I came across this blog today to find a whole load of worrying articles. Robots that cant be pushed down, robots that work as a team, robots that seek out power sources in urban environments. Prepare to get fucked with man kind.
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Toyota’s running humanoid robot
"Toyota’s most recent humanoid robot prototype (one of many partner robots the automotive giant is developing) stands 130cm tall and weighs 50Kgr. Its legs have 7 degrees of freedom and it can run at an average speed of 7 km/h. In contrast, ASIMO’s maximum speed is 6km/h. The Toyota researchers had to develop new real-time methods for balance control. These methods make it possible for the robot to remain balanced when an external force such as a push from a human is applied when in motion."
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: Multi Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge (MAGIC 2010)
"Creating a team of cooperating agents is a much more difficult task than creating a single agent; these agents have to be able to share information and workout cooperative plans that take advantage of all information available to all agents which may be difficult to communicate in certain circumstances."
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: How does the Willow Garage Personal Robot work? Watch the video to find out.
"A few days ago, the Willow Garage engineers posted a new video explaining some details about how their robot actually works. In the video below, Sachin Chitta and Melonee Wise explain how the robot uses occupancy grid maps to navigate dynamic environments, uses vision and laser information to detect door handles and power outlets, and, finally, plan its actions to satisfy its goals."