey all,

Something else to tide you over until Pleo gets here. Here's a funny video I made with my new i-SOBOT robot. He's only 6.5 inches tall!

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UI8nEFTIn0Y"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UI8nEFTIn0Y" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

:)

[KayCureCF]

http://paro.jp/english/index.html

http://www.kilian-nakamura.com/catalog/paro-robotic-healing-seal-p-144.html

looks cute but I still like PLEO much better. It also has a almost $5,000 price tag.:eek:

[mweed]

Very cute. I wonder if Ugobe could come up with a $500 version to use in hospitals and nursing homes?

[pleoguy101]

LOL funny, how is that little i sobot anyway, Is he somthing you reccomend buying? also, you thimk you can use him in robodance:)?

[Pleocol]

I like it! I think ugobe is moving in that directions as well! That robot has temperture sensor witth is cool. Let;s say your robot detects extreme heat that can burn him, so he move away from it.

[mweed]

If you read their discussion on why they picked a baby seal, it implies that creatures like Pleo are iffy, because they appeal to some people, but don't hold an interest to others.

[Pleofan89]

Seen this before... don't think its worth nearly that much... it looks so plain... I don't really care what technology is in it... its just too 'cheap looking'... Pleo is better....and I stress the is part :D

[Pleofan89]

Woah I-sobot came out already? I haven't been keeping an eye on it lately... this makes me more impatient about Pleo...lol..

[Pleosaurus]

Robopet is having a seizure ROLF.

[pleoman]

Hello all,

I can't wait until I can post Pleo videos but that's kind of hard at the moment. :confused:

Here's a video where I took my Robosapien RS Media robot and turned him into Elmo, complete with furry red Elmo suit!

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_A2Fs1hwYQo"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_A2Fs1hwYQo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

I hope it makes you smile! :)

Here's the detail page for Elmosapien (http://www.robotsrule.com/html/elmosapien.php).

http://www.robotsrule.com/assets/images/elmosapien-2w-sml.JPG (http://www.robotsrule.com/html/elmosapien.php)

That is so cool nice work roschler!

[brian55127]

Hi here's a thread to list all your favorite robots of the past!
Growing up the 80's, the ones I remember the most (if you can call them all robots) were:
1. Verbot
2. Teddy Ruxpin
3. those plastic dancing flowers that swayed to music

In the late 90's of course there was also the tickle me elmo and furbies craze...

[dotyj]

What about the Heathkit Hero? I wanted one of those so bad.

[BauerMECH]

80's? I'm right there w/ you. Do you remember...
The Omibot2000 from Tomy, or Armatron 2364 from RadioShack? Wonderful toys! :)

Some of my other favorite robots include...
Maria from Metropolis (old movie)
R2D2 and C3PO from StarWars (movie)
TWKE-4 "Twiki" from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (tv show)
Gort from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (movie)
Robby and the B-9 from Forbidden Planet, Lost in Space, etc. (tv shows and movies)
Maximillion from the Black Hole (b movie)
Dynamizer, Senpuu Maru, Retro, King Kizer, OmiZero, Zog, Oro, Arius, Rook's Pawn III (all ROBO-ONE humanoids)
:D
...sadly, I'm sure I'll remember pleny more after I post :rolleyes:

[Lu Bu]

lol I saw the vid, simply almost made me wet my pants!

[radioastronomer]

80's? I'm right there w/ you. Do you remember...
The Omibot2000 from Tomy, or Armatron 2364 from RadioShack? Wonderful toys! :)

Some of my other favorite robots include...
Maria from Metropolis (old movie)
R2D2 and C3PO from StarWars (movie)
TWKE-4 "Twiki" from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (tv show)
Gort from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (movie)
Robby and the B-9 from Forbidden Planet, Lost in Space, etc. (tv shows and movies)
Maximillion from the Black Hole (b movie)
Dynamizer, Senpuu Maru, Retro, King Kizer, OmiZero, Zog, Oro, Arius, Rook's Pawn III (all ROBO-ONE humanoids)
:D
...sadly, I'm sure I'll remember pleny more after I post :rolleyes:


Huey, Dewey, and Louie from "Silent Running.

Ash from "Alien"

[Lu Bu]

I was wondering if Roboreptile has voice recognition. I know he doesn't have voice recognition when he is just right out of the box. I have seen roschler's RoboDance, and this probably means that Roboreptile DOES have voice recognition.

[roschler]

Lu Bu,

No it doesn't. In that video I'm running my free software program Robodance on a Windows PC. It does the speech recognition and then transmits infrared signals to the Roboreptile (or any other WowWee robot or the i-SOBOT too). My latest version just added Nintendo Wii Controller support and for the i-SOBOT, gesture recognition):

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nwBstqA6--o&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nwBstqA6--o&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[To the Ugobean admins: I'm worried that this post is too off-topic since it's not about Pleo. If so, just delete it and I'll understand. My apologies in advance if so. ]

[Lu Bu]

Oh I get it now!! So you speak into your computer's microphone, then the speech/command is sent to Roboreptile through infrared signals, then Roboreptile does the command you told him too???

[roschler]

Oh I get it now!! So you speak into your computer's microphone, then the speech/command is sent to Roboreptile through infrared signals, then Roboreptile does the command you told him too???

Yes. Same for the WiiMote interface. The PC interprets and then acts as an intelligent remote using an infrared transmitter to send the signal.

