Archive for the 'Movies/TV' Category

Where do the Caprica writers get their ideas for how cylons work? None exist, so surely they aren’t plausible. Right? Wrong. They have a real roboticist consulting on the show. Northwestern University robotics engineer Malcolm McIver was a consultant on the upcoming movie Tron, and worked with writers on Battlestar Galactica and Caprica to make the cylons plausible. Not possible just yet, but plausible.

One of the themes of my research is understanding the ways in which intelligence is not just all about what’s above your shoulders. Nervous systems evolved with the bodies they control-the interaction is extremely sophisticated, and stubbornly resists our attempts to understand it through basic science research or emulation in robotics . . . One of the things we’ve learned about the cleverness that resides outside the cranium is that things like the spinal cord are incredibly sophisticated “brains” operating sometimes without much input from upstairs. Through some old experiments that are better not gone into, scientists showed that animals can walk with little brain beyond the parts that regulate circulation and breathing and their spinal cord. This is because the spinal cord can do most of what we need for basic locomotion without any input. The point is that control of the body is distributed-it doesn’t just live in the brain. The lesson hasn’t been lost on robotics folks; for example, Rodney Brooks popularized an approach called “subsumption architecture” based on this idea. So – back to Caprica: For episode 2, “Rebirth,” the show needed some explanation for why the metacognitive processor was only working in one robot. The real reason, as we know, is that only one had Zoe in it; but the roboticists were being pressed by Daniel Graystone as to why it wasn’t working in others. The idea that I gave them, which they used, was that it was because this particular metacognitive processor had distributed its control to peripheral subunits. Because of this, it had become tied to one particular robot. It’s an idea straight out of contemporary neuroscience and efforts to emulate this in robotics.

[io9]

The new Terminator 2 Judgment Day T-800 1:1 Scale Endoskull Replica will scare the crap out of your friends in the dark. Assuming you invite your friends over into the dark anyway. This realistic looking skull has light up eyes and even plays the Terminator theme.

It’s the T-800 and it retails for $599.99. You can pre-order at Entertainment Earth.

[Chip Chick]

I like the Cybermen that the new show has given us so far. They aren’t quite as cool as the old cybermen, but they work. But judging by some of the show’s concept art, we could have gotten something much darker like the image above.

There’s also an image of a red Dalek with what looks like one multi-purpose arm. Hopefully they get to play with these designs in an actual episode some day.

[io9]

If our big corporations like Intel had some sense, we probably could of already made robot soldiers. Only if big corps thought of not trying to brainwash us. Instead of spending millions on advertisements, how about spending millions on building actual robots. In the Superbowl Ad below, Intel describes their new core processor as “the most amazing technological achievement in the history of the company.” But then comes along their computer generated robot, which looks similar to the homemade robot (Loki), and the poor robot over hears their conversation. Watch the rest of the video below.

Unlike the Americans, the Japanese actually spend their money wisely. They build robots that we truly dream of. Though some Japanese companies spend money on advertisements as well, they are more conservative about it. Every company needs a way to get their information out to the public. Otherwise, Intel and other big corps could crash and bailouts would yet again be issued, lowering the value of the U.S. Dollar, once again.

[PlasticPals]

The Tough Guy Challenge is an annual competition in England where participants struggle against mud, ice, and fire. And who’s tougher than Robocop? He’s part man, part machine. Sadly he didn’t win though. At least he didn’t have to go up against Ed-209.

[Gizmodo]

Spike Jonze’s latest project is I’m Here, a 30-minute short about what else, robot love. It’s premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and also being used in an ad campaign for Absolute Vodka. Now there’s an endorsement.

“This isn’t the first time people have created branded content,” says Figliulio. “But it’s never really been accepted on its own merits. That’s the grey area we’re trying to explore.” Set in a gauzy version of L.A., it’s a love story about a boy and a girl—who also happen to be robots made from what looks like cast-off computer parts from 1994. That conceit allows Jonze to create a quirky, alternate world for their romance. In one scene, for example, the boy plugs in the girl for the night—which manages to become a scene of such delicate intimacy that it makes you squirm a little. (The male lead is played by Andrew Garfield, who was also just recently cast in David Fincher’s adaptation of The Social Network, a book about Facebook’s founding. Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin, who founded the company with Mark Zuckerberg.)

It’s an interesting little flick, but then we’re partial to bots and booze. Check it out below.

[Gizmodo]

We also have no idea why. So don’t ask. Just enjoy.

There’s a face that only a mother could love…If that mother was a deranged axe murderer anyway. These animatronic creations from Roboticist/director John Nolan are unique and downright creepy. Yet fascinating. Also good reminders to brush one’s teeth. Check out more creations in the gallery.

[Boing Boing]

Having five previous films, Honda seems to know what it is doing. Honda autos will debut their new short film entitled “Living With Robots” on January 22, 2010 at the Sundance Film Festival. Furthermore, the film will be supported by a live demonstration of ASIMO, the humanoid robot representing Honda. The film itself puts thoughts into your head about how life would be if you had to interact with robots in everyday tasks. For example, you encounter a robot when you need to ship a package or when you’re at the local food store and the robot is bagging your food for you. In the movie, the perspectives of different people interested in the study of robots and its future are shown. Those people range from science-fiction writers to hardcore engineers and philosophers. Now, hopefully this movie will stand up to the reputation of Honda’s other documentaries. Check out Honda’s other movies from the “Dream the Impossible” series here, on Honda’s Dedicated Website.

[PP]

Arnold is back and this time it’s Terminator:The Musical. Skynet Symphonic is composed entirely of sound clips from Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The results are pure geek awesomeness.

[Theawesomer]