The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the Staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Figure, a Bay Area robotics startup, is bringing humanoid robots into homes sooner than expected. CEO Brett Adcock confirmed that the company will begin alpha testing its Figure 02 robot in real-world home environments later in 2025.
Continue reading Bay Area Robotics Startup Robot to Begin Home Testing in 2025
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the fear of humanoid robots is known as “automatonophobia.” This phobia encompasses a broad range of fears and anxieties related to robots, including humanoid robots. People may fear humanoid robots for various reasons, such as concerns about loss of control, fear of the unknown, worries about job displacement due to automation, or fear of robots malfunctioning and causing harm. Additionally, some individuals may find humanoid robots unsettling due to their resemblance to humans, but with features that appear artificial or uncanny.
Continue reading Automatonophobia: Boston Dynamics New Atlas Robot all the Right Moves
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Tesla’s latest clip of its Optimus humanoid robot shows it smoothly walking around one of its testing facilities. The robot can currently walk at around 0.6 meters per second, a 30% speed boost compared to the robot’s last appearance. Tesla is aiming for the robot to be eventually able to walk up to five miles per hour.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Phildelphia Pa, in January 2019 Ahold Delhaize USA laid out plans to deploy robots to nearly 500 Giant Food Stores, Martin’s and Stop & Shop locations to help improve in-store efficiencies and safety.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
New York NY, Knightscope, Inc. (Nasdaq: KSCP) a leading developer of autonomous security robots and blue light emergency communication systems, today announced that the City of New York Police Department (“NYPD”) signed a pilot contract for Knightscope’s K5 robot to begin patrolling in a Manhattan subway station this summer.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, PaLM-SayCan is a language model from Google that gives robots a broader understanding of the world. It allows robots to respond to complex human requests. Google aims to explore and understand the capabilities robots can provide before developing a robot for commercial release. It is unlikely to release a robot anytime soon.
Continue reading Google is teaching robots to think for themselves , Well Maybe
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Alphabet’s (Google) Everyday Robots Project team has released some of its prototype machines onto Google’s Bay Area campuses to carry out light custodial tasks. The robots are essentially arms on wheels that feature a multipurpose gripper. They have a head with cameras and sensors, including a spinning LIDAR unit for navigation. Alphabet aims to create robots that can manipulate never-before-seen objects in novel settings.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Tokyo Japan, the Dawn Avatar Robot Café in Tokyo features humanoid robots waiting on customers and serving food and drinks. It operates as an accessible business by creating job opportunities for disabled workers. The robots are operated remotely via the internet by people who can’t leave the house for long periods of time. They are 120cm tall and have a camera, microphone, and speaker for communicating with customers. The robots can be controlled just through eye movement, so even people who are immobilized are able to work in the café.
Continue reading Tokyo café has robot waiters controlled remotely by disabled workers
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood High School FTC Robotics team participated in their first competition in December. Our team (The WoodChips) competes in the FIRST Tech Challenge, a national robotics league.
FIRST Tech Challenge teams design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format. Students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and collaboration.
February 5,2016
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Ridgewood NJ , The fledgling Ridgewood High School Robotics Team surpassed all expectations and won the Westfield Wrangle II competition on January 10. The rookie team used their robot to complete a series of tasks quicker than their opponents. Congratulations to team members, Caroline Elliott, Will Baginski, Alvin Chen, Christina d’Ecclesiis, John Gaidimas, Drew Johnson, Ishan Prabhu, Zach Rubenstein, Molly Sokota and Nick Mattson.
“People may also begin to fall in love with their virtual reality partners”
11:59, 4 AUGUST 2015
BY DAVID WATKINSON
Humans could soon be having sexual relationships with robots, a top academic has claimed.
Dr Helen Driscoll said advances in technology mean the way in which humans interact with robots is set to change drastically in the coming years.
Dr Driscoll, a leading authority on the psychology of sex and relationships, said ‘sex tech’ was already advancing at a fast pace and by 2070, physical relationships will seem primitive.
Already you can order a mannequin partner online. And robotic, interactive, motion-sensing technology is likely to become more and more central to the sex industry in the next few years.
