Robolaw

A cutting-edge blog about robotics and... law

[mapsontheweb]

The world divided into regions with a GDP of 1 trillion dollars.

Source: DMan9797 (reddit)

[appliedtechnotopia-consulting]

An interesting look at GDP distribution.

[thegoodfuture]

In a decade, cognitive enhancement may have gone mainstream. Pills can already help you stay up longer, bring more focus to your work, and who knows what else. But what might sound good on an individual level could create societal disruptions, or so Palo Alto think-tank the Institute for the Future proposes in its latest Ten-Year Forecasts.

How Human Rights Will Change When Everyone Can Upgrade Their Brains (via futuristgerd)

[futurescope]

'Killer robots' to be debated at UN

Killer robots will be debated during an informal meeting of experts at the United Nations in Geneva.

Two robotics experts, Prof Ronald Arkin and Prof Noel Sharkey, will debate the efficacy and necessity of killer robots.

The meeting will be held during the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

A report on the discussion will be presented to the CCW meeting in November.

This will be the first time that the issue of killer robots, or lethal autonomous weapons systems, will be addressed within the CCW.

[singularitarian]

Earth’s incredible biodiversity is one big reason that a single, all-consuming virus hasn’t wiped everything out. Michael Franz, director of University of California-Irvine’s Secure Systems & Software Laboratory, thinks biodiversity can serve as a blueprint for defending against another type of virus: those used for malicious hacking, whether by rogue individuals or state-sanctioned hackers.

[futurescope]

TED: Hugh Herr - The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance

Hugh Herr is building the next generation of bionic limbs, robotic prosthetics inspired by nature’s own designs. Herr lost both legs in a climbing accident 30 years ago; now, as the head of the MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group, he shows his incredible technology in a talk that’s both technical and deeply personal — with the help of ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost her left leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and performs again for the first time on the TED stage.

[Hugh Herr] [Biomechatronics]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

My new Guardian column is “Why it is not possible to regulate robots,” which discusses where and how robots can be regulated, and whether there is any sensible ground for “robot law” as distinct from “computer law.”

One thing that is glaringly absent from...

[twicr]

Thank goodness it looks like might have a few years before the robopocalypse!

Crazy cool gif by Nick Emrich.

[futurescope]

Man against machine.

The unbelievably fast KUKA robot faces off against one of the best table tennis players of all time. Who has the best technique? Who will win the first ever table tennis duel of human versus robot? Watch this thrilling preview of table tennis and robotics performed at the highest level. The KUKA KR AGILUS demonstrates its skills with the table tennis racket - a realistic vision of what robots can be capable of in the future. Timo Boll, the German table tennis star, is the new brand ambassador for KUKA Robotics in China. The collaboration celebrates the inherent speed, precision, and flexibility of KUKA’s industrial robots in tandem with Boll’s electrifying and tactical prowess in competition. To celebrate the new KUKA Robotics factory in Shanghai, the thrilling video was a highlight of the Grand Opening on March 11th, 2014. The 20,000 sq. meter space will produce the KR QUANTEC series robot as well as the KRC4 universal controller for the Asian market. As a market leader in China, KUKA aims to further develop automation in the country while providing a modern and employee-friendly working environment. More: www.kuka-timoboll.com

Making of:

[prostheticknowledge]

A Computer Learning How To Snowboard

Animated data visualisation by Andreas Koller showing the process of a computer exploring and understanding athletic movements, simply and beautifully presented in interactive WebGL - video example embedded below:

This screencast shows the process with random values for velocity, take off strength, and X, Y, Z rotations. After eight attempts the best result is kept and repeatedly shown …

This project also explores the human body as a visual instrument. How does the body, with its many inputs and outputs, perform as a tool for visual expression? What data does an athletic movement produce and how could it be made visible? How do we understand and remember complex movement patterns?

You can try it out for yourself here, and find out more about the project here

Andreas Koller also has a Tumblr blog (akllr) here

[robolaws]

Code, nudge or Notice

Read the paper on psychological control of the State, or "cognitive infiltration" http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2217013

[singularitarian]

Have you ever watched a mixed martial arts bout and thought, This could use weapons, and also Iron Man. Congratulations, crazy person with the imagination of a small child: Unified Weapons Master has you covered, and the results are actually blood-free.

[lessig]

ONE OF THE GREAT BEAUTIES OF THE DIGITAL ERA IS TO LIBERATE SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY - IT MIGHT BE A CHAOTIC SPACE OF FREE ASSOCIATION SOMETIMES BUT THE CONTEMPORARY EXPERIENCE OF DIGITAL RE-MEDIATION IS ENORMOUSLY LIBERATING. WE DON’T FEEL THE LEAST ALIENATED BY THIS; APPROPRIATION AND RECONTEXTUALIZATION IS A LONG-STANDING BEHAVIOR THAT HAS JUST BEEN MADE EASIER AND MORE VISIBLE BY THE UBIQUITY OF INTERNET. IN A FEW WORDS: WE ABSOLUTELY SUPPORT FAIR USE OF OUR MUSIC, AND WE CAN ONLY ENCOURAGE A NEW COPYRIGHT POLICY THAT PROTECTS FAIR USE AS MUCH AS EVERY CREATORS’ LEGITIMATE INTERESTS. PHOENIX on the right to remix

from their blog.

Bravo. This, in the end, is the only “victory” that matters, because copyright is for artists. 

(via lessig)

[lessig]

Keynote from Symposium at Stetson Law School

In which Niemoller, Aaron, and Jamie Raskin all make an appearance. 

[servo-on]

Robot Revolution, will machines surpass humans

Documentary which aired Saturday May 4th 2013 Titled Robot Revolution : Will Machines surpass humans Features Honda Asimov, Hubo, Big Dog from Boston Dynamics, Baxter from Rethink Robotics, Nextage and other Humanoids Disclaimer : I do not own the copyright to this programme, this is a recording from NHK World and is the IP of international. I do not intend to break copyright however I feel the usefulness of the programme in inspiring innovation and improving lives is more important. Hopefully will make the content available online themselves. Apologies for the missing 10 minutes at the end, I rushed to find an sd card for the last showing of the programme, and I already had data on it so the final 10 mintutes wasn’t recorded, I remember it as being a recap of the rest of the programme.

[futurescope]

Some predict computers will produce a jobless future. Here’s why they’re wrong.

[robolaws]

Computers are destroying some jobs, but they’re also creating new opportunities.

[futuramb]

kurzweilai.net

Google also hired futurist Ray Kurzweil as Engineering Director in 2012.Kurzweil has famously claimed that in just over 30 years, humans will be able to upload their entire minds to computers and become digitally immortal, an event called…

To set up ethics boards will definitely be a necessity for most organisations in the not too distant future. Will this Google initiative wake up all the others? Another question: Will this be the start of the era of philosophers, or are people or organizations too afraid of what professional thinkers have to say about the future consequences of our current direction?

[futuramb]

DARPA publishes all its open source code in one place

"Making our open source catalog available increases the number of experts who can help quickly develop relevant software for the government," Chris White, the DARPA program manager behind the effort, said in a statement. "Our hope is that the computer science community will test and evaluate elements of our software and afterward adopt them as either standalone offerings or as components of their products."

(via DARPA publishes all its open source code in one place | The Verge)

This will most likely further increase the speed by which new technology will be developed. I wonder when if there will be attached an open ethics board à la Google to this research as well??