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23rd Sep 2007

Robots and Artificial Intelligence


Chris Smith

Dave Ansell

This week, robots have taken over the Naked Scientists! Okay, not really but we are looking into the world of robotics to find robots that can clean your floor, disarm bombs and wage war on our behalf. We find out about 'Curious George', a robot that can locate objects in the real world even though it's only ever seen them online, and ask if artificial intelligence will give us free thinking machines or murderous intellects? We also find out about how robots have revolutionised the study of genetics, learn about a mini movie showing the formation of blood platelets in real time, and uncover the oldest human remains ever found outside of Africa. Plus, we explore how a lightning strike acts as a particle accelerator, the science behind the perfect cake mix and in Kitchen Science Ben and Dave explain the principle behind a robot's knees - by showing you how to make an electromagnet!

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Science News

"Brain-Clotting" - new movie reveals origin of platelets

A Harvard-based research team have successfully produced a miniature movie of the generation of platelets, the key elements that allow blood to clot. Tobias Junt and his co-workers used a fluorescent...

Mixing Cakes

Scientists have worked out why it is so difficult to mix ingredients into a cake. Emmanuelle Gouillart and a team from CEA Saclay near Paris have been studying how things mix together in a bowl. He ad...

Oldest Humans Outside Africa

Researchers in Tbilisi, Georgia, have uncovered the oldest human remains ever found outside of Africa, a species of Homo which might even have returned to Africa to spawn modern man. The Georgian Na...

Thunderstorm Accelerators

Scientists in Japan have discovered that thunderstorms act as huge particle accelerators. Harafumi Tsuchita of Japan's RIKEN research institute and collegues installed a directional gamma ray detector...

Pollution Blood-Clotting Trigger Uncovered

Scientists have solved a long-running conundrum connecting high levels of air pollution with an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gokhan ...

Kitchen Science

Make your own Electromagnet


Make yourself an electromagnet powered by a small battery and find out some of the mysteries of magnetism.

Question of the Week

Focusing Under Water

 

Diana finds out how sea birds can see both underwater and in the air, and we learn how you can train yourself to do so too!


Interviews

Robot Wars - The history of Robots and Robots at War

Professor Noel Sharkey, Sheffield University

Robots in Genetic Research

Sarah Sims & Jonathan Davies, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Train a Robot? Why bother, when he can just look it up?

Professor Jim Little and Dr Per-Erik Forssen, University of British Columbia

Intelligent Items or Malicious Machines? Artificial Intelligence Examined

Professor Nigel Shadbolt, University of Southampton & President of the British Computer Society.

Questions

Do you get wetter if you run or walk through the rain?


I accidentally put a cast iron le crueset pot in my microwave oven for 20 seconds, It flashed - nothing cracked and there was a burning smell. My question is - would it have contaminated the food in the pot?


This summer I've taken up playing guitar. Unfortunately, all I have is a steel-stringed guitar and it is forming some pretty wicked calluses on my fingers. I've noticed that the little mouse pad on my laptop no longer responds to the tips of my callused fingers. It responds perfectly with the fingerprints of all fingers and with the tips of my right hand. The click-wheel of my ipod responds to my callused fingers. What gives? What is it about the mouse pad on my computer that leads it to no longer acknowledges the existence of my left finger tips?


 

Re the effect of calloused finger tips caused by metal guitar strings does this account for the fact that when I tried to teach an old friend to use a laptop she couldn't make the cursor move although I could ? Does this mean that with an ageing population computer designers may have to produce more sensitive touch pads geared to the changed skin in older finger tips?


Robots and Artificial Intelligence - More about this podcast

I, Robot

This week on the Naked Scientists the robots are taking over! And no, we don’t mean a robotic version of Dr Chris.  We’ll be finding out from Professor Noel Sharkey about the current capabilities of our metal minions, while Professor Nigel Shadbolt will reveal the future of Artificial Intelligence.  Could the Naked Scientists ever be replaced by robots? We also hear from the winners of an exciting challenge for robot builders, and how machines are being used in labs to push forward the frontiers of genetic science.

Asimo

Are our friends electric?

Professor Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield is a leading expert on robotic technology – as well as being chief judge on the TV programme Robot Wars.  On this week’s show Noel will explain what today’s robots are capable of.  Far from being a sci-fi dream, robots are now involved in many aspects of our lives, and we even have automaton soldiers on the front line in Iraq.  We’ll be asking Noel where he thinks robotics science is heading. Are we going to see fleets of programmed metal killing machines, or will robots make life easier and better for the rest of us?

"Free Thinking Machines or Murderous Intellects?”

This controversial topic was the title of Professor Nigel Shadbolt’s talk on artificial intelligence at the recent BA Festival of Science in York.  Nigel, who is from Southampton University, joins us to mull over our fears and hopes for AI, as well as explaining the reality.  Will we ever see our own Dr Chris replaced by a shiny, emotionless robot – or has it already happened?

Shadow Dexterous Robot Hand holding a lightbulbDesperately seeking robots

Lost your specs? Or maybe you’re looking for a Charlie Chaplin poster? Professor Jim Little and Per-Erik Forssen tell us about a competition to develop robots that can track down unseen objects. The Semantic Robot Vision Challenge gets teams to build robots capable of finding an object using image searching and analysis.  Jim and Per-Erik are members of the University of British Columbia team that built this year’s winning robot – Curious George.

Robots in lab coats

Finally, our roving Naked Scientist Meera Senthilingam will be heading over to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute outside Cambridge to find out how robots are helping out in the lab.  They may not have to wear lab coats, but they’re making a big impact on genetic research.  They’re also cheaper and more accurate than human scientists, although they won’t buy you a drink in the pub after work.

Are robots really taking over the world? Find out on the Naked Scientists this week.

 

Kat Arney



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