topic Re: Boston Dynamics Robots in Community Chat

Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Wed, 16 May 2018 01:22:01 GMT

This is fascinating and all, but I find their creations creepy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSohj-Iclc

Anyone else?

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

trenet — Wed, 16 May 2018 02:20:23 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel

The science and engineering involved is fascinating.

When they create housecleaning robots, I wouldn’t care if they seem a bit creepy!

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Wed, 16 May 2018 02:46:27 GMT

@trenet wrote:
@mistriTsquirrel
The science and engineering involved is fascinating.
When they create housecleaning robots, I wouldn’t care if they seem a bit creepy!

@trenet I've always thought it would be cool to have a Roomba.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

trenet — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:06:43 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel

You posted one of my favourites. I love all the videos with cats on the roomba. I wonder if it is the vibration they like?

When they showed the TSV iroomba, I kept thinking that it was too bad a cat wasn’t included!

My fantasy housecleaning robot will have to be able to carry the garbage outside to the dumpster and be tall to put things away in the kitchen cupboard (I’m tired of climbing on the stepstool!) And, I will need it to be able to carry my tea tray upstairs!

All things my husband does when he is home. (He travels a lot for work)

My robot would be trained to always do the tasks “my way” though - haven’t been able to program my husband in that way!

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:14:07 GMT

@trenet I would like a self-cleaning bathroom and a self-driving car.

I am concerned about the A.I. issue. So, nothing that could take over the world, in other words.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

butterfly123 — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:22:40 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel

Livin the good life

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

hckynut — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:38:05 GMT

Not too long after I depart from this earth, I can foresee AI taking over many of the jobs of blue collar workers. Creepy? Not to me. Just look around st the AI advancements in the last 5-10 years. How often do you call a company and your first connection upon being answered is a human being?

Heck, if I really live many years more, I may even see it as fact.

hckynut(john)

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

Sweet Caroline 1 — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:49:02 GMT

I wouldn't mind having one of his knees! He could be pushing a lawn mower. Not a bad idea....

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:53:36 GMT

I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

KingstonsMom — Wed, 16 May 2018 21:20:59 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

@mistriTsquirrel

And it doesn't help that he doesn't have a head! Creepy!

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Wed, 16 May 2018 21:32:50 GMT

@KingstonsMom wrote:
@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

@mistriTsquirrel

And it doesn't help that he doesn't have a head! Creepy!

@KingstonsMom Check this one out...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgaO45SyaO4

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

WaJa61 — Wed, 16 May 2018 22:41:18 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

@mistriTsquirrel... I wish I could recall which program I watched on TV recently concerning this very topic. Seems like it was PBS NOVA, but I could be wrong.

The concensus there seemed to be that when robots slightly resemble humans we develop a kind of endearing emotion toward them. It's when they strongly resemble humans that the creep factor seems to set in.

It could be related to some innate fear of being usurped some day. Sort of like the love/hate fascination with space aliens. 👽

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Wed, 16 May 2018 23:03:32 GMT

@WaJa61 wrote:
@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

@mistriTsquirrel... I wish I could recall which program I watched on TV recently concerning this very topic. Seems like it was PBS NOVA, but I could be wrong.

The concensus there seemed to be that when robots slightly resemble humans we develop a kind of endearing emotion toward them. It's when they strongly resemble humans that the creep factor seems to set in.

It could be related to some innate fear of being usurped some day. Sort of like the love/hate fascination with space aliens. 👽

@WaJa61 I think you are referring to the uncanny valley, which is a pretty fascinating phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

WaJa61 — Wed, 16 May 2018 23:58:41 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
@WaJa61 wrote:
@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

@mistriTsquirrel... I wish I could recall which program I watched on TV recently concerning this very topic. Seems like it was PBS NOVA, but I could be wrong.

The concensus there seemed to be that when robots slightly resemble humans we develop a kind of endearing emotion toward them. It's when they strongly resemble humans that the creep factor seems to set in.

It could be related to some innate fear of being usurped some day. Sort of like the love/hate fascination with space aliens. 👽

@WaJa61 I think you are referring to the uncanny valley, which is a pretty fascinating phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

Yes, that's it, @mistriTsquirrel! 👍👍

Thanks for jogging my memory. Makes sense to me since the survival instinct is so strong, and so is that core fear of predators.

Then too, most are turned off by imitations of any original. Add artificial intelligence ~ with the hacking potentials and I can appreciate the trepidation.

