Robots making springs

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Robot #8 - the spare parts robot

By Jack Brummet

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Painting: riot at the robot factory

By Jack Brummet

detail:

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Swarming Robots

By Jack Brummet, Spooky Futures Ed.

The concept of Swarm Robots or swarming robotics is amazing, and more than a little scary.  There is a fascinating article by the Wall Street Journal here.

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Digital Art: Meet the new boss (Robot No 11)

By Jack Brummet

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Image: Fraternal robot twins

By Jack Brummet

[hand-drawn, scanned and digitally edited/enhanced]

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Digital Art: Fraternal Robot Twins

Digital Art by Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Poem: Robot Wars

The bad news for us:
The loss of one member
Is inconsequential--
Just a millisecond diversion
In their inexorable march.
A platoon of robots,
A company of robots
Stepping over broken robots.
A regiment of robots,
A division of robots
Executing lines of code.
A corps of robots,
An army of robots--
Programmed to make it all come down
By rogue homo sapiens--
March straight ahead,
Utterly indifferent to the fate
Of their brothers and sisters in arms
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This will not turn out well for us - the first flesh-eating robots

New Scientist has a fascinating piece this week about flesh eating robots. Somehow it seems like this won't turn out well for us. . .read the article here.

James Auger worked with long time collaborator and fellow designer Jimmy Loizeau to build five domestic robots. Each can sense its environment, has mechanical moving parts, and can perform basic services for its human hosts, such as telling the time or lighting a room. But the robots also have a taste for flesh. They can gain energy by chomping on flies and mice, an idea inspired by researchers at Bristol Robotics Lab, UK, who built a fly-powered robot and have also suggested that marine robots could feed on plankton.

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Photograph: Vintage Japanese Robots

Click to enlarge

I don't know who took this 'photo (let us know if it is yours), but it is a great! These are vintage Japanese robots. . .

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The Robot Vs. John Coltrane - Playing Giant Steps

This is a video of a robot in Japan playing John Coltrane's amazing "Giant Steps." To hear John Coltrane play the same tune, see the post immediately below this one (or, go here). The robotic version, is of course, rote and totally lacking in the dynamics and variety--and maybe, especially, the insane energy--of 'Trane's incredible solo. Clearly, they used the notation from Trane's solo, and it is more or less in the same rhythmic time, It shows both how great John Coltrane actually was, and how far automated music still has to go.



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Boston Dynamics' Spooky Gas-powered, Concrete Robot, Big Dog...

It's loud, it looks like a gigantic insect scrambling over the hill, and it lives! This is by far the spookiest thing I've seen this year. "Big Dog" is a robot that can carry 350 pounds, walk through brush, bombed out buildings, and even on ice. This was created by Boston Dynamics on a grant from "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency." We're so screwed!

Earlier this year I read How To Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion by Daniel H. Wilson. . .Wilson drops robotics history trivia nuggets and descriptions of current robot research into this scary and funny guide to surviving the inevitable robot apocalypse. And seeing Big Dog, it feels like we're just a little bit closer to that Robot-Homo Sapien meet-up.
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A Michael Jackson Replica Robot To Roam The Desert?

According to an article yesterday in Music-news.com "Michael Jackson is in discussions about creating a 50-foot robotic replica of himself to roam the Las Vegas desert, according to reports. "

Jackson has apparently moved back to Sin City from Dubai, and is contemplating yet another comeback attempt.

The article says "If built, the metal monster would apparently be visible to aircraft as they come in to land in the casino capital. " The robot will also include numerous lasers that should look fantastic, firing into the dark desert skies.

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