ROBOTS!!!!!

Humanoid Robot Atlas Can Now Do Parkour and That’s Not at All Terrifying (Oh, Yes, It Is)

Remember Atlas, the robot that can run like a person? It can now do a lot more than that.

Yesterday, (Oct. 11) robotics company Boston Dynamics posted a new video on YouTube showcasing the robot’s latest progress, carrying it past its prior agility goals in leaps and bounds — literally.

“Atlas does parkour,” Boston Dynamics wrote in the video description. Footage shows Atlas nimbly leaping over a log and skipping between platforms of different heights “without breaking its pace,” according to the description.

As Atlas navigates the challenges of the obstacle course, a slow-motion sequence emphasizes the precision in its movements as it leaps between platforms, each one measuring about 16 inches (40 centimeters) high. Software and vision sensors control Atlas’s navigation, according to the video description — nevertheless, the robot’s coordination seem remarkably humanlike for a machine.

Described on the Boston Dynamics website as “the world’s most dynamic humanoid,” Atlas has a four-limbed, bipedal frame that would invite comparison to the human body regardless of how the robot moved. But in a series of videos released over the last few years, Atlas demonstrates mobility this is uncannily human: recovering after being shoved, performing backflips, jogging over a grassy field and practicing robot parkour.

The prospect of a humanoid robot that can leap, backflip and bound after you over rugged terrain is unsettling enough, but Atlas’s creators at Boston Dynamics keep pushing the bot toward ever more ambitious gymnastic achievements.

What’s next for the nimble Atlas? Only its designers know for sure.

Originally published on Live Science.

from:    https://www.livescience.com/63817-atlas-robot-parkour.html

RoboBugs

Bug-Sized Robot Competitors to Swarm DARPA’s ‘Robot Olympics’

Bug-Sized Robot Competitors to Swarm DARPA's 'Robot Olympics'
Robots that measure just a fraction of an inch in length could be used in search-and-rescue operations after national disasters, or to inspect hazardous environments.

Credit: DARPA

Picture the Olympic Games — except instead of human athletes, the competitors are all insect-sized robots.

That’s the scenario proposed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), representatives said in a statement. The group is seeking innovative designs for robots that measure just a fraction of an inch, and the tiny bots will compete against each other in a series of contests of strength, speed and agility — similar to those that try the limits of human achievement in the Olympics.

The robots would be developed for a new DARPA program called Short-Range Independent Microrobotic Platforms (SHRIMP). Under SHRIMP, the bug-sized bots will be tested for deploying in locations that are difficult for people to navigate, or are dangerous or inaccessible to humans, according to the statement.

SHRIMP will research and develop novel solutions for powering small robots, and will investigate new materials that could improve the robots’ performance without significantly increasing their size or heft. And to test how well the robots can perform, SHRIMP will put them through their paces in “an Olympic-style evaluation,” with performances demonstrating their maneuverability, dexterity and mobility, according to the statement.

One of the “sports” categories for the bots will test untethered actuator-power systems, showing how high and how far the robot can jump, how much weight they can lift, how far they can throw objects and how they perform in a tug of war.

The other category is for complete robot designs: The tiny bots will be evaluated on rock piling, climbing a vertical surface, navigating an obstacle course, and performing in a biathlon.

Robots competing in DARPA’s robo-lympics may be small, but their minuscule size will allow them to perform important tasks that are off-limits to larger robots. And discoveries    that make the tiny robots more powerful and agile could be applied to other areas where the use of robotics is currently constrained by their size or bulkiness — “from prosthetics to optical steering,” Ronald Polcawich, a DARPA program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office, said in the statement.

Robot proposals are due Sept. 26, and the testing period is estimated to kick off in March 2019, according to the project website.

from:    https://www.livescience.com/63129-darpa-tiny-robot-olympics.html

Stephen Hawking & The Perils of AI

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking: Governments are engaged in an AI arms race that could destroy humanity

“Mankind is in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity.”

