Notable recently is the adoption of robotic supporters for the elderly, children and those afflicted with dementia in the form of Giraff, a child sized, vaguely humanoid, helper robot, with a TV screen for a head. The patient (or person be- ing taken care off) can be called by a relative or friend on the Giraff, which will drive...
Read MoreA little on the lighter side, the RoboCup Soccer Championships 2013 took place in Eindhoven in the Netherlands a cou- ple of weeks back, and I thought this was the perfect issue to discuss them – a more fun look at the rise of the machines. There were 2,500 participants from over 40 countries, watched by almost 40,000 people,...
Read MoreWhile we’re on the subject, lets not forget the drones, who have been grabbing media and other attention recently, and grabbed mine espe- cially thrice last week – inspiring me to write this article. So, first of all, what are drones? They are, very basically, unmanned aerial vehicles or UAV’s – artificial, man-made flying objects with no humans inside...
Read MoreAs Gary Bradski, artificial intelligence expert, puts it, “A new species, Robo Sapiens, are emerging.” He says it with reference to the just unveiled humanoid robot Atlas – who bears a scarily striking resem- blance to The Terminator – doesn’t he? But really, it extends to both these unbelievably advanced and extremely different artificially intelligent robots – one that...
Read MoreIn industries and factories too, robots are finding ways to help. Wait – alright, alright – I know this is a troublesome topic, robots taking away jobs from the humans – but here they are doing things we cannot, or are dangerous to do. In Dounreay, an experimental nuclear plant in Scotland, they are being used in places where...
Read MoreMeanwhile, in the healthcare scene, Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Scotland recently became the one of the first hospitals to adopt the usage of robots, and that too one of the few to do it in a big way – a fleet of robots to carry out day-to-day tasks. These include clearing of clinical waste (a very important one,...
Read More