Strollerderby : robots

Meet The Robot Teacher

Brett Singer — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Some kids may joke that their teachers are so weird, they must be from another planet.

For some elementary school kids in Japan, they wouldn't be too far off.

Saya is a robot and she/it is teaching this elementary school class.

Here's a really creepy video of the... thing in action:

(For a less jokey take on the story, check out this video from MSNBC.)

Here's the thing. I get that technology can make our lives easier. (Freudian slip: I typed "teachnology" my mistake, which I thought wasn't a word but I guess it is, at least according to Google.) But teachers shouldn't be robots. Or is that robots shouldn't be teachers? Certain jobs would be okay I suppose, although in an economy like this one, any job taken away from humans seems like a bad thing. But teachers? Really? Doesn't that imply that the job is nothing more than a glorified baby sitter?

According to the embedded video, which is a bit cheeky, the purpose of the TeachBot 9000 (my name, not theirs) is to "get kids excited about technology." The MSNBC clip says that Saya started out "her life" as a "robot receptionist" and that she/it "isn't meant to take jobs away from real teachers, but could fill in in a pinch for understaffed schools." They say that she 'bot has the kids "undivided attention." Frankly, I think they look a little scared.

Would you want your children to be taught -- or whatever that thing is doing -- by a robot?

Source: Gizmodo via Telegraph, MSNBC

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Giant Green Robot Comforting Sick Kids

JeanneSager — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:57:00 GMT

When you think of a creature sent to comfort kids, the first thing that comes to mind is a giant green robot with a nose like Horton, right? No? Me neither.

But Belgian scientists apparently think that's the way to go.

In order to help comfort sick children in Belgian hospitals, scientists have created a prototype robot with a long green nose that purrs when petted or hugged and says "ouch" when punched or hit. Dubbed Probo (as in proboscis), the robot has a touchscreen on his belly to explain to children the details of their impending medical procedures. His facial expressions are designed to change to intimate how the procedures will make the kids feel.

It sounds like an interesting idea, although Probo can't hug the kids back - which is why clowns (excuse me, I know some of you are freaked by them) and other visiting dressed up characters generally do a much better job of comforting kids. They're comfy!

The one advantage I do see in a robot is his lack of emotion when it comes to dealing with sick kids. Where adults explaining a medical procedure to a child - even trained medical procedures - can't help but react to the child's emotion, a robot is going to keep it nice and steady and just keep talking the kids through everything.

Still not sure I want a guy who looks like a cross between Horton the elephant and the incredible Hulk wandering around the pediatric ward (no, not scary at all, uh uh), but hey, they say they're still working on him. Maybe they can change out that nose. Get a look at pictures of him over at Reuters.

Image: Reuters

Robot Baby Chick

Brett Singer — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

So let's say you wish you lived on a farm. That's not an option, but maybe you can at least get a baby chick and keep it as a pet. After all, baby chicks are so cute.

Then you realize, "Wait a minute. If I get a baby chick to keep as a pet, eventually the baby chick will grow up and become a full-grown chicken. And I live in an apartment. Clearly, this is a horrible idea."

But wait! SegaToys has a solution! You could get (drum roll, please) – a robotic chicken! For only 26 bucks American (that's, what, like 1.5 Euros these days?) you can get your very own teeny little robot pet. No muss, no fuss, no smell, and it never grows up. But it's still cute (video below).

Also, don't think you can just put your toy on a shelf or leave it in a drawer to play with when you feel like it. This toy is needy. From a site that sells them: "To make Dream Chick move and chirp, human contact is required. Touch it or pat it and it'll move its little wings and chirp from time to time. If you leave it alone, it'll chirp once in a while but contact is the key." You know, sort of like your children.

image: brando.com.hk

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You Might Like Wall-E But Don't Trust Him With Your Kids

Kelly Mills — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:58:00 GMT

Robots have kind of a mixed rep. From loveable, cuddly characters to cold killing machines, it's clear we have some ambivalence about what it means to have this kind of technology in our lives and on the horizon. While I personally have a strange affection for robots, I can see how others are raising the alarms. So parents, would you let a robot watch your children?