On Monday, English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge, Stephen Hawking went on the Larry King show. He was less than optimistic about the future of humanity.

Six years ago, Hawking was on the King show and said, “Mankind is in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity.” When asked if he thought humanity has changed since their last visit, Hawking replied, “We have certainly not become less greedy or less stupid.”

In summarizing the last six years,
Stephen Hawking said, “Six years ago, I was warning about pollution and overcrowding; they have gotten worse since then.”

Hawking’s faith in humanity is apparently dwindling as the theoretical physicist predicted little more than doom and gloom. “The population has grown by half a billion since our last interview, with no end in sight. At this rate, it will be eleven billion by 2100. Air pollution has increased by 8 percent over the past five years. More than 80 percent of inhabitants of urban areas are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution,” he said.

Hawking says that addressing pollution is a major concern, but we’ve yet to do so.

“The increase in air pollution and the emission of increasing levels of carbon dioxide. Will we be too late to avoid dangerous levels of global warming?” he said.

If humans don’t kill themselves with pollutions, according to Hawking, it will be the robots that do us in. When King asked Hawking about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), Hawking explained that when government is involved in technological evolution, the outlook is bleak.

“Governments seem to be engaged in an AI arms race, designing planes and weapons with intelligent technologies. The funding for projects directly beneficial to the human race, such as improved medical screening seems a somewhat lower priority.”

When King asked Hawking about his views on Ray Kurzweil’s theory of the singularity, Hawking shot it down as “too optimistic.”

“I think that his views are both too simplistic and too optimistic. Exponential growth will not continue to accelerate, something we don’t predict will interrupt it as has happened with similar forecasts in the past,” he said.

As he continued, Hawking alluded to the fears that some people hold about AI wiping humanity from the earth because of having differing goals.

Hawking said. “Once machines reach the critical stage of being able to evolve themselves, we cannot predict whether their goals will be the same as ours.”

King goes on to ask Hawking, “Will artificial intelligence ever go on to render human society obsolete?”

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to evolve faster than the human race. Beneficially AI could co-exist with humans and augment our capabilities. But a rogue AI could be difficult to stop.”

After claiming humans are stupid, greedy, and AI will destroy the world, Hawking noted that it is still important to pursue the cause of AI as it will be highly beneficial to humans in the future.

Via Free Thought Project

from:    https://www.intellihub.com/stephen-hawking-governments-are-engaged-in-an-ai-arms-race-that-could-destroy-humanity/

RU A Robot In Nevada, Need A Driver’s License? No Problem

Robots Can Apply For Driver’s Licenses In Nevada

HuffPost Weird News    Posted: 03/ 2/2012 2:55 pm

Nevada allows gambling, prostitution and, now, robot driver’s licenses.

As of March 1, the state allows robot researchers to apply for a special license allowing them to test robotic vehicles on open roads, according to RobotLiving.com, which sayid the cars driven by the robots will be marked with a red license plate during the testing phase.

Once the robot drivers prove their metal — er, mettle — the license plates will change to green.

Nevada governor Brian Sandoval signed A.B. 511 into law last June after Google pushed a campaign to give androids the right to the same access to roads as humanoids. Robotic Prius cars are already driving semi-legally in California, according to SingularityHub.com.

The robot drivers have already driven more than 200,000 miles in California semi-legally, but experts believe Nevada’s openess will help researchers perfect the robotic technology.

The state may have hit the jackpot with this law: anyone who wants a robot car license has to post a bond in excess of $1 million to ensure against damage and they have to provide the Nevada DMV with a detailed report on what they are testing with each car.

It could take years before robotic cars are a reality but Buzz60.com correspondent Maureen Aladinanticipates they will be an improvement over humans.

“At least with robots, there won’t be any human error,” she said. “No robot profiling, texting while driving or road rage.”

from:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/robots-drivers-licenses-nevada_n_1316829.html?ref=weird-science