“It could really start to enable mannequin partners to ‘come to life'”, according to Dr Driscoll, from the University of Sunderland.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sex-robots-the-norm-50-6190575
Martin Rees
Artificial minds will not be confined to the planet on which we have evolved, writes Martin Rees
So vast are the expanses of space and time that fall within an astronomer’s gaze that people in my profession are mindful not only of our moment in history, but also of our place in the wider cosmos. We wonder whether there is intelligent life elsewhere; some of us even search for it. People will not be the culmination of evolution. We are near the dawn of a post-human future that could be just as prolonged as the billions of years of Darwinian selection that preceded humanity’s emergence.
The far future will bear traces of humanity, just as our own age retains influences of ancient civilisations. Humans and all they have thought might be a transient precursor to the deeper cogitations of another culture — one dominated by machines, extending deep into the future and spreading far beyond earth.
Not everyone considers this an uplifting scenario. There are those who fear that artificial intelligence will supplant us, taking our jobs and living beyond the writ of human laws. Others regard such scenarios as too futuristic to be worth fretting over. But the disagreements are about the rate of travel, not the direction. Few doubt that machines will one day surpass more of our distinctively human capabilities. It may take centuries but, compared to the aeons of evolution that led to humanity’s emergence, even that is a mere bat of the eye. This is not a fatalistic projection. It is cause for optimism. The civilisation that supplants us could accomplish unimaginable advances — feats, perhaps, that we cannot even understand.
https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4fe10870-20c2-11e5-ab0f-6bb9974f25d0.html#axzz3fg7lzqAA
KATHLEEN ELKINS
MAY 1, 2015, 11:15 AM
There’s a BakeBot robot whipping up fresh cookies at MIT; hospitals are now employing medical robots to assist their doctors; and a robot named Baxter can beat any human at the popular logic game Connect Four, among many other tasks.
“Historically what we thought was that robots would do things that were the three D’s: dangerous, dirty, and dull,” explains Ryan Calo, professor at University of Washington School of Law with an expertise in robotics. “Over time, the range of things that robots can do has extended.”
Their abilities will only continue to expand. Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, anticipates that by 2029 robots will have reached human levels of intelligence.
Many people fear a jobless future — and their anxiety is not unwarranted: Gartner, an information technology research and advisory firm, predicts that one-third of jobs will be replaced by software, robots, and smart machines by 2025
Robots mow your lawn, clean your floor
Deborah Porterfield, Special for USA Today12:08 p.m. EDT September 16, 2014
The hammock looks inviting but your lawn needs to be mowed. A Robomow robotic mower provides a tempting solution. Powered by a rechargeable battery, the mower trims your lawn while you nap in the sun. Before you can put the mower to work, you’ll have to set up the mowing perimeters with the included perimeter wire and plastic pegs. This lets the mower know where to mow and — more important — where not to mow. When the mower senses an obstacle, the blades will stop moving and the mower will change course. Forgetful? You can set the mower to do its job at preset times and days. The RC306, a mower that can handle a 6,500-square-foot lawn, costs about $1,100. The RM200, a basic model that can handle a 2,200-square foot lawn, costs about $800. Other models are available.www.robomow.com
Vacuum and mop at the same time
Should you sweep or mop? You can set up Moneual’s Hybrid Robot Vacuum Cleaner to do both. Using the remote control, you can direct the RYDIS H68 Pro to vacuum a room’s floor and then have it scrub the floor with water and cleanser placed in its tank. The sparkling results will make your home ready for drop-in guests. The robotic cleaner also can vacuum without mopping and vice versa. Either way, its smart vision mapping sensors can track down — and clean — dirty areas that are often overlooked. It costs about $500.
www.moneualusa.com
Korea Ups Its Robots Game
By Brian Bremner and Rose Kim September 11, 2014
In 1976 an animated film called Robot Taekwon V captured Korean kids’ imaginations with its tale of a superhero robot fending off giant machines bent on world domination. The film’s appeal endures—as does the cultural fascination with automated machines. South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s industrial planners have global ambitions of their own: to blow by Europe, Japan, and the U.S. in the race to hold sway over advanced robotics.
South Korea is embracing robotics with the same intensity that made it a force in high-speed broadband, widescreen televisions, and smartphones. Robot Land, a state-subsidized 758 billion won ($735 million) theme park featuring futuristic rides as well as research and development labs, is set to open in 2016. The government is also investing 1.1 trillion won to support the nation’s robotics industry.
https://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-11/south-koreas-robotics-ambitions-beware-japan