You may have to make this decision sooner rather than later, because robots are being developed for use in schools, and will potentially be here to babysit your brood in the not-so-distant future. So what do you think? I mean, if you read the Derby, you probably believe our current system of having humans care for their own offspring and the offspring of others is not without flaws. But should it concern us that robots may be responsible for teaching our kids? (Gasp! You mean a machine might sometimes act as a babysitter? Say it ain't so!) What will that do for their emotional development? Our society? Are the robot wars inevitable? Do tell.

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Machines Are Labor-Saving Devices!

Adrienne Martini — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Every pregnant woman has wished that she could just sub-contract the whole labor-and-delivery part of the event. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, she can!

Well, maybe not yet. But once you read about all of the fun tricks this creepy robot can do to simulate a birth -- including moaning, screaming and grunting -- you realize that growing babies in vats really can't be far behind.

Noelle, can have her innards violated in any number of ways during the labor. The baby's shoulders can get stuck. Noelle's blood pressure can spike and she'll have seizures. Plus she has four cervixes to choose from, plus three vulvas for post-partum sewing practice. I'm thinking she's also a big hit at parties.

The simulated baby, however, is sold separately.

Photo credit: Saul Young

Help Baby Get Her Geek On

Brett Singer — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Not satisfied with the plain ol' blankies? Want your kid to stand out from the playground crowd? Or are you a geeky parent who wants to dress your spawn in sci-fi/superhero goodness? Baby Leo Designs has your back. Check out the Retrobots blanket, available in sizes ranging from "Security Lovee" (around here we call them "burp cloths") to full-on blanket, or you can get the design on a bib. There's Skullfinity Blue for once and future metalheads, and also the more traditional Funky Monkey or Animal Crackers.

For some real fun, pick up a cape. Oh yes. That's right. A CAPE. "Baby Leo Designs satin capes are lined with supersoft velvet chamois and adorned with retro-cool handsewn woolfelt applique. It has a high neckline with a one-size-fits-all snap closure." No plastic junk for your Superkid, this is the real deal. They don't make them daddy-sized, but maybe that's a good thing.

Everything looks to be custom made, which is always nice. Check 'em out.

Via BoingBoing.

image: BabyLeoDesigns

Blame it on QRIO: Kids Bond with Classroom Robot

makeitadouble — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:07:00 GMT

Robots in the classroom? Finally the long promised Classroom of Tomorrow is here today and it’s about time in my opinion. For decades futurists, science-fiction writers and homeless derelicts have been promising the flying car of the future, the soft handed kitchen assistant of the future, the public urinal of the future but at long last one of these crackpot projections of life in the 21st century is finally being realized in the United States.

Toddlers in a San Diego classroom were exposed to a clever state-of-the-art humanoid named QRIO off and on over five months and evaluated for how they interacted with it. To control the experiment the researchers also introduced another, dumber, robot called ~~George Bush~~ Robby to the children.

The children grew to see QRIO as part of the class, covering it with a blanket and saying “night-night” when its batteries ran low and it “napped”, some even crying when QRIO fell or appeared to get hurt. Conversely, the children treated the dumber robot as ~~an emasculated lame duck president without any Executive power~~ an inanimate object or a toy.

In fact, over the 5-month period the relationship between QRIO and the children intensified and the robot also became an important part in the lives of the researchers, parents and teachers. Now you may not be comfortable with artificially intelligent classroom assistants with metal endoskeletons covered with living tissue programmed to kill a woman in the past whose unborn son will lead the human race to victory in a bitter future war with a race of machines, but I’m all for it. Hell, they even made a movie about it some years back called Kindergarten Cop.

So maybe the time where our children are taught by cyborg assassins may not yet be upon us, but this study goes far to show us that when it is our children and our children’s children will love them; which is probably just part of their master plan for exterminating the human race. The robots, not our children.

We could however always cling to the hope that robots of the future will be programmed Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, but where would be the fun in that? Any teacher in their right mind would tell you they would welcome a humanoid assistant into their classroom who might snap at any moment if it meant keeping students in line.

