Robot Apocalypse Update: Don't Date Robots!

From Yahoo!

It's been just short of a year since I locked eyes with Harmony, RealDoll's first sex robot, at her home in Southern California. It was an arresting experience that has remained cemented in memory. In that moment, I suddenly understood the uncanny valley, a theory posited by roboticist Masahiro Mori, nearly half a century prior. It attempts to explain the feeling of revulsion and eeriness that human onlookers experience when they encounter an artificial life-form that appears nearly, but not quite human.

Today, she's ventured out of the dimly lit R&D room at Abyss Creations to meet me at CES. On the eve of her debut, Harmony has ventured to the hotbed of consumer electronics with a new face, an updated AI and a few new friends.

When I first met Matt McMullen, Harmony's creator and human chaperone, he planned to launch what I've called the world's first commercially viable sex robot in late 2017. Harmony's AI would be customizable via an accompanying Android app, but with limitations. While he had plans for a male version and mused about other gender variations, Harmony would launch as an artificial female with porn star proportions.

Harmony failed to launch in 2017, but McMullen and his team have been hard at work, making improvements to Harmony's AI and the robotic head it's housed in. He's now targeting the end of this month for a release date, and while he's says he's still refining the pricing, Realbotix modular robotic heads should cost between $8,000 and $10,000 at launch.

Just minutes after the lights went out at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Harmony lit up in a hotel just across the street. Perched on a bust that could just as easily be used to display jewelry, she made small talk and recited a few dad jokes. After a year of contemplation, I no longer felt the same uneasiness I had during our first encounter. It could be that the novelty has worn off or the fact that Harmony was basically a head on a stick. It could have been CES AI fatigue, but the existential anxiety was gone.

Related: Do You Want A Real Reason To Be Afraid? The Robot Apocalypse Is Upon Us!

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It's Man vs The Machines, Again, In Dreamworks 'Robopocalypse'

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Variety

In the world of sci fi entertainment the new trend is to go after unpublished works. Studios are making mad-dash moves to scoop all the properties they can find in an attempt to thwart rival companies from doing the same.

It would serve to reason, that since the "Transformers" and "Terminator" franchises have been so popular as of late, that Dreamworks would be more than willing to pounce on author Daniel Wilson's unpublished manuscript entitled "Robopocalypse."

In a joint move, the book publisher Doubleday also secured the publication rights to 'Robopocalypse' and is putting the book on high priority for a 2011 release.

Author Daniel H. Wilson's has had a lifelong fascination with robots, and holds a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. Wilson's other literary works include "How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion," (being made into a film by Paramount), and "How to Build a Robot Army: Tips on Defending Planet Earth Against Aliens, Ninjas and Zombies."

It seems that if you want a good robot story, Wilson is your man.

As you can probably figure out, 'Robopocalypse' tells the story of mankind's fate when the machines rise up to take over the world, ala "Terminator" style.

DreamWorks co-president of production Mark Sourian notes, "Daniel H. Wilson's cautionary tale of man vs. machine grabbed us from the very beginning. His background in robotics and artificial intelligence grounds his story with a frightening level of realism."

It will be interesting to see what kind of twist Wilson's story will have on what has essentially been a common theme in sci fi films and literature for over a hundred years. Fans probably won't tolerate another "Terminator" clone, so this one will have to be unique to make it stand out. With Wilson's vast knowledge of robotics and his good track record for writing robot armageddon books, this one should be a gem.

The Japanese Now Have Human Robots - How Long Will It Be Until We Are Replaced!

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: i09.com / Donald Farmer / Avery Guerra

Everyone knows that the Japanese are years ahead of everyone else when it comes to computers and robotics, but I don't think anyone knew that they were this far ahead?

Two different stories have been brought to my attention about human-like androids that have been built in Japan. One is a life-size female robot that can move and talk on it's own and another is a gigantic baby that mimics human infant behavior. Two separate stories that are sure to convince you that we are much closer to human androids than anybody expected.

Last summer the movie, "Cyborg She" (My Girlfriend Is A Cyborg) starring Haruka Ayase was huge hit at the Japanese box office. The film was just one of several fantasy films about a robotic girlfriend that have been produced over the last decade in that country. Who would have believed that you would have been able to buy a real cyborg girlfriend before the DVD for the film even hit the shelves? In this case reality happened almost faster than fantasy.

Yes, indeed for about $200,000 you can own your very own walking, talking "HPR-4C" female robot.

The female robot HPR-4C (Called a Gynoid.......really?) was developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and unveiled to the public at a March 16th press conference. The developers of this new robot hope to have it modeling clothing at an upcoming fashion show, once it has been deemed safe enough to walk a catwalk with 'real' women.

In a related story, another Japanese company has designed and built a gigantic robot baby that can imitate human expression on its own.

