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Poll shows bots seen more as appliance than companion, but still good for whole family
Open Roboethics Initiative
29 Sep 2014
Primary reasons for considering to purchase a robot for the home
Why would you want to buy a robot for your home? When we asked our readers this question, the majority (75%) said that they’d wa...
Live webstream: Risks and opportunities for the auto re/insurance industry
Robohub Editors
24 Sep 2014
Today between 08:30-17:00 CET This live webstream by the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue brings together a comprehensive spectrum of perspectives and expertise on advanced driver assistance syste...
In praise of robot football
Alan Winfield
09 Sep 2014
Republished here is a short piece for The Conversation reflecting on robot football: 4-4-2 becomes 0101: inside the competitive world of robot football, published 4 August 2014.
This summer the ...
Reader poll: How do you feel about “Swarms of Autonomous Cars”?
Open Roboethics Initiative
19 Aug 2014
A few of days ago, WIRED and Robohub covered a story about “Largest Swarm of Robots” and how self-organizing algorithms can be used by robots to form certain shapes. This inspired us to see wha...
Robocar news: UK Legalization, MobilEye IPO, Baidu, new LIDAR and more
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
05 Aug 2014
A whole raft of recent robocar news....
Reader poll: Should an autonomous car be able to drive w/o a human passenger?
Open Roboethics Initiative
05 Aug 2014
A couple of months ago, we asked our readers whether three different unlicensed groups of individuals should be able to ride in autonomous cars alone. The individuals were: a child under the legal dr...
What would be the energy cost of artificially evolving human-equivalent AI?
Alan Winfield
28 Jul 2014
Want to create human-equivalent AI? Well, broadly speaking, there are three approaches open to you: design it, reverse-engineer it or evolve it. The third of these - artificial evolution - is attrac...
The two cultures of robocars
Brad Templeton, Robocars.com
24 Jul 2014
I have many more comments pending on my observations from the recent AUVSI/TRB Automated Vehicles Symposium, but for today I would like to put forward an observation I made about two broad schools of ...
When fully autonomous cars are the norm, will you miss driving?
Open Roboethics Initiative
22 Jul 2014
A few weeks ago, one of our readers, Javier Lopez, submitted a number of questions to the ORi team. He brought up many interesting points, and we won’t attempt to cover them all in one poll. But on...
Building Social Robots: The Journey of Pleo
Bob Christopher and Jibo
11 Jul 2014
Building a robot company is difficult, very difficult. It requires unwavering belief in yourself, in your idea, in your team and ultimately in your product. But it is also one of the most thrilling ex...
The next big things in robotics
Alan Winfield
08 Jul 2014
Last week I attended the launch event for a new NESTA publication called Our work here is done: Visions of a Robot Economy....
Reader poll: How should an autonomous car optimize crashes?
Open Roboethics Initiative
08 Jul 2014
Photo by Roland Dobbins, Wikimedia
A couple of months ago Dr. Patrick Lin, director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University, wrote an article on autonomous...
How do you want to interface with your autonomous car? Poll results
Open Roboethics Initiative
07 Jul 2014
Those of you who watched the 80’s TV series “Knight Rider” might remember the dialogue between Michael Knight and its super-car, KITT. Some of you might be more familiar with scenes between “J...
My (autonomous) car, my safety: Results from our reader poll
Open Roboethics Initiative
30 Jun 2014
You are travelling along a single lane mountain road in an autonomous car that is approaching a narrow tunnel. You are the only passenger of the car....
Why social robots will change your life
Cynthia Breazeal and Jibo
24 Jun 2014
It is a fantastic time for technology. We live in a more connected world, and compared to even a few decades ago, we have vastly improved access to information and content, and have dramatically expan...
Reader poll: How would you like to interface with your autonomous car?
Open Roboethics Initiative
24 Jun 2014
We interact with gadgets and devices everyday … some have blinking lights, some play sounds, and some can even decipher our voice commands. When it comes to interfacing with a device as exciting an...
If death by autonomous car is unavoidable, who should die? Reader poll results
Open Roboethics Initiative
23 Jun 2014
Image credit: Craig Berry
Life and death decisions make interesting thought experiments. When you throw an autonomous car into the mix, things get even more interesting....
Reader poll: If a death by an autonomous car is unavoidable, who should die?
Open Roboethics Initiative
10 Jun 2014
Image source: Karora via Wikipedia.
There may be times when an accident or a death is unavoidable while an autonomous car is controlling the wheel.
