Robo-Phone

Here’s a real-world giant robot — used as advertising for Ericsson Telephones. I’m not sure where or when, but it’s quite old and makes for an impressive billboard, even if it’s not very mobile! Source: me-ru-mo via Dark Roasted Blend

Robots of Deception

No doubt this is how we end up creating a race of Decepticons. The evolution of robots toward the acquisition of fundamental human qualities has begun. Forget all that artificial intelligence stuff; the true test of humanity is the ability to lie. A group of computer scientists at the Geor­gia In­sti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy are teaching [...]

The Blonde’ll Get the Robot Every Time

Sex Kittens Go to College [aka The Beauty and the Robot] (US-1960; dir. Albert Zugsmith) was a piece of fairly harmless comedic sexploitation starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld and Bridget’s sister Mijanou, dressed out in classic 1950s pointy bras and tight sweaters. Mamie Van Doren plays a brilliant science professor who is promoted to [...]

Robot Scientists

The creation of machines that can “think” independently (as least as independently as grad students) and do their own scientific research and development would be a major step toward the creation of the sort of artificial intelligence that we frequently see in SF films and stories, right? Welcome to the New World! Note that the [...]

The Evolution of Robots

This is a commercial for SATURN, a German electronics retailer. It was directed by Carl Erik Rinsch for advertising agency Scholz&Friends. In case you think the evolution of robots into sexy humanoid form is unlikely, check out this real-world one:

Robots and War

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talk by P.W. Singer on military robots and what they mean for the future of warfare. Fascinating and powerful stuff! Peter Warren Singer is the director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution — where his research and analysis offer an eye-opening take on what the 21st century [...]

Why Robots Are a Good Thing

The Honda Corporation documentary, Living With Robots, may be designed as a promotional tool, but it gives an excellent introduction to the various issues — technical, psychological and sociological — surrounding the development of bi-pedal robots. You know, the humanoid kind that so often end up being the villains in sci-fi films and stories. Honda’s [...]

The Robots of Titan

An army of robot explorers that are capable of self-command and situation evaluation, and which remain in constant contact with each other to allow for greater flexibility of action, has been envisaged as the future of space exploration by the director of Caltech’s Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory, Professor Wolfgang Fink. The concept [...]

Tetsujin 28-go AKA Gigantor

The Japanese giant robot Tetsujin 28 has had many incarnations. Created in manga form in 1956 (written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama), it spawned several anime series, was renamed as “Gigantor” for US TV, appeared in a live-action movie and is being made into a full-length CGI feature film. 1960s TV Series (as “Gigantor”) 2004: [...]

Carnivorous War Machines

Reports have surfaced of an in-development military robot that will fuel itself by scavenging biomass from its environment. In other words, this “steam-powered robot” will be a forager — self-maintaining, able to “feed” off grass, wood and the biological detritus of war, including corpses. That’s quite a scenario — one that sounds like the makings [...]