Here is the skinny on the robot baby:

The robot can record emotional expressions using eye-cameras, then memorise and match them with physical sensations, and cluster them on its circuit boards. The professor, also a member of the Japanese Society of Baby Science, said his team has made progress on other fronts since first presenting CB2 to the world in 2007.

In the two years since then, he said, CB2 has taught itself how to walk with the aid of a human and can now move its body through a room quite smoothly, using 51 "muscles" driven by air pressure. In coming decades, Asada expects science will come up with a "robo species" that has learning abilities somewhere between those of a human and other primate species such as the chimpanzee.

Okay, now that is kinda scary! It looks like the end is near for us humans. The machines will take over soon. You have to admit we had a good run.

Check out this quote: "Japanese scientists predict that, at their current rate of robotics technology, they expect to have a humanoid soccer team capable of winning the World Cup by 2050."

That's how it will start, the robots will start kicking our asses at sports, then they will become better at sex and making omelets.

We are doomed!

Here is the video evidence:



Top Ten Hottest Women Of 2008 / The Sexy Women Of Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li / New Terminator Salvation Flash Poster And Video Clips / Production Artwork For Terminator Salvation / Dark Horse To Release 25th Anniversary Terminator Comics / Warner Bros - Comic Con 2008 Sneak Previews / Special Effects Master Stan Winston Passes Away / Japanese Moviegoers Embrace Cyborg Girl / Cyborg Girl Premiere At The Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival

One Mans Robot Collection Becomes A Museum Exhibit

Source: Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame


Experience Music ProjectScience Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (EMPSFM) is proud to announce a new exhibition, Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvels. The exhibition celebrates society’s long fascination with humankind's technological version of itself. The exhibition is drawn from a one-of-a-kind assemblage of toy robots, which noted graphic designer Tom Geismar has been collecting for decades. Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvels opens on Friday, May 16, 2008 and closes on Sunday, October 26, 2008.


The collection is inspired by Geismar’s interest in antique tin and wooden toys and mid-20th century Japanese film and anime characters. These intricately detailed and beautifully designed miniatures are set against EMPSFM's backdrop of life-sized robots, androids and cyborgs from the world of science-fiction film and television.

Geismar began collecting robots while designing the U.S. Pavilion at the 1970 World’s Fair in Japan. Since that time, he has amassed dozens of robots through visiting specialty shops around the world. The exhibition covers early toy robot figures from the Forbidden Planet-era up through various Voltron and Transformers-type robots. Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvels was designed by Pentagram Design.

“I’m proud to be able to show my collection, which exhibits the magic of toy robots,” said Tom Geismar. The imaginative creativity of these small sculptural wonders first appealed to me as a designer and eventually helped me to make cross-cultural connections.”

Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvelswill feature more than 125 robots from his collection, including two wooden robots specially made for Geismar by toymaker and children’s book author, David Kirk. Kirk is best known today for the Miss Spider series and Nova the Robot: Nova’s Ark.

“While putting this show together, we had an epiphany about the relationship between robots and children,” said Margie Maynard, director of education at EMPSFM. “The naiveté and candidness of robots (in science fiction) make them the perfect companions or guardians for children and likewise children are the logical choice to be the robots' pilots or operators.”

Tom Geismar is a founding principal of Chermayeff & Geismar, and widely considered a pioneer of American graphic design. During the past four decades he has designed more than a hundred corporate identity programs. His logo designs and graphics programs for Mobil, Chase Bank, PBS, Univision, Rockefeller Center, Best Products, Screen Gems, Gemini Consulting have received worldwide acclaim. Tom has also been responsible for many of the firm’s exhibition designs and world’s fair pavilions. Burlington Industries’ “The Mill” was a major NYC tourist attraction for 10 years as today are the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Statue of Liberty Museum, the Truman Presidential Library, and a series of special exhibits at the Library of Congress. He has received all the major awards in the field, including one of the first Presidential Design Awards for helping to establish a national system of standardized transportation symbols.

He is the co-author of “Spiritually Moving,” a major work on American Folk sculpture, “TM: trademarks designed by Chermayeff & Geismar” and “designing:” a book that describes his firm’s approach to design.

Geismar concurrently attended the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown, he received a master’s degree in graphic design from Yale University, School of Art and Architecture.

Museum Hours:

EMPSFM is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from May 23, 2008 through September 1, 2008. EMPSFM will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from September 2, 2008 - May 21, 2009.

Museum Admission:

General adult admission to both Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (EMPSFM) is $15. Admission for seniors, youth, military and students (w/ID) is $12, and admission for children under 5 is free. One ticket gives access to both museums.

Web site: empsfm.org

Address: 325 5th Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
Box office:206-770-2702, 1-877-EMP-SFM1