

iRobot Develops a Hyperelastic Morphing Robot - lupin_sansei
http://jwz.livejournal.com/1104891.html

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futuremint
Holy Crap. Watching that thing move scared me. I don't know why, but I just
envision a swarm of them inflating and deflating and rolling after me in the
dark of the night...

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anigbrowl
You will never leave the Village, number 6.

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jballanc
Watching this, I couldn't help but think that this is the video that human
historians will dig up in an attempt to figure out why their distant ancestors
thought it wise to develop the robots that would eventually enslave the entire
race...or maybe it was just the music selection?

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ivankirigin
Why does every robot need to bring out the crazy in people that predicts some
humananity-is-doomed scenerio? Such a tired idea

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DannoHung
Because it is _the_ classic science fiction story: Frankenstein.

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ivankirigin
science _fiction_

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csbrooks
Perhaps a good time to note the number of concepts that made the crossover
from science fiction to science reality?

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ivankirigin
That some things in science fiction have come true is NOT a good reason to
bring up a fucking robot apocalypse every time a robot is posted to hacker
news.

I pay attention to these things. It really is pretty much every time a robot
is brought up that someone who thinks they are clever says "Terminator!"

As was already pointed out here, this is so far from a sentient robot it isn't
even funny. It is also really far from the T-1000. Really, really far.

People, please learn a thing or two about robotics or AI before making such an
infantile assertion. Did you ever think it is bad for society to be so wild?
You know, the popular idea in media where science = mad lone wolf scientist?
Robots are pretty much the coolest way to learn engineering, and I'm just sick
of people who add nothing to the conversation.

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jballanc
I apologize if it wasn't clear. My comment was in no way intended to add a
cliche to the noise so much as to comment on the music selection. Perhaps
robotics researchers would be taken more seriously if they took themselves
more seriously.

For example, I've seen dozens of Asimo video clips. Asimo is magnitudes closer
to being a sentient robot than this rubber ball thingy, but I've never seen an
Asimo video clip that devolved into Hollywood style quick cuts with
apocalyptic background music. So, I've never thought to make this sort of
comment regarding Asimo.

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ivankirigin
Actually you don't know much about ASIMO if you think it is closer to being
sentient than the rubber ball. It is a dumb mobility platform with a few
sensors that aren't really used.

There was nothing in the music that made it ominous to me. It was trying to
show a dynamic mobility platform. Electronic music != robot apocalypse.

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jackcheng
Reminds me of the work of Japanese artist Mio I-zawa, who makes things like
"mechanical tumors" that grow in size based on your CPU load:

[http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/09/mechanical-tumor-
externa...](http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/09/mechanical-tumor-external-
heart-elastic-cell/)

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camccann
Strangely, during the development of the robot, several members of the team
were plagued by persistent, unexplained nightmares. An official spokesman for
iRobot attributed the nightmares to high stress and said that the affected
researchers were recovering on vacation. Requests to contact the researchers
were rebuffed and their current location is unknown. When approached for an
interview, the project director gave only the cryptic statement, "Ia! Ia!
Cthulhu fhtagn!"

No firm date has been set for commercial release of products using this
technology, a spokesman giving only a figurative release date of "when the
stars are right". However, he assured us, that it would "definitely be...
soon."

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johnnyb4
Haha wow, I thought I'd be the only one who had flashbacks to Terminator, but
I guess am not alone.

