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In Iraq, the terrorists have come to realize that the small robots American troops are using, are sometimes more dangerous than the Americans themselves. There are several thousand of these small (under 100 pounds, and look like a miniature tank) droids in use, and they have become a primary target for the terrorists. The most common use of these robots is to check out objects that might be roadside bombs. Terrorists will detonate their roadside bomb if they see a robot going to check it out, and will fire on the droids as well. Users have come to rely on...

On the last day of the RoboBusiness Conference in Boston, something wonderful happened. Institute of Robotics in Scandinavia (iRobis) introduced robotic imagination. I don’t mean imaginative robot designs. I mean; robots that imagine. And by imagine, I don’t mean simply creating images in a simulator. I mean imagination as part of reasoning and problem solving. This capability is part of a new software system, with the working title: Brainstorm™, that is set to be available to researchers and product developers this year. The presentation by iRobis co-founder Peter Nordin began with an extraordinary claim of work toward “A complete...

Are we safe from robots that can think for themselves? By REBECCA CAMBER Robots that can think for themselves could soon be caring for our children and the elderly and policing our streets, say experts. Scientists told yesterday of a new generation of robots which can work without human direction. They predict that in the next five years robots will be available for child-minding, to work in care homes, monitor prisons and help police trace criminals. And while it may sound like something out of a science-fiction film, the experts say advances in technology have made the thinking robot possible....

A new set of laws has been proposed to govern operations by killer robots. The ideas were floated by John S Canning, an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre, Dahlgren Division – an American weapons-research and test establishment. Mr Canning's “Concept of Operations for Armed Autonomous Systems” presentation can be downloaded here (pdf). Many Reg readers will be familiar with the old-school Asimov Laws of Robotics, but these are clearly unsuitable for war robots – too restrictive. However, the new Canning Laws are certainly not a carte blanche for homicidal droids to obliterate fleshies without limit; au contraire Canning...

MEDFORD, Mass. ? The robot lies dissected on the black slab of a lab table, its silicone rubber exterior spread and flattened like a trophy snakeskin. Hair-thin wires run in a zigzag line along the inner length of its pale artificial flesh.

"In this uncomfortably humorous survival guide, Wilson, a Ph.D. candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, reminds readers that "any machine could rebel, from a toaster to a Terminator," and though the forms our future robot enemies may take are manifold, they each have exploitable weaknesses that, fortuitously, match our natural human strengths. So, if a two-legged android gives chase, seek out a body of water, as "most robots will sink in water or mud and fall through ice." It also may be a good idea to carry around a pair of welder's goggles, as lasers will likely...

In Pictures: Robot menagerie An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer. The South Korean government has identified robotics as a key economic driver and is pumping millions of dollars into research. "The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to...

Walk onto some local high school campuses in the late afternoon during January and February and you are greeted by sounds of metal grinding, the pop of rivet guns, the patter of computer keyboards and, overall, the sound of teenagers laughing. This is the scene for high school robotics teams, students who spend six weeks creating a robot designed to accomplish a set task, then test their results in international competition. Along the way they learn professional and life skills beyond the field of engineering. These students dedicate hours of their time after school and on weekends - sometimes 20...

A fleet of exploding probes could prepare the way for warding off hazardous asteroids. Several of the small spherical robots would land on a single asteroid, some exploding while others listen for vibrations that could reveal the object's inner structure. NASA has a list of more than 800 asteroids considered to be potentially hazardous because their orbits carry them close to Earth's. If one of them is found to be on a collision course, knowing its physical properties will be crucial in devising a mission to divert it.

Robot mother helps South Koreans prepare for birth Thu Jan 4, 2007 12:21 PM ET SEOUL, Jan 4 (Reuters Life!) - With South Korea's birth rate at its lowest ever, medical students are resorting to robots to practice bringing babies into the world. Kyunghee University Medical Center in Seoul is the first institution in South Korea to use Noelle, a life-sized robot, and her "newborn" to give obstetric students experience. "With this simulator training tool, we can conduct not only normal deliveries, but also complicated deliveries such as breech births, Caesarean deliveries," Professor Jung Eui told Reuters Television. "Students can...

Robots Are Honored in Japan By HIROKO TABUCHI TOKYO - A feeding machine and a furry, therapeutic seal _ both designed to make life easier for older people _ were among robots honored at a government-sponsored robotics award ceremony in Japan on Thursday. The "My Spoon" feeding robot, which won a prize in the "service robots" category of the Robot Award 2006, helps older or disabled people eat with a joystick-controlled swiveling arm that shovels morsels from a plate to the person's mouth. My Spoon, which is already sold in Japan and Europe, doesn't force feed: the spoon-fitted arm stops...