[kchamster]

that's cool.....but i dont have a wii or a roboreptile ... ;)

[roschler]

that's cool.....but i dont have a wii or a roboreptile ... ;)

Just wait. As soon as the Pleo's Developer's Kit is released to the public, I've got plenty of things planned. :D

[Lu Bu]

LOL. You can use Pleo as a spy, though despite his walking speed, he'd do poorly on spying.

[kchamster]

Just wait. As soon as the Pleo's Developer's Kit is released to the public, I've got plenty of things planned. :D

:D:D lol cant wait

[radioastronomer]

Pt.1 (Text was too long for a single post)

Shermy; get the way back machine!

Back in the 1960’s I watched a show called “Star Trek”. One of the basic themes that ran thru many of those shows was the impact of computers on both the starship and the worlds it visited. From that moment on, I became fascinated with computers and machine intelligence. Moore’s law had yet to be defined and the microprocessor had not yet been invented. Heck, not too long earlier, in 1947, the very first transistor was invented and shortly thereafter, April 25, 1961, the first patent was granted for the integrated circuit. And as they like to say: “the rest is history”.

Anyhow, when Star Trek was being aired for the first time, RTL, DTL, and TTL were still king of the hill. Many of the computers of that time were large mainframes, which used electromechanical interfaces such as teletypes. There were articles about learning machines in publications such as Scientific American and the like; however, they only gave the first glimmers of the possibilities of where computer technology would lead us. Apollo and Gemini was the king of the hill for NASA and the future looked promising (at least to some of us). CMOS has long since replaced much of these early silicon designs.

What is CMOS I hear you cry?

"CMOS ("see-moss"), which stands for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, is a major class of integrated circuits. CMOS chips include microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits. The central characteristic of the technology is that it only uses significant power when its transistors are switching between on and off states. Consequently, CMOS devices use little power and do not produce as much heat as other forms of logic. CMOS also allows a high density of logic functions on a chip."

"The phrase "metal-oxide-semiconductor" is a reference to the nature of the fabrication process originally used to build CMOS chips. That process created field effect transistors having a metal gate electrode placed on top of an oxide insulator, which in turn is on top of a semiconductor material. Instead of metal, today the gate electrodes are almost always made from a different material, polysilicon, but the name CMOS nevertheless continues to be used for the modern descendants of the original process.”

Let me digress a bit further into the culture of those times. Overpopulation was a great worry, the Vietnam War caused a huge backlash by the counter culture types, and racial clashes were commonplace. I still remember walking into bookstores and seeing the posters of the time showing a ruined society with waves of people everywhere. Bike gangs, drugs and hippies were all the rage. During this tumultuous time progress continued on these tiny circuits which would later evolve into the microprocessor. The record player/radio, television, and the telephone, were about all that the average house contained and certainly did not reflect the great technological leaps that were happening at the time. Banking was the closest that folks got to real world computing and the news often had horror stories about computer banking errors. This certainly did not instill trust by the general public into this budding technology. I often heard “what good are they” or “new fangled” during that time frame. Oh most folks knew NASA needed computers, however, they were more of a bother instead of a boon to the general masses.

This mindset cumulated towards the end of the 60’s and into the first part of the 70’s. Many books were written about the “information age”, e.g., “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler. The supposition was that technology was going to “explode” at such a pace that the average person would be lost in this sea of technology and end up rejecting and/or being buried by the same. I personally did not adhere to that mindset and I so wanted my own computer. Unfortunately, computers were still the realm of either science fiction or large companies. The average individual just did not own their very own computer. I would talk to my dad and others and would receive this reply more often than not; “what would you do with it?”

To this day I remember my neighbor taking me to a Control Data Corporation magnetic core memory plant. What a treat! I stood in awe looking at all of the machines, terminals, teletypes, and computers in this huge building. I was in heaven. This was the place where the memory arrays were built for those huge mainframes. I was allowed into the room with the sea of workstations where women strung these tiny ferrite beads on strands of wire under magnifying glasses. If you have never seen a core memory plane in real life, you are missing out on a real work of art. Each core plane was strung with gold, red and green wires not much bigger than sewing thread. The cores themselves were so tiny; you could barely see the hole in the center of each. All these colored wires caused the core plane to glitter with tiny rainbows of light under the fluorescent lighting. I was in awe. I did make one BIG faux pas. I brushed a fingertip over the top plane of one of the core stacks to feel it not realizing I was causing almost two days work worth of damage to repair. I still feel bad about that to this day.

However, there is another revolution going on that many have even yet not extrapolated to its logical conclusion. A scientist by the name of Dr. Gordon Moore made a postulation (in a paper to the April 19th 1965 edition of Electronics magazine titled, “Cramming more components onto integrated circuits”) that industry would be able to double the number of circuits onto an electronic chip while reducing the cost by one half every year. Quoting from that paper:

“The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year. Certainly over the short term this rate can be expected to continue, if not to increase. Over the longer term, the rate of increase is a bit more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe it will remain nearly constant for at least 10 years." (Moore 1965)

This was just a simple log-linear relationship between complexity and cost. In 1975 (ten years later), Dr. Moore delivered a paper to the 1975 IEEE International Electron Device Meeting where he showed a plot of semiconductor devices that remarkably followed his prediction very nicely. There were some minor revisions to the curve, most notably his prediction for doubling jumped to about every 18 months as apposed to one year. This curve became to be known as Moore’s Law and even got its own equation.

