CB2 "Child Robot" returns: smarter, creepier than ever
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 6th 2009 2:52AM
posted April 6th 2009 2:52AM
All caught up on your sleep? Good. 'Cause our old friend the "Child-robot with Biomimetic Body," or CB2, has now returned to haunt your nightmares. As you might expect, the bot hasn't simply spent its past two years of existence terrifying the staff at Osaka University, it's actually been learning, and it's now apparently able to make use of its 51 air-powered motors to move itself through a room "quite smoothly" -- with a helping hand, of course. What's more, the researchers behind CB2 are now also starting to talk about some of their future projects, including a new "robo species" that they say will have learning abilities "somewhere between those of a human and other primate species such as the chimpanzee." Yeah, we can't wait to see what that looks like either.
Will all your creeps stop making fun of this kid?
He's obviously just taken his Ritalin dosage for the day.
Look Japan, we don't want your creepy, human-like learning robots ok? The last thing we need is these things thinking on their own, learning how to do things (like the raptors in Jurassic Park, see how well that turned out) and then having them set free into the world, where they then decide they are an oppressed second class. Soon afterward, they will begin manufacturing themselves, destroy us with super human (robot?) strength and plug us into giant mainframes for use as batteries, all while keeping us in a computerized dream world known as the Matrix.
Is that what you want?!?!?!
Yes..... Yes that is exactly what we want. Muahahahahahahahahahahaha.... ha... haaaaaaaa
Manufacture themselves? What would be their drive to do that? They aren't catholics/muslims, and they don't have the hormones running around either, nor some social pressure left over from the past in some primitive parts of the population where people feel they HAVE to get married and have kids and have a white picket fence.
Incidentally, the concept that humans would be good batteries was the worst part of the matrix story, it's a bit too far fetched to suspend disbelief and switch off the brain to buy into that angle.
I think he would be in those Microsoft commercials- "I'm a PC!"
Not to knock japan too much but I don't' think we'll soon see a real AI developed in japan, I'd sooner expect it from former east european countries maybe, and from the US of course although then it would probably be violent and be very badly informed ;)
But japan? I just don't see it happening.
China, maybe
India, also maybe but slightly less likely.
Western europe, they could possibly but it would only have one function: spying on people and suppressing freedom in the most efficient way and it would not be a free AI that would be allow to develop freely.
Shame on you readers of Engadget ! Didn't your mothers tell you not to make fun of kids with disabilities !
You know what those eyes need? Backlighting. Maybe red LED backlighting.
I'd buy one just for the joy of leaving it at the foot of someone's bed in the middle of the night just staring.
One step closer to renewing the cycle mentioned in Battlestar
I also wrote about this terrifying monstrosity here (http://theyarecomingfor.us/?p=22). When will we learn? Robots, no matter how human they look, will never be human. This is the beginning of the end my friends. Mark my words. The beginning of the end.
We Americans are pretty stupid, letting the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans beat the hell out of us when it comes to the field of humanoid robotics. Sure, we have lots of robots, but all of ours are FFF robots (form follows function), so they have treads, or four legs, and have nothing resembling anthropomorphism. They're just nondescript chunks of metal and wires.
Meanwhile, Asia's building robots that can walk, talk, serve tea, give advice, climb stairs, and think or learn independently.
If we ever end up at war with them again, we're going to be pretty shocked when they send wave after wave of intelligent robots that resemble Cylons (hopefully not the skin-jobs, but who knows?) against us, while we're sending out clunky robots that look like a garage-assembled box with a claw-armature that needs to be remotely-controlled by humans.
Look at that thing. Put a rifle in its hands and you have an idea where I'm going with this.
Good news, japan is still not allowed to have an army under the rules of their WW2 surrender.
However the independent island of robotia just off their coast..
AHHH!!! This is just creepy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCK64zsZNNs
You guys seriously have to read the comments underneath the actual article on the site this came from. Some of them are hysterical.
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit....
You people have seen the Terminator Series Correct? Obviously they haven't
Why did they make it look like the terrifying little boy from The Grudge? Isn't the whole uncanny valley thing enough without that additional stigma?
holy.
ep-shiza.
this robochild just woke me up......f!@#!!!!
thats too creepy what if it attacks someone!!!!!! destroy it plzz!!!!!! its ugly anyway dont nobody want a creepy ugly child haha!!!
why does CB2 have to be so Emo?
Why a humanoid? I just don't get the fascination people have with bipedal human-like robots.
Fugged aboud-it!
If you're going to make a robot like a movie.... forget A.I.!
Make mine like R2D2 and we're cool. Zombie kid...not cool!
KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT
I think that by the government allowing scientist and doctors to engage in cyber-intelligent life is awesome. I also think that we as the human race should, be open minded about the direction that we are headed. It wont be long untill they start building cyber-internals that will be used to replace our own organs once they start to fail. I for one think this is a plus+.
Wheres my sledgehammer?!?!?!?!