Furhat, the Sweden's advanced social robot

In 1950 mathematician Alan Turing introduced what is today called the Turing Test for Artificial Intelligence. According to his paper written at that time titled Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Turing believed that machines would evidence intelligence equal to humans when a human interacting with one could not tell the difference between the machine and another human.

Thus far, at least with humans of average intelligence, there is no danger that the automatons we find ourselves forced to communicate with on various “helplines” will be able to convince us of their humanity. But today’s robotics engineers have not quit trying to be the first to meet Turing’s Test.

Sweden’s Furhat robot is an example of a new approach to the test: not by merely attempting to convince its interrogator of its humanity by means of verbal dexterity, but rather by the added enhancement of displaying human facial expressions.

Will you teach with an educational cockroach robot?

For those of you--and unfortunately that includes most of us--who were unable to get over to Europe during European Robotics Week 2013, November 25th to December 1, you missed quite a show. Just perusing the event list on the Internet was a daunting task! Imagine attending over 300 events across the continent, from an educational reach-out titled "Robots are Coming-Are You Ready?" in Helsinki, Finland on the north to a robotics workshop in Nicosia, Cyprus on the south; and from a lab tour and workshop in Ankara, Turkey near the Black Sea, to an event in Mayo, Ireland in the Atlantic called the "First Lego League Event 21".

Thanksgiving RoboParade - What a great idea!

Move over Macy's, here comes the Thanksgiving Robo parade at Macomb Community college in Warren, Michigan. Put on by middle schoolers from Jefferson Middle School in St. Clair Shores, it demonstrated the creativity, drive and technological skills students will continue to show in the future if this country of ours is to remain competitive in the world technological arena.

ROBOTSLAB NAMED WINNER OF THE RBR GAME CHANGER AWARDS

RobotsLAB BOX recognized for the innovation, creativity and delivery of a “Game Changer product” in the education market.

Santa Clara, CA, Wednesday, October 23rd 2013 - A panel of distinguished experts from NASA’s JPL, universities around the world, the investment community and Robotics Business Review, chose RobotsLAB BOX to join an exclusive group of products recognized for outstanding achievements.

The awarded product – RobotsLAB BOX, is a teaching-aid, designed to help educators demonstrate abstract concepts in math and science using robots.

RobotsLAB BOX won the Game Changer Award in the Education category, one of twelve categories honored by the Game Changers Awards. The distinguished awards are celebrating exceptional developments in technology, innovation, accessibility and delivery.

NAO, THE HUMANOID ROBOT IS USED TO ATTRACT STEM STUDENTS

AWARD-WINNING ROBOTICS CLUB DEMANDS ACTION

THE NEW ERA OF TOY ROBOTICS

ROBOTS ON PROJECT RUNWAY

Lookout Heidi Klum, a new French supermodel is about appear on the runway at the Barnes and Noble store in Austin, Texas on September 28th, 2013 at 11:00 AM. There will be no less than five of these beguiling French lovelies dressed in the latest fashions by students in the award-winning robotics classes of Anderson High School and Eastside Memorial High School in Austin at this Robot Fashion Show Bookfair.

CONTROLLING NAO ROBOT WITH YOUR MIND

Since the early days of science fiction, robots were controlled by the brain. We saw that in many movies as well (from Pandora to Surrogates with Bruce Willis) -- one of our customers, Prof. Wei Li from CSU Bakersfield made it happen! He made the humanoid robot NAO walk around using a non-intrusive sensor helmet to read the operator's brain signals, and transferring them as commands to the robot.

MINIROBOT UNVEILS AFFORDABLE CUSTOMIZABLE ROBOT MOWAYDUINO

Who doesn’t want their own personal robot right!? If you’re reading this blog, chances are you either want one, or already bought/built one.... or you’re a teacher and can’tafford one. However, not everyone has the means to buy or build one… until now.

Introducing mOwayduino a programmable Arduino-based robot toy from Minirobots, designed to be used in conjunction with mobile apps (like using your smart-phone’s accelerometer to control the robot), and hardware add-ons like a camera and Wi-Fi receiver. The goal is to create a rich environment for learning by encouraging experimentation on both the software and hardware side of robotics, including an open API so users can create their own apps.