Cool robot oriented mags & links

article on "The Real Iron Man" - the exoskeleton suit

I saw this as well last night when I picked up PS at the local store. I
was also gratified to see the magazine is going back to more of its old
roots. For a time it had an identity crisis, and wasn't like the
magazine I knew in my youth - or wrote for in the 80s.

Though I didn't pick it up, there was a special Scientific American
issue just on robotics. Makes you wonder why there's all this interest
all of a sudden...

-- Gordon

article on "The Real Iron Man" - the exoskeleton

Yeah I picked up a copy of that Scientific American myself (I assume it's the
same one). Turned out to be mostly reprints but
still a good diversion for something to read when away from the house/office,
anyway.

Later !
JCD

I was wondering the same thing myself.  Some have predicted that we
are in the "Steve Wozniak working in the garage" phase of personal
robotics, and it's about to take off like a rocket.  It does seem
likely to me.  Perhaps iRobot is the Apple Computer of our time.

BRW

We've had this period come and go a couple times since Apple II days.
Last one peaked at about 1999 or 2000. For whatever reason it never
quite catches on for robotics as it did for computers. The mechanics are
still pretty expensive, and not as subject to Moore's Law as silicon.

Let's see if the interest can be rekindled, and hope it will last more
than a couple of years, and will bring with it some definite movement in
the adoptation of robotics in home and small industry (rather than just
research).

-- Gordon

For what its worth - the latest Wired magazine issue has an interesting article
on an ex-employee of iRobot ripping off their
PackBot design. Hopefully the military will keep paying for the hard science &
research and some form of it will filter down to
the consumer ... like GPS has.

One thing I just thought of is that robotic appliances could be liability
lawsuits waiting to happen. Can you imagine if the
family robot mistakenly puts the cat in the freezer? Brings Grandma the wrong
pill ? Shorts out while drawing a bath and causes
flood damage ? These sort of fears could stall otherwise enthusiastic (consumer)
robot manufacturers from offering products.

Just a couple of cents worth ...
JCD

lawsuits waiting to happen. Can you imagine if the

pill ? Shorts out while drawing a bath and causes

(consumer) robot manufacturers from offering products.

Lawsuits, schmawsuits.  I'm more worried about them collaborating to
enslave humanity.

BRW

The robots or the lawyers?

Joe Dunfee

Ok, I tried to make a joke, but that was only because I mis-understood
the orginal joke... the robots collaborating with the laywers.  So, my
own joke withdrawn.

Joe Dunfee

Oh I kinda liked the original one myself!  :-D

I seem to recall that the series "Buck Rogers in the 21st Century" had
computers which were a rough equivalent of the Supreme Court.

So, at least one person has imagined a future where the lawyers and
robots are one and the same.

Joe Dunfee