Robot Uprising Update: The Future is 'Friendly' Robots... Until They Attach Lasers!
It's been over two years since I last wrote about the inevitable machine uprising and, while Boston Dynamics continues to claim they're not inadvertently trigging the first attack by pushing their robots around with hockey sticks, the future is leaning toward 'friendly' service robots (or at least the robots want you to think they're friendly so you'll casually pass them your laser gun to 'look after').
Honda's Asimo is no more.
Possibly the most famous 'friendly' robot, Honda's Asimo, is unfortunately no more. Honda shelved further research into human-like, bipedal robots in 2017, though will be using some of their robot technology in things like making it possible for your motorcycle to self balance and follow you around like a puppy dog.
Soft Bank's Pepper Robot Assistant.
Japanese Robot manufacturer, Soft Bank (who as I understand it bought Boston Dynamics and recently sold an 80% stake to Hyundai), is going from strength to strength with its 'friendly' robot, Pepper. This robot has gone into mass production and is relatively affordable as a personal companion, greeter, or educator, that comes with its own iPad.
While Pepper's lack of legs means it can still be defeated by a set of stairs (like your evil, scheming, robot vacuum), it still has laser sensors built in, just waiting to be turned up to eleven (I'm guessing that's the melt your face off setting).
Boston Dynamic's Robot Dog Spot can dance.
Boston Dynamic's robot dog, Spot, has also gone into commercial production but, just because it can dance doesn't mean it's friendly.
When you purchase a Spot robot it comes with a bunch of warning documentation letting you know if you get in its way it'll rip your legs off (probably). That is, it's considered to be more akin to industrial machinery than an alternative to a real pet dog for your young kids.
While Asimo may be no more, UBTech Robotics have created their own similarly styled robot called 'Walker', who is promoted as a domestic assistant.
At less than a metre and a half tall, it can work safely with humans (that's what the robots want you to think), and probably won't crush your kid if it accidentally fell over on them... because that's never going to happen since it has balance correction capabilities (though I've seen no evidence of one being properly assaulted with hockey sticks by those dummies at Boston Dynamics).
UBTech's Walker Personal Assistant contemplating the location of this family's laser gun cabinet.
It's no coincidence that UBTech's tagline is Bringing a Robot into every home and business, and they also make other service robots that specialize in cleaning (currently safely disinfecting away COVID19 but probably blood stains too once the overrides kick in on their friendly 'Walker' Terminators).
Surena IV is the one on the left with the Gort robot (right) vibes as seen in The Day the Earth Stood Still.
The American Society of Robotics has recognized the Iranian Research Humanoid robot, Surena IV, as the most advanced machine of its kind to date.
While it's not yet clear if this robot is intended to be a 'friendly' robot its capabilities are very similar to UBTech's, Walker. Concerningly this robot, in my opinion, is giving off 'Gort' vibes, the killer robot with laser eyes from the 1951 movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'd keep those Boston Dynamics guys and their hockey sticks well away from it!
This article was inspired by the two videos below from the YouTube Channels Curious Droid and Pro Robots. You can see all the robots mentioned (and more) in both videos.
It should be noted that I'm not a robot technophobe and all my posts on the Robot Uprising are purely tongue in cheek. Having said that I do urge any laser gun owners to store them responsibly, locked away from curious robots for everybody's safety.
B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls. The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...
T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters. He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's Superman is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film. To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...
Tasman Bridge as seen from The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. C ontinuing on with my partner (Enigma) and I's return to Hobart, Tasmania, it's day three, and a Monday. Enigma was hoping to see snow on top of Mount Wellington this trip however, so far we'd had nothing but fine weather. A little on the cool side maybe, but not enough to put snow on the mountain. Which you can check with Summit Cam's live feed from the mountain top. So we decided to fill our day with Hobart's other bus tour... Red Decker Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour The Red Decker Bus. The Red Decker bus tour is a 90 minute loop tour of the main sights within Hobart. While you can just stay on the bus the whole loop the idea is to get off the bus at any key location you may like to further explore and then rejoin the tour when the next available bus comes along to your nearest timed stop. Tickets last for 24 or 48 hours, giving you plenty of time to explore without being rushed. The bus website tells ...
How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...
Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de...
AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).