(Note to researchers: Maybe you should rethink the name QRIO? Just a thought)

Mmm, Your Robot Hands Are So Soft!

Karen Murphy — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:56:00 GMT

When I saw this new robot from Japan (where all robots are born, apparently, or at least can trace their genetic heritage to) I immediately saw the possibilities: a robot with "soft" hands that can follow simple commands and prepare breakfast? I'm all over that one.

(Dads, you may just have been rendered obsolete. Again. Sorry.)

True. The robot, called (hideously) Twendy-One, is five feet tall and weighs 245 pounds. (Better get on that BMI issue) So what he lacks in physique he makes up for in other ways. Clearly. (Mmm, can't get over those soft robot hands...)

Not that I want to subsist on a diet of toast, which apparently may be one of the only things Twendy-One can prepare with non-bread-tearing hands, but what else are those hands good for, I wonder? Endless back massages perhaps? Mmm...

But more importantly, can those soft robot hands snake a toddler's bendy spaghetti arms through the sleeves of his winter coat? Can they pick up 4,297 Legos and put them back in the bucket? Can they scoop the kitty box? Can they read "Go, Dog, Go" 20,942 times? Can they?

If they can do that I might overlook the $200,000 price tag and the 15-minute battery life. (Seriously, 15 minutes???!) And I would live happily ever after, me and my soft robot hands.

Things Fall Apart: The Longest List Yet

Karen Murphy — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:32:00 GMT

See what happens when I take a week off from this feature? Aqua-Dots. That's what happens. I could have had fun with that one. But that's not all. No, there's Curious Gearge. Again. And ducks, LOTS of ducks. And cars. And tops. And sunglasses. And folding chairs (just go with it). And wagons. And robots. And cribs. Something for everyone! And here's the gory details:

Curious George Plush Dolls. I love me some George, but I'm not liking the lead factor. These 12-inch plush dolls came in various outfits remininscent of the Village People and have plastic faces, and have been sold for aboout two years now. Full refund available.

Duck Family Collectable Tin Wind-Up Toys. Yeah. Covered with lead. Cute, though! Sold since January for about 8 bucks, and you can get a refund or replacement item.

Dizzy Ducks Music Box. I like ducks, but not this much. Take these back, please! Sold since March for about $12, and like the duck family (same importer) you can receive a refund or replacement item.

Pull-Back Action Dollar Store Cars. From the dollar store; do you need to know more? Sold in 4-packs of Super Wheels or 2-packs of Super Racers. Whatever.

Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Tin Tops. Sold waaay back in 2003. Which means your kid's been sucking on that lead-laden handle for four years. I just thought I should point that out. You can get your $12 refunded or pick out another lead-covered toy, your choice.

Yellow Dollar Store Kid's Sunglasses. Sold for, well, a dollar. At you-know-where. Go ahead, ask for your refund, I dare you. But only for the yellow ones.

Folding Chairs . Kids could sit on these. Well, they could! Like next week, at the kid's table at Thanksgiving. Right? Am I right? But these chairs, they collapse. So you will not want that. They were sold at office supply stores for about $30 from August 2005 through July 2007. If you have some you can get a free repair kit.

"Big Red" Wagons. Sold at Northern Tool & Equipment for about $60 from July 2007 through September 2007. They're metal with removeable wooden sides. Lead paint. Get your replacements while they're hot!

"Robot 2000" Battery-Operated Tin Robots. Twelve inches tall with a red light on its head. I kind of want one. Sold for the oast year for about $25, you can get a refund or replacement toy.

Wendy Bellissimo Collection Convertible Cribs . Imported by Bassetbaby for Babies 'R Us, sold from July 2005 through October 2007 for about $500.The bolts at the top corners of the crib can come loose and create a severe entrapment hazard. You can get a free repair kit.

That's it. I'm tired now.

Delicious Droolicious: Every Baby Needs Fangs

Karen Murphy — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:02:00 GMT

Posted by Meredith Broussard

Urban babies wear black, and on Halloween they accessorize with fangs.

This vampire binky is a Goth parent's dream. It also gives you a convenient preview of what your baby will look like with a full mouth of teeth.