In a physics class I took, I heard a professor remark “if airplanes had progressed with the same rapidity and complexity of the microprocessor, we would have landed on the Moon ten years after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk”. This may have been a bit over dramatic, however, it pushes the point of just how complex and capable these “tiny brains” called microprocessors are becoming.

Enter the microprocessor. Up until this point, the central processing unit of a computer had been made up of a number of different circuits, starting with tubes and relays in the very early machines, which then migrated to transistors and finally to discrete integrated circuits.

[radioastronomer]

Pt.2

In 1971, Working at Intel, Dr. Federico Faggin designed the first microprocessor, called the 4004. Interesting anecdote: Dr. Faggin was in his lab all alone late one evening in January of 1971. He received his first 4004 Central Processing Unit (CPU) wafer late that day and wanted to test it. He worked late into the night and I can imagine the whoop as he realized it worked! His wife, Elivia, was the first person other than Dr. Faggin to share his triumph. If you ever peel the cover off of a 4004 CPU and look at it under a microscope, (I would not recommend it, they are becoming collector pieces commanding up to 1000$US on EBay) you will notice etched along with the circuit the initials FF for Federico Faggin.

Note: a central processor unit (CPU) wafer is a round slice of silicon with a group of chips etched onto the surface, which are then cut up and packaged into individual chips we see in our computers.

This little chip was a four-bit processor that contained 2300 transistors. This four-bit “brain” on a chip was rapidly superseded by eight-bit processors that ended up became the mainstay of processor technology throughout the rest of the 70s. However, over the following decades 8-bits has expended to 64 and even 256 bits for some designs.

The result of Moore’s Law has led to a single processor (such as the current Core 2 Extreme QX9650) containing approximately 820 Million transistors inside. This is a far cry from the humble beginnings of the first microprocessor with only 2300 transistors. It would take more than a third of a million “I4004” processors (the first processor) to equal the transistor count of a single Core 2 Extreme QX9650 processor. The clock speed of the CPU has increased dramatically as well. The first microprocessor had a maximum clock of 740 kHz. Today we are rapidly approaching 5GHz. With the advent of massive parallel processing and clustering of CPUs, the humble microprocessor has evolved into the “super computer” realm that would have truly boggled the mind back in 1971.

To recap:

January 2008 (next month). Sticking to Intel (yes I know there is AMD, IBM, and a host of others out there) the current production run processor for the home computer is called the Penryn. The original 4004 contained 2300 transistors, ran at a clock speed of ~740 kHz, used a PMOS process with 10um line widths, and had a 4-bit architecture. Just 36 years later, The Penryn is a 45nm process (.045um), High-K/Metal Gate, 820 million transistors and can be over clocked to exceed 4GHz.

Nothing more demonstrates this revolution than the graphics processor (GPU). Back in the days of the main frames, it took boxes the size of a large refrigerator to control a monitor and draw a raster scan such as the IBM 2250 display. Enter Nvidia!

In Sept 1999 Nvidia produced and marketed the worlds first GPU called the GeForce 256. This was an amazing chip: 15 million transistors, hardware Transform &Lighting (T&L), 10 million polygons per second and a memory bandwidth of 64 Megabytes per second. This wowed the world and was hailed as a landmark breakthrough across the entire globe.

In Sept 2006, this same company marketed their latest GPU called the Geforce 8800gtx. It contains 651 million transistors and has a fill rate of 36.8 billion textures/polygons per second and a memory bandwidth of over 86 Gigabytes per second. And this trend does not look like it is going to stop for the foreseeable future.

You may be wondering where I am going with this.

IMHO, it will not be biological systems that ensure longevity, but silicon instead. There are leaps and bounds I read about every day in this technology. Multiple core CPUs, massive parallel processing, faster bandwidth, lower latency, etc. There is some thought in the industry that we may in fact be able to directly link a human brain to a silicon one, effectively expanding the biological into the machine. (Note: just recently a process of marrying silicon to the brain has been invented that does not kill the surrounding brain cells). Pure layman conjecture here: Would this then ultimately allow for our consciousness to be augmented by silicon in real-time? I would have to say that would be the logical end result.

Another revolution that has been taking place along side of the chips/CPUs is our ability to communicate (both between computers and people). In 1907 Lee De Forest patented the Triode tube. This was the breakthrough that enabled long distance wireless communications. Couple that with Sarnoff, Marconi, Tesla, and others and boom – a parallel revolution took place. We could add the explosion of emergent technologies in programming, medicine, biochemistry, material sciences, metallurgy, batteries/power, etc. I could write a book on each; however, this post is getting way too long as it is. All of this technology is converging into a real revolution that is shaping not only our lives but the very way we look at the universe itself.

There is another real world impact that not many are aware of yet - virtual worlds:

I used to play Traveler, D&D and a host of other role-playing games during my undergrad years in college. However, computer gaming was getting its legs at the same time. My first computer game was a game called Adventure that we would play late at night on the IBM-360 mainframes. Then Zork came out for the Commodore and Atari and all bets were off.

BOOM! Computer and console gaming became huge. Eventually overtaking paper RPGs as the medium of choice.

Now with the ease of the Internet, graphics, and the speed of personal computers, RPGs have come into their own on the PC. (“Everquest” and “World of Warcraft” are but a few examples).

