1984 was an eventful year for geekdom. That was when Apple released the Macintosh, people breathed a collective sigh of relief over George Orwell’s predictions failing to pass, and The Terminator debuted, bringing the concept of machines taking over mankind to contemporary mainstream consciousness.

1984 was also the year when Japan’s Waseda University developed the WABOT-2, an “intelligent humanoid keyboard player”. As SynthGear reports:
When it was made, it was considered the ‘most advanced robot of its time’ – it could speak Japanese, and it could play a song on a synthesizer, using both hands and feet, while reading the sheet music …read more

Damn you Kwang Kim of the University of Nevada! You’ve given our future robot overlords a distinct advantage, and made it easier for them to quietly take over human society and shape it to their collective will.
And we mean “quietly” literally, for Kim has apparently found a way to create artificial muscles that operate silently, unlike the clumsily noisy hydraulics that drive today’s dormant robotic tech. Kim’s setup also involves the use of gas, but in a way that mimics the biological push-pull opposing motions of real muscles, meaning it doesn’t rely on pistons. By controlling the level of heat …read more

At first glance, the Voicebot—a robot that basically writes out suggestions submitted online in front of British MPs for the sake of making these ideas more personal—sounds like a good idea. It makes it easy for the youth to voice their opinions, because Voicebot literally provides more direct access to members of parliament. Presumably, politicians will have a better understanding of their respective constituencies.
But v, The National Young Volunteers Service (the group responsible for the Voicebot political experiment, and yes, that really is their name) have made a crucial mistake. It’s even more tragic that the group’s push for better …read more

The march of the robotic apocalypse continues. The latest development? A computer-controlled robot that can play billiards. A video demonstration of “Deep Green” in action is here.

Notice how it doesn’t require a rack to properly set the balls up for the next break. And how it even traces the correct path for unsuspecting humans, no doubt to lull them into a false sense of security that yes, man is still in control.
Yes, dear readers, robots are very efficient at what they do. When will they become efficient at eliminating their creators? All sectors, from the military to recreation, will fall …read more

More signs of the impending apocalypse (aside from the running robot and the super robot hand): a robot that can solve sudoku puzzles!
You may remember robot maker Hans Andersson as the guy behind the equally cool Tilted Twister, the rubik’s cube solving robot that made its debut back in February 2008. Both that and the recently-christened Sudoku Solver were built with Lego Mindstorms NXT kits, basically a set that comes with Lego and Lego Technic pieces, electric motors, sensors, and a CPU-powered programmable brick.
Andersson shows the potential of the recreational-educational platform; his creations did not require any modification to …read more

So the braniacs at Ishikawa Komuro Lab have developed a high-speed robot hand that can do things very quickly. Now we have at least one robot that can run decently, and at least one robot hand that can do detailed manipulation tasks much faster and better than we can. We are so doomed.

The high-speed robot hand can close within one-tenth of a second, and make real-time adjustments based on its tactile and visual sensors within one millisecond. See the hand hyper-bounce a ball, twirl a “pen”, knot a rope, pick up a rice grain with tweezers, and throw and catch …read more

The video below is a demo of a robot running at 7 kilometers per hour, constructed and developed by Toyota R&D.
I’ve always wondered why Toyota and Honda have been working on motive robots for the last decade or so. Will future models be more reminiscent of Mechwarrior or Heavy Gear? If so, I want in, even if large humanoid robots are totally impractical for transportation or even combat—coolness outweighs sensibility any time!
Anyways, we are signing over our independence to machines that are slowly becoming more autonomous and capable than us, but at least there are warning signs. Some are more …read more

The $3.5 million dollar woman is pushing the limits with a surprising discovery: she’s starting to feel with her prosthetic left arm again.
This isn’t the “phantom limb” phenomenon commonly reported by amputees. To properly “wire” the prosthetic to Claudia Mitchell’s brain, scientists had to move the shoulder nerves responsible for arm control and feedback to her chest. Ms. Mitchell now reports that, any sensation on her left chest seems to register as coming from her “left arm”.

Yes, the Femisapien was a evolutionary step towards fulfilling mankind’s desire for artificial—yet always willing—pleasure-tainment. Now just imagine robots that can sense and enjoy touch.

To be sure, nothing about the Femisapien is even remotely, er arousing? Yep, it has a busom and a slim waist, but it’s unimaginable anyone mistaking this for the real deal. Still, in man’s quest to create an artificial companion for their companionship and intimate needs, the Femisapien is perhaps a step towards realistic artificiality.