MC 2: MC2 Post 1813 The NEW RISE of the Machines ....

Are the robots about to rise?

Google's new director of engineering

thinks so…

Robots will be smarter than us all by 2029, warns Google futurologists Ray Kurzweil popularised the Teminator-like moment he called the 'singularity', when artificial intelligence overtakes human thinking. But now the man who hopes to be immortal is involved in the very same quest –

on behalf of the tech behemoth. Google.

By 2029, computers will be able to understand our language, learn from experience and outsmart even the most intelligent humans, according to Google's director of engineering

Ray Kurzweil.

One of the world's leading futurologists and artificial intelligence (AI) developers, 66-year-old Kurzweil has previous form in making accurate predictions about the way technology is heading.

In 1990 he said a computer would be capable of beating a chess champion by 1998 - a feat managed by IBM's Deep Blue, against Garry Kasparov, in 1997.

From: http://www.nzherald.co.nz

Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11208867

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/ly2l4bg

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Video gallery: Meet Google's new Robotic Circus

From: http://www.nzherald.co.nz

When Google announced earlier this month that a secret division of the company had been buying up robotics companies for the past six months the internet got excited.

When the news broke this week that they had bought Boston Dynamics, the internet got really excited.

This is because Boston Dynamics makes some of the most fascinating and technologically advanced robots the web has seen - and thankfully they don't stint in uploading footage of their creations to YouTube either.

Although the acquisition doesn't mean that Google Glass-wearing robots are going to start tramping through your living room in an effort to complete work on Street View Home, it's exciting to look at the varied creations that Boston Dynamics will be bringing to Google's robotic stables and imagine a future where the search giant's

'Don't be evil' motto blends with Asimov's first law of robotics.

Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11173716

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/mmlvnab

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Sandflea:

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PetMan:

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Big Dog and LS3:

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Cheetah:

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RHex:

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Rounding off this introduction to Boston Dynamics' bots is perhaps the most endearingly determined of all the company's creations; RHex is a small six-legged bot that has a number of "specialised gaits that devour rough terrain

with minimal operator input".

Essentially this means that although RHex's walking style looks silly, it can happily

splash through shallow streams and stamp its way over rocky paths. A fully sealed

body keeps it working in any environment and it can also be remotely controlled by

an operator up to 700 metres away. Let's just hope that when Google doles out

delivery duties, RHex gets the job rather than the terrifying PetMan.

- UK Independent

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Wingman's Take on Robots in our Future

First off, I've Read Ray Kurzweil's book The Singularity

and it IS Near..

I'm into my third reading because there's a whole

lot of stuff in there...

Wingman.

I've also Read the Even More Frightening Book by Daniel Suarez about self-aware killing drones called Kill Decision.

The Sky Net Pieces are indeed falling into place.