What should an autonomous car do when such ...
Should autonomous cars be allowed to speed? Results from our reader poll
Open Roboethics Initiative
09 Jun 2014
Our previous poll, which asked (among other questions) whether kids should be allowed to ride in autonomous vehicles by themselves, revealed that responsibility is a key issue for most people. Are we ...
Reader Poll: Should autonomous cars be allowed to speed?
Open Roboethics Initiative
27 May 2014
We conducted two polls last month in collaboration with the Open Roboethics initiative to get a sense of what people think about autonomous cars. Our polls started some interesting discussions arou...
Kids with wheels: Should the unlicensed be allowed to ‘drive’ autonomous cars?
Open Roboethics Initiative
26 May 2014
Share your opinion and take our next reader poll: Should autonomous cars be allowed to speed?Reader poll results: Earlier this month, when we asked people about your general thoughts on autonomous c...
Reader poll: Should the unlicensed be allowed to ‘drive’ an autonomous car?
Open Roboethics Initiative
13 May 2014
Image from Wikimedia Commons
Two weeks ago we published our first reader poll in collaboration with the Open Roboethics initiative in order to find out more about what people think about autono...
Reader poll: What do you think about autonomous cars?
Open Roboethics Initiative
29 Apr 2014
Today we drive our cars. In the future they’ll do the driving.
Autonomous cars are no longer a far-off futuristic dream, but something that we can expect to see on the road within the next dec...
Why robots will not be smarter than humans by 2029
Alan Winfield
07 Mar 2014
Statue of Alan Turing. Photo credit: Neil Crosby
In the last few days we've seen a spate of headlines like 2029: the year when robots will have the power to outsmart their makers, all occasioned by ...
Loving your #startup to death
Andra Keay
05 Mar 2014
The world may be a harsh critic, but most good ideas die because they are given too much love. If you've got a startup or project, you're probably loving it to death right now, and your friends and fa...
7 consumer robots to look out for from CES 2014
Shima Rayej
11 Jan 2014
This year’s CES in Las Vegas showcased some of the latest technologies from both established and up-and-coming robotics companies. Drones, telepresence robots, automated cleaning devices and enter...
Discovering social robotics with the Aisoy1
Mike Hamer
23 Dec 2013
Aisoy, a spanish robotics startup, is motivated by the goal of building intelligent, personal, "social" robots, which make our lives easier and funnier. Their robot, the Aisoy1, is their first step to...
Soft robotics in space
Alan Winfield
14 Dec 2013
Space robotics is understandably conservative. When the cost of putting a robot on a planet, moon or asteroid runs into the billions we need to be sure the technology will work. And with very long pro...
Noisy imitation speeds up group learning
Alan Winfield
03 Dec 2013
Broadly speaking there are two kinds of learning: individual learning and social learning. Individual learning means learning something entirely on your own, without reference to anyone else who might...
Ethical robots: Some technical and ethical challenges
Alan Winfield
19 Nov 2013
I've been talking about robot ethics for several years now, but that's mostly been about how we roboticists must be responsible and mindful of the societal impact of our creations. Two years ago I w...
A close(ish) encounter with Voyager 2
Alan Winfield
27 Oct 2013
It is summer 1985. I'm visiting Caltech with colleague and PhD supervisor Rod Goodman. Rod has just been appointed in the Electrical Engineering Department at Caltech, and I'm still on a high from ...
25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)
In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, we've compiled a short list of some women in robotics that everyone should know about. There are so many many more that we're already looking forward to featuring t...
Robot startup resources: Pitching
Andra Keay
07 Oct 2013
You have a robot prototype or an idea. At some stage you want funding. Here are the two most useful resources for robot startups. Even if you are bootstrapping, using crowdfunding or friendly angels, ...
Don’t build robots, build robot systems
Alan Winfield
07 Oct 2013
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Why aren't there more intelligent mobile robots in real world applications? It's a good question, and one I'm often asked. The answer I give most often is tha...
Don’t blame technology for persistent unemployment | Slate
John Payne
06 Oct 2013
Posting on the Slate blog Future Tense, James Bessen takes issue with the notion that technology causes unemployment, illustrating his point by debunking a pair of frequently cited examples, textile w...
Classroom robotics: Motivating independent learning and discovery
Sharon Marzouk
03 Oct 2013
Sharon Marzouk with a class of excited youngsters and their Thymio-based creations.
Sharon has found classroom robotics is an excellent motivator for independent learning and discovery: “The way I ...