Tell a fiend: $12.99 at Halloween Town.

Also on Droolicious today:

Fine, So We'll Be Lovin' Robots

Kelly Mills — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:32:00 GMT

Maybe you heard that researcher David Levy has predicted soon we'll be marrying and having sex with robots, which I assume will lead to the first reported robot headache. Anyhow, here's the big money quote: "At first, sex with robots might be considered geeky, 'but once you have a story like 'I had sex with a robot, and it was great!' appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I'd expect many people to jump on the bandwagon,' Levy said." I'm sorry, but this seems a little far-fetched. I mean, who reads Cosmo anymore?

Okay, so I can believe people can love non-sentient things. After all, I have shoes I'd f*ck if I could. But what I wanna know is: Why are we talking about sex and marriage when I don't have a robot maid? For years they've been promising us robot housecleaners, and while I like my Roomba, it only vacuums. I need a little AI action for all the sweeping, dishes, toy-stashing, and so on. So far I don't see a robot maid aisle in my local Target. It's like Rosie from the Jetsons was just a big ol' tease. So I'd like to tell all those researchers to shut up and bring me my maid. Once that happens I'll listen to your stories of spouses falling for the metal live-in help in a futuristic Sound of Music scenario. Until then, I'm too busy folding laundry.

You've Been Replaced: Mommy Robots Teach Birth

Karen Murphy — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:31:00 GMT

The first time I had a baby, a troupe of medical students came in and gawked at my nether regions during one of the various humiliating and of course revealing "procedures" I endured during my labor. At that point I had been given the old routine of shave-and-enema and then yelled at for letting my ass hang out of the gown as I attempted to scurry to the bathroom while attached to an IV pole. Yeah, you try that and keep your dignity.

So I might have appreciated the existence of genitally and anatomically correct "birthing simulators", mommy-robots that do everything but scream at their partners for getting them into this mess to begin with and forbid them from making a video of the event. Not that I've done that. The electronic robots simulate a variety of birth scenarios which give birthing professionals an idea of what to expect when dealing with the real thing.

But hello? Creepy?

Ew.

Geeky Robot-Building Dads Are the Best

Kelly Mills — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:01:00 GMT

Who needs a dad who will teach you how to throw a curveball or play horsie when you have a dad like this? Geekdad, one of our very favorite resources for all things great, pointed us towards the interview with their hero of the week from Robot magazine. Nao Maru spends quality time with his kids by building robots. Kickass, award-winning robots. In fact, "In less that two years Maru and his two young sons went from complete novices to winning the ROBO-ONE 10 championship against the best humanoid robot builders Japan has to offer." Now that sounds like bonding, and thank god they didn't try to build a baby. Maru isn't one of those parents who takes over and just lets the kids hold the welder for a second. In the interview, he says about building one cool custom robot, "We wanted it to have an original character, but with some similarity to traditional anime robots. More than anything, it had to be something that would excite and inspire all of us, especially the boys, otherwise it wouldn't be worth doing."

Excuse me, I think I have a nanoparticle in my eye... Yeah, I know, that wouldn't account for the watering. It's just the sweet geeky thing gets me right here, every time.

And You thought YOU took a lot of Home Movies of your Kid

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:35:00 GMT

I have hours and hours and hours of videos of my kids. I'm not kidding. Just the videos I have taken with my regular digital camera are taking up most of the memory on my laptop. It's becoming a real problem. Still, I've got nothing on Deb Roy. His son is one year old and Roy has already amassed over 12,000 hours of video of the little guy. Why, you ask? How, you ask?

Roy is doing research. He is trying to teach English to a robot. Seriously. He is the director of the Media Lab's Cognitive Machines Group. That is the why. Here is the how: they have equipped his house with 11 cameras and 14 microphones trying to capture everything the baby does to learn how to speak. Crazy, huh?

Wired has a great article detailing how this all came about. I feel kind of sorry for all of the graduate assistants that have to watch all of that footage. I mean - it is one thing to watch your own baby sleep. It is another thing entirely to watch hours and hours and hours of video of someone else's kid sleeping.

It's a whole new kind of reality tv. (yawn)