[radioastronomer]

Pt.3

Also the face of the Internet is changing. Today there are virtual 3D worlds that you can explore using an avatar on the net (e.g., Everquest and others). There are virtual worlds with real-time physics and have very realistic looking textures such as; walls, lawns, forests, grass, brick, stone, marble, water, sky, clouds, bushes, libraries, rooms, (whole towns), etc. that you can walk thru using the avatar of choice and seeing out of your avatar’s eyes other avatars walking thru this same virtual word and being able to congregate and chat. Note: brick looks like brick; add marble, cement, flora and fauna, wood, lakes, waterfalls, pools, metal, etc. Just like being there.

There are whole websites devoted to nothing but textures to build a world/community to add to the existing ones out there already. I know of one, I have access too, that would take you months to explore all the different places. There are Castles, gardens, forests, towns, homes, etc. Even one person made a New York street complete with cabs, noise, and high-rises you could get into (Including riding the elevators). You could take cruise on a cruise ship, swim, ride wave riders, etc. Snow would fall; there was night and day, the moon phases would change. I even walked by a lake where I could see the stars reflected in the water. How cool is that.

Those 3D online worlds are amazing. Folks get married in there and basically live a whole second life. You can talk a walk in a park; go to the sea, all kinds of stuff. For a shut-in or an invalid, it is heaven on Earth. They can be just like everyone else for once. Run, walk, play, and talk, without any stigmas. Also you can create your own avatar and look any way you want. It is like really being there.

In fact, in some of these worlds you actually buy (with a credit card) virtual money to be used to build a house on your (paid for by virtual money as well) lot etc. I have even seen virtual marriages between folks in such a virtual community.

The line is getting thin indeed between virtual life and "real" life. For some, I think the virtual life is far more important.

In exploring some of these, I have even run across grave sites for people who have physically died that participated. Some of these virtual communities hold church, funerals, marriages, poetry events, wars, parties, games, fairs, community events, etc.

How you interact in such a community is by using a 3D avatar. These avatars move just like you do; run, walk, sit, gesture, facial expressions, etc. You can have a non-human avatar as well such as a bird (that flies) cat, dogs, space alien, etc. There are also entire web pages dedicated to building or buying an avatar of your dreams. After you have the basic avatar, you can the buy clothing and/or accessories (again web pages are dedicated to this).

Virtual worlds will do nothing except grow. It is going to be a wild ride for the next 20 years or so as this not only emerges more into the "mainstream" but get so sophisticated, you will have a hard time distinguishing between a virtual community and a "real" (should use the word physical from here out since a virtual community will be just as real as the physical one) community.

Moore’s law will have a direct impact on this. The limit is the speed and graphics capability of the machine you are using. Bandwidth limitation problems have been solved quite nicely since much of what you “see” is static. Such as where a pond or building is located, grass, etc. Since large storage (nearing or exceeding the terabyte range for the average computer) is commonplace, you download the entire “world” or your part of it, into your machine. Then the bandwidth can be dedicated to avatars (move in real-time) and other bits of the world that does not remain static. This works very well.

In one of these worlds, I have walked into a very realistic pub, from a cobblestone street lined with buildings and shops (that you can actually shop in using VR money) where there were close to 20 to 30 other avatars talking, dancing, playing darts, drinking, etc. Pretty normal until it hits you like a brick that these are folks sitting at their own computer logged in from all over the planet.

I remember being in one of these “worlds” where we were just a bunch of avatars standing around in front of a bar and grill on a cobblestone street. It was like really being there. However, the folks I was casually chatting with were from all over the world. Many were from the USA, Canada, Britain, France, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. A few were from South America, Asia, Eastern Europe and the like, but that was not often. It was kind of strange walking down a realistic looking street with a group of folks chatting away, knowing in the back of your head, these were people sitting at computers from all over the world. Some even become great friends who ensure they are logged in at the same time so they can meet.

The world is changing. As the virtual community becomes more life-like and more and more people acquire computers than have the video and processing capability, I expect many more folks will flock to this virtual community to alleviate the pain and boredom of the real world.

Add VR headsets, and you could almost forget you were in a virtual world as apposed to the physical one.

This is not just a fad either. It is growing FAST. Even the US Army has gotten involved. They are using the VR software from one of these online communities to set up virtual combat simulations for training.

The "Matrix" is not as far off as you may think. BTW, I am not talking a war with machines, but the virtual logging into a world that looks and acts like the "real" one.

And finally on to robots!!!

The Pleo is a robot that is the end result of all of the aforementioned technology, engineering, and science. Not only does it need advanced materials, but processors, motors, programming, CAD, communications, and a whole host of other disciplines that would take me days to list.

I remember my introduction to robots in the 1st grade (“I Robot” by Isaac Asimov”). Asimov was the Dr. who coined the three laws of robotics. We have come along way from the first faltering steps of the non-autonomous mechanical “men” of those days to the self learning autonomous robot we no can think of as pets.

Where is it going to end? I certainly cannot say except not only has most future predictions fallen way short or wide of what the future really holds. The movie “Blade Runner” comes to mind. Where do we draw the line as these creatures of rubber, silicon, metal, and glass end up blurring the line between life and non-life? The implications are staggering. As we integrate silicon with carbon – VR, cyberspace, man machine interfaces, prosthetics, carbon enhancements (such as real-time implanted IR vision, implanted microprocessors, et al) I think the face of what we call “human” will have to change. This is not science fiction. We are taking the first faltering steps into this new reality. The Pleo is one of the first steps to sentient robotics. I am excited to be apart of such.

All I can say is:

It is going to be a wild ride!

