The course was held at the University of Birmingham (which has a very nice campus) in the Department of Psychology. Interesting, as once again I see my research permeating more disciplines.
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Posture & Balance Study
Recently returned from a short course on the study of Posture and Balance in humans. Gave me some good ideas about how to generate a few rules in order to improve movement in robots.
The course was held at the University of Birmingham (which has a very nice campus) in the Department of Psychology. Interesting, as once again I see my research permeating more disciplines.
The course was held at the University of Birmingham (which has a very nice campus) in the Department of Psychology. Interesting, as once again I see my research permeating more disciplines.
Wednesday, 9 January 2008
Masque of the Red Death
1st post of 2009!
During the winter holidays I went to see the Punchdrunk theatre company's promenade performance piece 'The Masque of the Red Death'. Truely incredible. A theatre piece where the audience is free to roam numerous creepy in macabre rooms in Battersea Arts Centre (too many to explore in a single evening) while actors appear and dissappear, moving through the crowd as if they weren't there. On entry you are given a beaked plauge mask and told not to speak, the effect is brilliant as you find yourself in a room filled with other anomous 'ghosts' that only a disturbed character can see. Get tickets if you can. Very inspirational.
During the winter holidays I went to see the Punchdrunk theatre company's promenade performance piece 'The Masque of the Red Death'. Truely incredible. A theatre piece where the audience is free to roam numerous creepy in macabre rooms in Battersea Arts Centre (too many to explore in a single evening) while actors appear and dissappear, moving through the crowd as if they weren't there. On entry you are given a beaked plauge mask and told not to speak, the effect is brilliant as you find yourself in a room filled with other anomous 'ghosts' that only a disturbed character can see. Get tickets if you can. Very inspirational.
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Sleep Research
Helped with initial conceptual design of a system to assist with sleep research in a care home for the elderly.
The system will log the amount of time each individual patient spends inside a particular room emitting a certain wavelength of light. This data will later be correlated to the patient's sleep pattern (measured with a different device) to determine if sleep is affected by the light.
This work is part of PhD research by Lloyd Morgan at the University of Surrey.
The system will log the amount of time each individual patient spends inside a particular room emitting a certain wavelength of light. This data will later be correlated to the patient's sleep pattern (measured with a different device) to determine if sleep is affected by the light.
This work is part of PhD research by Lloyd Morgan at the University of Surrey.
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Enactive Torch recieves funding
The Enactive Torch has recieved 'pump priming funds' from Sussex University's Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS).
These funds will enable the construction of multiple torches and will also permit a more formal and extensive set of experiments with the device.
These funds will enable the construction of multiple torches and will also permit a more formal and extensive set of experiments with the device.
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Do No Harm! (or as little as possible)
Looking at 'human-friendly' robots (i.e. the type that won't crush you against a wall by accident). Found an interesting paper which included the following image:
The paper is called 'Approaching Asimov’s 1st Law' so someone has a sense of humour!
I can already see the tabloid headline "Robots developed to smash heads!".
The paper is called 'Approaching Asimov’s 1st Law' so someone has a sense of humour!
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Uncanny Valley
Recently started reading Issac Asimov again. Knowing a bit more about robotics now it's interesting to see that some of the issues he raises in Caves of Steel (of disgust and distrust of an overly lifelike humanoid robot) can be regarded as a precursor to Masahiro Mori's Uncanny Valley. In this idea a designer must be careful not to create a robot that is unnervingly almost real (i.e. by not blinking or being cold to the touch).
I do wonder if I'll ever have to may some of the socio-robotics problems that Asimov is famous for. Of course his sacred first law of robotics (...a robot can never harm a human...) was broken when the US started making Talons.
I do wonder if I'll ever have to may some of the socio-robotics problems that Asimov is famous for. Of course his sacred first law of robotics (...a robot can never harm a human...) was broken when the US started making Talons.
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