This year’s International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS2013) was held in Tokyo, Japan— a globally recognized hotspot for some of the most fascinating robots on earth. Under the name of New Horizon, this conference aimed to get participants looking forward towards a new era of intelligent systems capable of meeting the needs of the fast-changing times we live in.
Continue reading
An ancient Arabic machine manuscript
What’s so great about machines?
It’s easy to see how some of today’s mechanical marvels like NASA’s Mars Spirit Rover or The HRP-4C, created by The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), inspire jaw-dropping wonder. Who made that? And how on earth does it do that? Are all natural questions that come to mind in the face of these modern works. However, there’s something about animated bits of wire and metal that have intrigued humans for centuries.
Continue reading
Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University, Japan and his twin robot
When robots become too real, our approval takes a plunge into ¨The Uncanny Valley¨
Coined by robotics professor Masahiro Mori, ¨The Uncanny Valley¨ is a phenomenon that describes our aversion to robots and or artificial beings after they reach a certain level of human likeness. Many people such as Sigmund Freud and Ernst Jentsch have explored the concept of ¨the uncanny¨
Continue reading