Robotics

‘Consciousness’ in Robots Was Once Taboo. Now It’s the Last Word.

New York Times: Hod Lipson, a mechanical engineer who directs the Creative Machines Lab at Columbia University, has shaped most of his career around what some people in his industry have…

Looking beyond “technology for technology’s sake”

MIT News: Austen Roberson’s favorite class at MIT is 2.S007 (Design and Manufacturing I-Autonomous Machines), in which students design, build, and program a fully autonomous robot to accomplish tasks laid out on a themed game board. “The best thing about that…

Meet Your New Corporate Office Mate: A ‘Brainless’ Robot

New York Times: The new workers zipped around the office completing mundane tasks like fetching coffee, delivering meals and handing off packages. They did not get in anyone’s way or violate personal space. They waited unobtrusively for elevators with unfailing politeness. And,…

‘Part of the kill chain’: how can we control weaponised robots?

The Guardian: The security convoy turned on to Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Boulevard at around 3:30pm on 27 November 2020. The VIP was the Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, widely regarded as the head of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons programme. He was driving…