Great, beneficial strides are being made in the field of medicine, including surgery, especially. No denying!

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

mistriTsquirrel — Thu, 17 May 2018 00:38:07 GMT

@WaJa61 wrote:
@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
@WaJa61 wrote:
@mistriTsquirrel wrote:
I guess part of what's creepy is the anthropomorphic form of an upright robot. It's not that the dog-like ones aren't creepy, it's just that the humanoid robots are creepier.

@mistriTsquirrel... I wish I could recall which program I watched on TV recently concerning this very topic. Seems like it was PBS NOVA, but I could be wrong.

The concensus there seemed to be that when robots slightly resemble humans we develop a kind of endearing emotion toward them. It's when they strongly resemble humans that the creep factor seems to set in.

It could be related to some innate fear of being usurped some day. Sort of like the love/hate fascination with space aliens. 👽

@WaJa61 I think you are referring to the uncanny valley, which is a pretty fascinating phenomenon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

Yes, that's it, @mistriTsquirrel! 👍👍

Thanks for jogging my memory. Makes sense to me since the survival instinct is so strong, and so is that core fear of predators.

Then too, most are turned off by imitations of any original. Add artificial intelligence ~ with the hacking potentials and I can appreciate the trepidation.

Great, beneficial strides are being made in the field of medicine, including surgery, especially. No denying!

@WaJa61 My mother just showed me a newspaper article the other day. Apparently it's possible for hackers to insert tones into songs, ads or other media, that your devices can "hear" but you cannot. So you could be watching an ad and someone could have inserted a series of tones that orders Alexa to do something. You--and anyone else watching and listening to the same thing--will have been hacked through your television or computer.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

dooBdoo — Thu, 17 May 2018 19:08:03 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel, @WaJa61, @trenet, @butterfly123, @KingstonsMom, @hckynut, @Sweet Caroline 1

Greetings! I posted on this thread the night it was started but I was on my very old iPad and had some problems when I needed to edit it, so just removed it altogether. I initially opened this thread thinking about the "Uncanny Valley" robots... @mistriTsquirrel (if my memory isn't tripping) introduced me to that term and concept several years ago.

The creations in these links are creepy, to me, too. AI has potential to be beneficial but also could be worrisome, that's for sure. This week while reading Scientific American and then The Conversation, I saw an unusual take on one possibility:

"Can Artificial Intelligence Help Find Alien Intelligence?"

theconversation.com/can-artificial-intelligence-help-find-alien-intelligence-94375

Thanks for the thread! 😊 Fascinating topic. Very timely and something I think everyone might want to know more about.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

skuggles — Thu, 17 May 2018 15:46:31 GMT

@WaJa61 My mother just showed me a newspaper article the other day. Apparently it's possible for hackers to insert tones into songs, ads or other media, that your devices can "hear" but you cannot. So you could be watching an ad and someone could have inserted a series of tones that orders Alexa to do something. You--and anyone else watching and listening to the same thing--will have been hacked through your television or computer.

@mistriTsquirrel There was a video demonstration either online or on the news that can probably be accessed, where they demonstrate this type of hacking in real time.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

WaJa61 — Fri, 18 May 2018 18:41:14 GMT

@mistriTsquirrel, @dooBdoo, @skuggles...

Thank you, ladies for the additional info. One more reason why I don’t need Alexa or other smart devices, appliances, etc. in my home. It's hard enough to keep up with hacking potentials through the work computer, personal tablets and smart phone. Got the VPN added layer of “protection” through LifeLock, for what it's worth. Hacking by tone... a whole new manner of devilry!

Some of those old X-Files episodes on AI don’t seen quite as far-fetched anymore.

I think more focus needs to be on advancing human intelligence and ethics, besides the fact we are, as a species becoming too dependent on electronics. They can all go down, or need to be put down for security reasons. Humans need skills and jobs beyond just technology. We'll lose our basic abilities to survive in the natural world if this continues unabated.

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

Cakers3 — Fri, 18 May 2018 18:52:31 GMT

At least the robot isn't looking to steal your clothes. lmao

Re: Boston Dynamics Robots

WaJa61 — Fri, 18 May 2018 20:10:54 GMT

😂 Not YET anyway, @Cakers3.

Gee, I hope I don’t have to hack proof drone guard my D&Co and gardening boots! Maybe I better get on that, as a public service.