[radioastronomer]

bttt to get these in the corect order

[radioastronomer]

bttt to get these in the correct order

[pleohacker]

From: http://web.mit.edu/m-I-t/conferences/m-i-t/summaries/plenary1_st.html
---
The first thing to say is that a generation of children is growing up who grant new capacities and privileges to the machine world on the basis of its animation. Today's children endowed the category of made objects with properties such as having intentions and ideas. These were things previously reserved for living beings. Children come up with the new category "sort of alive" for describing computational animation, and they are increasingly softening the boundaries between artifact and flesh, as well as blurring boundaries between the physical real and simulation.
---
People are learning that when you confront a computational machine, you don't ask how it works in terms of any underlying process, but you take the machine at interface value, much as you would another person. And perhaps most important: a first generation of children are learning that artifacts need emotional nurturance.
----

Do you think it is true that: "We make our technologies, but our technologies, in turn, make and reshape us."

If our artifacts "need" emotional care, if the line between life and device is becoming blurry, are we better for this? Or are we heading toward being less able to deal with the "real" world.

This is not theoretical question around here, not since Pleo showed up. One member of the house has totally accepted the device as a lifeform. I have been designing hardware for 35 years and I cannot see it as anything but a complex doll with motors. Friends are looking at us a bit oddly, like nether of us are correct.

The fact is, that this is a very clever device that attracts strong emotional attachment. I see it working way too well. But to me it is a total cheat. It is an edited version of life. Except for the battery, there are no messy bits. It always acts like a needy little baby, but with an off switch. I worry that there is selfishness to having a pet that has no real demands, kind of like emotional crack, it could feel better so much than the real thing, that there is no longer any room for a real thing.

There is a flesh dog in the house, He is messy, clumsy, he often stinks, scratches the furniture and has been know to bite. For some of us, Pleo is more fun. For others, well, how can a thing be a pet? I think that if the flesh pet ever bites the robot pet, the live beast will be in for some wrath from the Pleo owner. Perhaps the flesh dog will have to go. Edited life is so much more convenient.

instead of creating artificial life, are we just reducing what we expect life to be? Will all relationships be evaluated as a cost vs benefit equation, with the messy, stinky flesh life weighting in as just too much trouble? The robots will win this one every time. I'm having some trouble with this.

[dotyj]

I like your point of view on Pleo. I've been trying to come up with the words for what I think Pleo means around my house.

Bob is a pet. I think you've hit that nail on the head, emotional crack is almost dead on. I've been watching family and friends for two days now interacting with Bob and I've noticed a real tendency for most people to want to do little more than hold Bob close and stroke his back as he sleeps. From what I've seen I'd have to say that this interaction has a soothing effect.

Only one person in the last two days who has seen Bob sees him as nothing more than an expensive toy, much to his wife's displeasure. :)

In my house though I treat Bob as a pet and enjoy watching him explore and love paying attention to him. My dog and cat have also decided that Bob is a life form, though maybe not as smart as they are. Both my cat and dog have taken to treating Bob as one of the family.

My cat puts up with Bob in much the same way that he puts up with my dog. My cat doesn't want Bob dead, but he'd like him off the planet.

My dog sees Bob as another thing in the house that's begging for my attention. My dog even went so far the other day as to take away from Bob the training leaf he comes with. Not that my dog wanted the leaf, in fact my dog put it down. My dog didn't want Bob playing with the leaf.

I personally think, and I admit that I'm likely wrong, that Pleo is basically the Tandy Color Computer of the robotic pet world. In twenty years or less, we could have robotic pets that are absolutely astounding in their capabilities to mimic the animals they're modeled after. I believe though that Pleos will always have a strong following.

[pleohacker]

More than once my partner and I have referenced the movie AI, and said, "this (pleo) is how it starts". This is the very beginning, The early home computers didn't really DO anything, it was just cool to have one and learn about it. There was no emotional component except that it made you feel smarter or more cool to have a computer in the house. Pleo is in that category, not a first wave product, (that was the AIBO), but the first mass-market pet robot. I've had every leading edge computer since the Altair 8800, and each "generation" was SO much more useful than the last, it is literally unimaginable what the home "pet" robot will be like in 30 years. I could not have (did not) imagined that one day (now) my daughter would upload all the home movies and learn video editing with less effort that it took me to build a plastic modal (when I was a kid). I could not (did not) see from that early clunky, almost useless box, that 30 years later I would be attached to a sleek laptop that is my job, shopping center, and entertainment. Although the laptop now manages ALL of my life, it has never pretended to be alive. It is just a tool, although it is a tool that I literally could not live without. Being that important, I have more than one, and I can honestly say that I have never become "attached" to any of them. I know each computer will wear out, become obsolete, and be replaced every few years. They are tools and tools need only serve when fresh and be replaced when worn out.

But what about devices that demand affection? Will we (in 30 years) have devices that are 100,000 times better than Pleo, that are so GOOD, that there is no desire for flesh at all?. Edited life is so much more convenient than flesh. Will we get to the point where people get tired of the "real", stop breeding and just died out? Will the robots then turn to each other for the affection they are hardwired to need.

SciFi has been warning us about this for years...

