Oh! Gizmo

By David Ponce

Robots are now learning how to lie. Here’s how it happened. Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne setup an experiment with a bunch of autonomous bots. They programmed them to look for food (a light colored ring on the floor) and avoid poison (a dark ring). The bots also had a blue light that could be detected by the other bots. The longer the bots stayed around the food, the more points they got. Since space was limited, bots would jostle around the food while simultaneously creating a cluster of blue lights that could serve as a beacon for other bots that food had been found.

The researchers then introduced “evolution” into the experiment by “by copying and combining the artificial neural networks of the most successful robots. The scientists also added a few random changes to their code to mimic biological mutations.” By the 50th generation the found that robots were flashing their blue lights less and less when they found food. A few hundred generations later and hardly any robots flashed their lights once they had found the food, thereby increasing their chances of getting more points while concealing their find to their neighbors.

The slimy bastards.

Researchers concluded this study may help them better understand the evolution of biological communication systems.

[ Upcoming Study Abstract ] VIA [ Technology Review ]

By Evan Ackerman

Most of the UAVs we saw at AUVSI last week were expensive. Really expensive. Like, if you have to ask, don’t ask. This sucks, because UAVs aren’t just useful for people with a defense budget… There’s a sizable civilian market as well, for everything from security to aerial photography to flying around and freaking people out with a little round robot.

The HALO micro air vehicle promises to be simple, reliable, and above all, inexpensive. If it makes it into production in volume, by 2011 you (yes, you) could go by one for somewhere around…

Read More at BotJunkie…

By Luke Anderson

Remember back when the Billy Bass was popular back in 2000 or so? Since then there have been a number of similar items on the market that are equally as annoying as the singing fish. However, these robot trophies have to be the coolest ones I have seen.

Since I’m fully expecting a robot uprising within the next decade or so, I would love to put one of these on my wall. That way when a robot breaks into my house to kill me, it knows that I’m someone that’s not to be messed with. There are 11 different robotic animals which have sensors that will make the robots come to life and become aggressive towards anyone who comes near. Unfortunately there’s no word on pricing or availability.

[ France Cadet ] VIA [ GearFuse ]

By Evan Ackerman

I like robots rather a lot, but I never thought I might actually be capable of building one until I ran across a website about photovore robots. Most photovores are small, solar powered BEAM (biologically inspired) bots with a solar panel, light sensors, and a tiny motor or two. In the same way that herbivores eat herbs and carnivores eat carnies, photovores ‘eat’ photons in that their light sensors tell their motors to chase bright light to ‘feed’ their solar panel. I decided to try to build one myself, and bought a small kit from Solarbotics.com.

Full review after the jump.

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