last nights robotics show on abc tv

And the usual fusion/AI-style predictions. "5, 10 years from now we'll have real robots!". Like they said 40 years ago.

I could not work out if it was a trash doco or a classic example of a puff piece for self/company/MIT gone badly wrong.

Basically, I think we were not given the specifications for "the robot". What we saw was badly over engineered and very poorly designed for the task at hand.

I also loved the continual robot references when they were clearly talking about remote controlled machines.

snipped-for-privacy@u36g2000prn.googlegroups.com...

I'm still waiting for the flying car. It is due to come first.

DARPA again. Limitless funds for anything that the military sponsors think will help them win wars. It looks like there's no effective quality audit on the research, some of the stuff they had is the sort of thing I bash together with used bits and pieces in my back shed.

I thought the Jap effort showed them up in a pretty poor light too.

This sort of program is probably exciting and high tech and a promise of the end to all of their life's problems .............to the average non-technical person. This effect would increase, the lower the IQ and common sense of the person.

I don't think the thing was presented as a "technical" program, rather more like examining "ways to package robots in a way to make them socially acceptable, saleable and profiable" . Finding potential uses for deep pocketed organisations.

on

-------------------------

Its also interesting the cultural differences presented *in this program* too.

Based on the program content the US can only think of robots for use in purposes of violence, espionage, death and evil, whereas Japan thinks primarily of them from a point of view of age carers, helpers, home assistants.

even

boot.

I didn't see the documentary, but I heard an interview with the aussie expat former head of MIT robotics and artificial intellligence labs on radio national. He talked briefly about that research, which was apparently focussed on the task of picking up irregularly shaped objects. Nothing to do with "Go" other than it uses stones and is fiddly to play without disturbing other pieces. The millitary funded this work for some reason I can't remeber. This guy left MIT and created the company that invented the "Roomba" automated vacuum.

rather

uses

In the interview he talked at some length about social acceptability of robots and how it varies country to country. He talked about the focus of south-east asian robotocists on creating "companion" robots and how he believed they wouldn't be accepted in the US or Australia.

I've no idea who commissioned the doco but I sense it may have centred around this particular person, apparently he's regularly contributed to the ABC for robotics docos.

Terry

"Terry Dawson"

Rodney Brooks hails from South Australia and is a pure math grad and holds a PhD in computer science.

The dude is a theoretician and the suggestion that he is an " engineer " is an misconception.

I found the show less than inspiring.

.... Phil

and holds a

engineer " is

He certainly didn't lay claim to the title himself. I get the impression it's always been a team effort, not surprisingly.

Disappointingly his accent is terribly corrupted by his years in the US. Funnily enough the one word that seemed unaffected was "mate".

Sounds like I caught the more interesting of the two.

Terry