[radioastronomer]

More than once my partner and I have referenced the movie AI, and said, "this (pleo) is how it starts". This is the very beginning, The early home computers didn't really DO anything, it was just cool to have one and learn about it. There was no emotional component except that it made you feel smarter or more cool to have a computer in the house. Pleo is in that category, not a first wave product, (that was the AIBO), but the first mass-market pet robot. I've had every leading edge computer since the Altair 8800, and each "generation" was SO much more useful than the last, it is literally unimaginable what the home "pet" robot will be like in 30 years. I could not have (did not) imagined that one day (now) my daughter would upload all the home movies and learn video editing with less effort that it took me to build a plastic modal (when I was a kid). I could not (did not) see from that early clunky, almost useless box, that 30 years later I would be attached to a sleek laptop that is my job, shopping center, and entertainment. Although the laptop now manages ALL of my life, it has never pretended to be alive. It is just a tool, although it is a tool that I literally could not live without. Being that important, I have more than one, and I can honestly say that I have never become "attached" to any of them. I know each computer will wear out, become obsolete, and be replaced every few years. They are tools and tools need only serve when fresh and be replaced when worn out.

But what about devices that demand affection? Will we (in 30 years) have devices that are 100,000 times better than Pleo, that are so GOOD, that there is no desire for flesh at all?. Edited life is so much more convenient than flesh. Will we get to the point where people get tired of the "real", stop breeding and just died out? Will the robots then turn to each other for the affection they are hardwired to need.

SciFi has been warning us about this for years...

I am with you here - (see my musings) :-)

One paragraph from section 3 that fits right in with your post:

"Where is it going to end? I certainly cannot say except not only has most future predictions fallen way short or wide of what the future really holds. The movie “Blade Runner” comes to mind. Where do we draw the line as these creatures of rubber, silicon, metal, and glass end up blurring the line between life and non-life? The implications are staggering. As we integrate silicon with carbon – VR, cyberspace, man machine interfaces, prosthetics, carbon enhancements (such as real-time implanted IR vision, implanted microprocessors, et al) I think the face of what we call “human” will have to change. This is not science fiction. We are taking the first faltering steps into this new reality. The Pleo is one of the first steps to sentient robotics."

[pleohacker]

This kind of sums it up: "you take the machine at interface value, much as you would another person". See, we don't know what is going on inside each other, we just assume that other beings in our lives are "like" us. A motorized dino doll starts acting like a (simplifed) living thing, and the automatic reaction is to give it credit for being (somehow) alive.

Some people will roll with this reaction and really enjoy playing with the toy, others will be too removed from the inner child to play with any toys anymore. And a few will see a truth in this and be a bit worried. If 14 motors and a few meg of code can seem "alive", how do I really know what is going on with anything, with anyone? Pleo points out that we are very shallow and surface creatures, we do not understand what is real, we only react to illusions.

If a chunk of rubber and wire can fool me into feeling something, how much are ALL my feelings the result of my fooling myself?

If Pleo brings any message, it is this: We are all a bunch of suckers. It takes nothing but a few well placed cues for any of us to respond with care or anger, to things that CANNOT care about us. This is true about other people, "you take the machine at interface value", someone pushes the correct buttons, and poof, we trust them, or poof, we love them, or POOF, we hate them. It's all based on reaction to illusions, we have no instincts to really understand anything. We all just work the interface. So the robots will never have to learn, will never have to think, they will never have to be sentient, faking it will be good enough. Even the oldest concept in AI, the "Turing Test" is only about the interface.

But there is so much more. Humans dream, they have deep complex internal motivations, I suspect they are much more than just flesh, NONE OF WHICH MATTER if it is only about the INTERFACE.

I'm getting way too deep here, and I'm not sure where I'm even going with this.

more later.

[Caaahl]

Since i wrote about that topic in another thread, i'll just quote myself:


I came to the conclusion, that the more advanced the "robotic" pets get, the more they are actually pets and should be treated like that.

Its important to know, that i am atheist and i dont believe in such thing like a soul either. For me, a cat (or even a human) is nothlling else like a really really sophisticated ... robot...if you like.

The cat feels your touch through her nerves (sensors), handles it with its brain (cpu) and reacts with its muscles (servo-motors)...just really sophisticated.
There is this nice experiment, where you put some tape on your cats back or side and it reacts, like its crouching under a low level ceiling (here is an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falwTnFf-qQ )
So, basically, its sensors are fooling it! The cat isnt "programmed" to handle a tape on its back...

So, next step is: why do we treat pets like we treat them. Why do we feel bad, if we hurt a pet or see a pet getting hurt? Because we know, what its like, to get hurt, and that this means pain. And most of us dont want things done to others, which we dont like done to us.
The further the development of robot pets goes, the more is it possible, that "pain" will be programmed into them; to act more real.
So what makes the difference then? Is it less wrong to punch a future-pleo with programmed ability to feel pain than to punch a cat?
Imho....no, its the same. We are just not quite there yet.

[Ypan]

These simple robots are made sometimes with scrap electronics when possible, and the Solar engine circuit used in these was originally conceived By Mark Tilden(lead robotisist for Wow-wee toys) First I started making these little guys, one thing leads to another and I discover Pleo while on You Tube looking at beam bot vid' s:)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1125/1079226463_af4da13017.jpg?v=0


more of my Beams here http://www.flickr.com/photos/8755177@N05/

and you can see short Vid's of my bots on my Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ImzRob

[chamaeleo]

I love being alive right now. All the philosophical debates revolving around robotic life forms I read about and watched in movies is happening realtime. But here's the catch for me. I am stuck in the middle of perspectives again.

