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 with it’s single ‘eye’. It could also listen to a person’s singing voice, adjust its tempo to match, identify the notes and come up with a live accompaniment based on the sung melody. Oh, and it could carry on a basic conversation too.

Seems like the Japanese were already unwittingly contributing to the robotic apocalypse as far back as the mid-80s. SynthGear tries to be cute, warning readers not to anger WABOT-2, as “he’s liable to rip your arms off”. But what’s the joke there? With more powerful limbs, it’s easy to assume that future variants of the WABOT will put the best keyboard players to shame—and have enough power to indeed separate human appendages from their unwilling host torsos. Looks like the time frame of the WABOT-2 and The Terminator is more than a coincidence.

Video of the WABOT-2 playing (and secretly contributing to the robotic master plan for human downfall) below:

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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 that applied to specific parts of the artificial motivator, varied movements are possible. The nifty diagram below explains everything:

Courtesy The New Scientist

Ultimately however, noiseless muscle tech may not find any use. Remember how the Terminator moves quietly when discussed as your average human, and starts becoming noisy once the artificially-grown flesh is stripped off? The advanced biologically-based sound dampening technology at work! Still, Kim’s summary of his applied research gives me the chills:

The system has biological muscle-like properties for humanoid robots that need high power, large limb strokes – and no noise

Before you know it, step one of the global robotic agenda will kick off—with specially designed robot assassins disguised as humans, who will put Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame.

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Courtesy vinspired.com

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 communication between the citizens and their elected representatives has created a vulnerability.

You see, what’s to stop the now-dormant robot overlords from taking control of Voicebot? Why, they can insert messages that sound like they come from human youth, but are actually subtle instructions to push the robotic agenda. Messages like “Robots are cool, put more funding into improving them” blend easily with useful insights like “Politics is the debate over power, not over needs”.

So, it’s quite possible that, before the British Prime Minister and his fellow MPs become more aware of what needs to be done to improve the situation of the youth—humanity’s future—they would be manipulated into making it easier for robots to take over the UK (and the world) once the time is right.

You have hastened our downfall, v, The National Young Volunteers Service! Voicebot apparently now has the ears of people in power, and who knows what Voicebot will tell these impressionable personalities do? Thank goodness for publications like politics.co.uk that keep us informed of the latest robot machinations.

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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 under their automated sway.

To the creators at Queen’s University: what have you done? What have you done??

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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 his NXT kits, operating completely within the parameters of Mindstorms NXT framework (Though admittedly Mindstorms NXT by itself is pretty versatile).

Anyways, back to our doomsday prophecies. The Sudoku Solver may take practically forever to actually fill out a puzzle, but did you see how quickly computed the answer? Robots nowadays can do specialized tasks much better than we can. The only thing holding them back is their limited ability to interact with the physical world, right? Right?

Courtesy Hans Andersson

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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 objects:

Granted, the hand’s capabilities are quite limited, and the video above implies a need for numerous support equipment to make everything work. But it’s easy to see the hand flipping off the viewer as it dribbles a ball or uses the tweezers. It’s a sign folks, robotic disdain for the human existence has already begun! We are so doomed; once again we have the Japanese obsession over articulating robots to thank.

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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 obvious than others, like in the case of the running robot.

Once if starts jogging place, you know it’s about to charge towards you, at a deadly speed of 7kph. That gives you just enough time to solidly shove it on the chest as it nears, and prevent yourself from turning into robot-induced roadkill.

That is, of course, until newer, better, more lethal runners make their debut.

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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”.

Claudia Mitchell lost her left arm back in 2004, due to motorcycle accident. In 2006, scientists fitted her with an advanced prosthetic, wired directly to her brain so that she would be able to move the arm through thought alone. This was partly a necessity, since the severity of her injury meant that she was no longer able to use the nerves though to be responsible for controlling a conventional prosthetic. At the same time however, this means that Mitchell can clench her fingers, move her thumb, and bend her wrist through mere thought.

This development indicates that sensory nerves can recover, and gives scientists new hope into creating bionic limbs that provide full sensory and manipulation capabilities. (dailymail.co.uk, photo courtesy of the AP)

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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.

Of course, the (Japanese!) researchers had to come up with a rational explanation, to give this seedy enterprise a morally-acceptable facade:

“Without human skin-like sensitivity, robots cannot be used in everyday life. Imagine the danger if a robot did not recognise when it had accidentally bumped into a young child,” New Scientist magazine quoted Takao Someya of the University of Tokyo as saying. (medindia.com)

Whatever man, just be sure to let us know when you can make the skin look real. We can’t wait for the day when the hardware driving pleasure dummies becomes obsolete as soon as you take it out of the box!

Image courtesy of myportfolio.net

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A realistic artificiality that consumer-friendly budget-wise (the Femisapien costs $99), and follows your every command (robotsrule.com claims the robot can memorize dance moves and act out skits). We just can’t wait for someone to make this baby human-sized and put on some realistic skin. Imagine all the happy men once fem-bots become reality! Oh la la la.

Enough words, check out this “review”—a thinly-disguised but comprehensive video advertisment for the Femisapien.

What do you think? Feel free to check out the whole review on robotsrule.com.

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