The “Uncanny Valley” and Autism

Robot scientists have long known about “the uncanny valley” – a place between a real human face, and a cartoon robot one. http://www.arclight.net/~pdb/nonfiction/uncanny-valley.html Cartoon-y robots that display basic human features, but keep it basic (or look like a funny animal) are accepted. But as you get too close to human, the like turns to disgust.

China keeps working on Humanoids

Like the rest of Asia, China has been working for many years on the development of humanoid robots. Their models seem similar to earlier Japanese designs, with the shuffling “bent knee” walk that Robots that Can’t Jump typically display. Case in point: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/12/bhr-3-humanoid-robot/ There is more detail at http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=28937 The robots are functional, and are being

Building Babbage’s Analytical Engine

This one is just too cool for words: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/07/science/before-its-time-machine.html?ref=science With a diagram showing some components of the Analytical Engine design http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/07/science/before-its-time-machine.html?ref=science

There are robots…and there are robots

There are two definitions of robots. One is the movie definition of humanoid or animal-oid creatures displaying intelligence and intent. The second is a machine operating in the real world (as opposed to standard computer virtual worlds) which reacts to sensor input. Intelligence and intent is lacking. By this second standard, we have growth in