DARPA Building Robots With Real Brains

Precusor · April 2013

Seems robotics and AI is advancing at a really fast rate.

The next frontier for the robotics industry is to build machines that think like humans. Scientists have pursued that elusive goal for decades, and they believe they are now just inches away from the finish line.

A Pentagon-funded team of researchers has constructed a tiny machine that would allow robots to act independently. Unlike traditional artificial intelligence systems that rely on conventional computer programming, this one “looks and ‘thinks’ like a human brain,” said James K. Gimzewski, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gimsewski is a member of the team that has been working under sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on a program called “physical intelligence.” This technology could be the secret to making robots that are truly autonomous, Gimzewski said during a conference call hosted by Technolink, a Los Angeles-based industry group.

Read the rest: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1101

anemo · April 2013

Feels a little like making something that is advanced enough that you're going to have "scientific success" even if it's a complete flop.

Even if they get a new type of logic gate that can swap between the type of fundamental gate it is, it's still a success at the scientific level. Getting that gate to still work in a circuit is still a success at the scientific level.

__________

This also exists to a very small extent in BEAM robotics already. Some of the most advanced versions of those robots perform their own signal conditioning and rewiring to make their walking more efficient. Though their only purpose really is to seek out light to keep running.

So they're taking a pretty darn large step that is mostly blind, but not completely so. But to be honest I don't think they could get funding by taking a sane+smaller step.

Hairysun · April 2013

Last weekend I was sitting in front of the computer drinking my morning coffee. I'm not sure how I ended up there but the sequence of links and searchers were directed at robotics in general. The whole DARPA and Boston Dynamics thing kinda creeped me out. The focus was more physical capabilities versus the intelectual capabilities. Here are some of the videos I came across.

-Boston Dynamics "BigDog" ..... Really creeps me out when he kicks the thing

-Boston Dynamics "LS3" ... a rough-terrain robot developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA

-Pet-proto robot ..... navigating obstacles

-Petman ..... getting really creepy now

-I don't even know what to say about this ......

-or this

All the overhead cables with the robots are for emergency support in case of some sort of failure. They don't keep it upright or help balance it. The dang things are balancing themselves. There has been the Honda "Asimo" robot around for years, there is just something different about these. Something creepy ......

Couple those with the independtly thinking chips "Precusor" is referring to and your in business. Once they get Graphene mixed into all of this (Chips, batteries, light weight parts ... etc) stuff is going to get interesting.

Especially with creative folks like this guy ..... The recoil on the quad-copter kills me

Hairysun