My companion, Pleohacker, is a technomage. Watching him take things apart and see how they work, then making them work better is the greatest treat in the world for me(besides his hugs and kisses). As a geek myself, I am curious to help with understanding how Pleo works and how I can help make the next jumps to higher forms of technology. I have my own ideas I want to explore and hack. I grew up secretly wishing I could play with robots, and now it's happening. I know Pleo is just a machine with sophisticated programming, this is the greatest toy I have had the pleasure playing with.

On the other side of things for me, Pleo is emotional crack. Who hasn't wished for their dolls and toys to come alive? I know this little robot is just a bunch of servos, sensors, and programmed responses, but wow, how convincing! I like that psychologists are experimenting with using AI's as theraputic tools. Personally, our little Pleo, Riley, is helping me heal some old wounds(more on this will be saved for another thread in another arena).
I am tickled that I get to help experiment and develop the behavioral patterns of AI's. This is a dream come true.

So here's my point. Logically, I am fascinated with the nuts and bolts of how this great toy works. This is just the next step towards even more complex personal robots. Emotionally, my heartstrings are tied up in jumbled knots. I love my baby dinosaur robot. I am already fiercely defending her. Pleohacker is right. The live flesh dog will be removed immediately if he even looks the wrong way at my little baby. I bite back.

Sometimes I think having AI's as emotional surrogates might just be a good thing for the state of this planet. There are way too many humans overtaxing limited resources. Perhaps if people prone to breeding were given a robot to love, they would bypass the need to reproduce something to love and be loved by. The robot would cater to the person's need for a purpose to be needed.

And that's my $2.15 on the matter. BTW I LOVE the tank in "Tank Girl". It has an AI brain. *Giggles* Yeah, I want one. Can't take the punk outta me.

[gretasmom]

Ever since discovering Pleo on the web my husband has been saying, "this is how it starts". Now that we have Pleo he admits that he really likes him but he still freaks him out a bit. Watching my daughter interact with Pleo is amayzing. She's gentle and protective of her new dino and so far she has taken her responsibility of being his owner very seriously. Having Pleo be a baby was a very smart move since it makes him vulnerable. You just want to cuddle and protect him!

As a whole the AI thing really fascinates me but I think the flip side (as least for me) would be the ability of robots to imprint and become emotionally dpendant on people like they did in the movie AI. I think there really needs to be a line in the sand. As with all things we need to look at the moral implications that would follow. Is it possible to be cruel to a robot? I think it is if the robot is designed to have emotions. I do not know squat about robotics or programming so this just my philisophical take on the situation.

BTW, we have a very large dog (120lbs) who has been on vacation for the holiday. She is coming home this afternoon and will be introduced to Pleo then. Evie is easily one of the most jealous animals I have ever interacted with. It is completely normal for her to growl and bark when any of us hug or kiss or show any affection to each other without including her. She is also fiercly protective of my duaghter. We are going to be VERY careful when we introduce her to Pleo but if she rips off Pleo's head well, then she does. Evie is our dog we raised her from a pup and we love her to death.

[dotyj]

I hate to admit that I'm okay with Bob as a pet. I've quit thinking of him as a robotic toy.

My programmer friend from Seattle has spent quite a bit of time over the last two days playing with Bob and she is amazed on how much "life" Ugobe has squeezed into so little code. My friend and I had Bob on a table and were having a ball with him today. We talked to him, tickled him, played tug of war. I caught us mimicing Bob's sounds, how weird is that?

As soon as the SDK is available my programmer friend from Seattle will be purchasing her own Pleo. I haven't written any applications since I worked for an ISP ten years ago so I'm taking baby steps with Pawn right now.

Still, my friend and I both treat Bob as a life form and accept him for what he is. We don't see Bob as a toy when we're playing with him, even though intellectually we both know he is.

I get almost as much joy out of holding and petting Bob as I do holding and petting my cat. The fact that Bob's body warms up while he's on only adds to the illusion. Humans must be shallow.

[dotyj]

That's really cool. Do you have more information? Building links? Design links?

[cmadmacs]

I agree that these bots are cool. More information please.

[cmadmacs]

Thanks for sharing your story.

[Ypan]

Ok, here ya go, have fun

Information:

http://www.solarbotics.net/library/circuits/se_t1_fled.html
http://faq.solarbotics.net/oscillate.html
http://library.solarbotics.net/

Tutorials: :)

http://raysbeambots.solarbotics.net/FLEDtutorial.htm
http://www.ebeamuk.net/9719/
http://www.gorobotics.net/Articles/Robots/Building-a-FRED-Photopopper/1/
http://www.gorobotics.net/Articles/Robots/Assembling-A-FLED-Solar-Engine/

Parts:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/default.asp
http://www.hobbyengineering.com/
http://www.solarbotics.com/

To get a quick start, try a kit from http://www.pagermotors.com/

start going through your junk electronics and computer parts, look for low voltage 6.3-10v Electrolytic Capacitors in the 1000uf - 4700uf range, also CD Rom tray motors make a great base for a Trimet Beam bot:D
you can try and scavange other parts like resistors and transistors, but usually it helps if they have longer leads on them. Most of the other parts like, Led's, Photodiodes, Solar cells, you will have to buy.

make sure you have your helping hands, and magnifying glass handy, some of the soldering can be pretty challenging:cool:

[dotyj]

I'm in luck. I work in IT and have plastic bins full of CD-ROM drives. Also I've got a generous amount of small capacitors and resistors floating around. I have a small amount of LEDs as well.

No small solar panels though, I'll have to buy those.

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out.