The next time you beat your keyboard in frustration, think of a day where it may be able to sue you for assault. Within 50 years we might even find ourselves standing next to the next generation of vacuum cleaners in the voting booth. Far from being extracts from the extreme end of science fiction, the idea that we may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for humans is raised in a British government-commissioned report which claims to be an extensive look into the future. Visions of the status of robots around 2056 have emerged...

The new RedOwl “sniper detection and surveillance” robot is a remote, deployable sensor suite designed to provide early warning information, gunshot detection, intelligence, surveillance and targeting capabilities to military and government agencies. RedOwl is a program led by Boston University with iRobot, Insight Technology and BioMimetic Systems, a Boston U spinout company. The RedOwl equipped PackBot has been field-tested for the Army at a rifle and trapshooting range. The RedOwl robot also employs a suite of advanced optics including a thermal camera, 300X zoom daylight/infrared camera, infrared laser illuminators, a rangefinder, high intensity white driving light, and voice communication microphones...

Copying the humble honeybee's foraging methods could give robots better 3D vision, researchers say. Robot explorers could identify points of interest by mimicking the way bees alert others of promising foraging spots. Explorer bees report the location of a new food source, like an inviting flowerbed, by dancing on a special area of honeycomb when they return to the hive (see How vibes from dancing honeybees create a buzz on the dance floor). A new type of stereoscopic computer vision system takes inspiration from this trick. It was developed by Gustavo Olague and Cesar Puente, from the Center for Scientific...

It looks almost like any other shopping cart, except sensors allow it to follow the shopper around the supermarket and slow down when needed so items can be placed in it, and it never crashes into anyone's heels. Gregory Garcia dreamed up the robotic cart to solve a childhood peeve of being accidentally hit with shopping carts by his sister. His cart, also known as B.O.S.S. for Battery Operated Smart Servant, was one of about 30 robots on display Wednesday by students at the University of Florida, who worked the past semester on the projects using their engineering backgrounds. "The...

Microsoft released the preview version of a software toolkit for building robot applications today, pledging to ignite the robot market in the same way it did the PC market some 20 years ago. The software maker sees robotics as being on the verge of a rapid take-off, fuelled by the availability of cheap, high-performance hardware components. But the market is being held back by a need for better tools and a common software platform that will let applications be reused on different types of robots, according to Microsoft. Enter its Robotics Studio, a package of tools and runtime software that...

Redstone's robotics chief strives to put technology, not soldiers, in harm's way. Many a joke has been told of the military's snail-paced bureaucracy. In Iraq, robotics chief Col. Edward Ward is not laughing. Ward measures red tape in deaths, and military brass have declined to erect hurdles as Ward marches along the shortest distance between the points. Based at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ward is something of a Decatur fixture due to frequent speeches here, all ginning up support for a robotics program that has proved to be the most effective defense against improvised explosive devices in Iraq. Ward, 50,...

I admit, I wasn't overly impressed with Yamanaka Shunji's various designs until I read the specs on this one. It is an eight-wheeled vehicle that he and Chiba Institute of Technology's Furuta Takayuki designed. Nissan also pitched in to see how robotics and automobile technology can get along. The vehicle can make a 360-degree circle, move diagonally, and - get this - even climb stairs. I am guilty, too. I have often accused the Japanese of not being very creative. They are amazing at copying and approving on previous designs -- and then mass-producing them while maintaining quality. But my...

Mars robots to get smart upgrade By Jonathan Amos BBC News science reporter, in Baltimore Dust devils on Mars: Catch them if you can The US space agency's rovers will get a software upgrade to allow them to make "intelligent" decisions in the study of Martian clouds and dust devils. The new algorithms will give the robots' computers the onboard ability to search through their images to find pictures that feature these phenomena. Only the most significant data will then be sent to Earth, maximising the scientific return from the missions. Nasa says its robotic craft will become increasingly autonomous...

A small personal digital assistant controls a 'PackBot' at iRobot's headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts in a 2004 file photo. U.S. soldiers in Iraq are giving nicknames and forming emotional bonds with bomb-defusing robots they have come to regard as teammates, according to the founder of the company that invented the machines. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) U.S. soldiers in Iraq are giving nicknames and forming emotional bonds with bomb-defusing robots they have come to regard as teammates, according to the founder of the company that invented the machines. IRobot Inc. (Nasdaq:IRBT - news) Chief Executive Colin Angle said one group of soldiers...