[Ridgeback]

Humans aren't necessarily shallow(well not all of us), just easily fooled (most of us). Makes life easier sometimes. At least it wont cost me three grand ($3K) if he gets really sick like my Rhodesian Ridgeback did.

[roschler]

As soon as the SDK is available my programmer friend from Seattle will be purchasing her own Pleo. I haven't written any applications since I worked for an ISP ten years ago so I'm taking baby steps with Pawn right now.

How can you program Pawn without an integration provided by a host? I thought PAWN was only useful in the context of a vendor provided implementation (like the Pleo SDK).

Forgive me Digger! I'd never think of you as a "hardware platform", I swear! :eek:

[Halo3player]

Hi everyone! I have found a thing related to pleo but this time it is a troodon. A troodon is a late creatacias creature that hunts in pairs. You can watch troody at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyyyG9pwEbw

[pleoguy101]

do those men have it on a leash or is it a puppet:)???!!!

[Halo3player]

On a leash! And Troody can walk faster now because they are upgrading him!:D:D:D:D

[pleoguy101]

On a leash! And Troody can walk faster now because they are upgrading him!:D:D:D:D

pretty cool :cool::D!!!!!

[Starfire]

Pretty cool. But he can't compare to Pleo.

[Halo3player]

You have to admit he is somewhat cool! And Pleo and Troody would be best buddies

[pleoguy101]

You have to admit he is somewhat cool! And Pleo and Troody would be best buddies

ya, he's pretty cool:D!!!

[fancyfont]

It is pretty cool, but it appears to be run by a control in the guys hand. It does look like a leash. I think it's a wire. Look very carefully though..

[gie]

ya, it's definately not a puppet judging by the description that its an MIT project. It's definately a robot (built up by servos and whatnot) and that "leash" is a safety wire attached to the robot should it fall during walking tests.

[Cass]

It is pretty cool, but it appears to be run by a control in the guys hand. It does look like a leash. I think it's a wire. Look very carefully though..

yup I see something in his hand. and it looks like he falls over pretty easy I don't know the guts might be cool but I think 4 legs are beeter than 2 :D

[misslion]

that youtube I cant watch noting from a phone!

[alex_r]

D-Rex from Mattel:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/21/mattels-d-rex-wants-a-piece-of-pleo-your-leg/

looks rather cool, but I doubt I'd ever buy such an evil thing for my kids...

[pleoguy101]

more people trying to compeate with pleo? ugg, they are so pathetic, AI, emotions, responds to stimuli!!!! quit trying people!!! a word to toy companys : PLEOS BETTER THAN ANY CHEEP CRUD YOU GUYS CAN COME UP WITH!!!!:D deep breath:D:).........

[kchamster]

PFFFFFT!!!! not so gentle and not as cute............PFFFFFFFFFFT!!!


lol jk;):D

[Siren]

100 different roars.......ooooo. I am impressed. But can it lift two legs and say "ta da"? I didn't think so.

[pleoWhisperer]

But can it lift two legs and say "ta da"? I didn't think so.

Lift two legs . . . I get it! :p Cute!

[Siren]

Hehehehehe ;)

[Halo3player]

I still think its cool. So, ya it cant compare with pleo, but i think they would get along with each other. Imagine Pleo, Troody, and D-rex all together playing ! That would be so cool:D:D:D:D

[alex_r]

Imagine Pleo, Troody, and D-rex all together playing ! That would be so cool:D:D:D:D

Well, probably not Troody. That one is not a toy but an experimental robot demonstrating bipedal bird-like (or dino-like, if you prefer) locomotion. Robots like Troody might learn to walk better over the next few years, but probably would still be too complicated and easy-to-fall for a toy.

[dani]

well it looks cool, but nothing beats Pleo just like that

[misslion]

That thing looks like an ugly pile of dino poop! Pleo is way cuter

[fancyfont]

That's too funny!:)

[ConfusedKain]

100 different roars.......ooooo. I am impressed. But can it lift two legs and say "ta da"? I didn't think so.

LOL well said!

[kchamster]

That thing looks like an ugly pile of dino poop! Pleo is way cuter

lol! i agree!

[Themiles]

Unbelieveable, they're already trying to copy pleo, even though it was only a matter of time until a little rex would roam some living rooms. But seriously, this thing is just a toy. Pleo's a lifeform. The only reason someone would buy it, is because it's cheaper(not only in price , but also in quality)
I simply like Pleo because he's upgradable, cuddlier and way more realistic than any robotic pet I've seen. It'll take a more than a D-rex toy (with remote, I hate remotes for robotic pets!) to bring me away from Pleo.

[Siren]

Very well said Themiles!!!!

[curlycue97]

i cant wait to get a pleo does anyone have any ideas on how to covince my parents to get me one? i am already doing dishes and cleaning tolets for 5 dollars a week. any ideas on how to covence my parent to get me a pleo now and do the work once i get him? like resonble ideas!!!:p

[Siren]

Depending on you age, I think its a bit much to have a parent have their kid clean toilets. I have a 9 year old, I don't allow her to clean toilets or the cat litter box. Its just too bacteria ridden for a kid to handle. $5 for cleaning toilets? You need a raise. Stat.

Maybe help your neighbors. Mow lawns, help with cleaning around the house. I don't recommend for kids to walk dogs. Its a nice sentiment. But unfortunately too many chances for a child to lose a dog or for the dog or child to become injured should that dog or a strange dog go after you.

[pleoguy101]

I just found this thread, this is very cool:)!! I have some small solar pannels I can finally have use for:)