Engineers Launch Cloud-Based Collective "Brain" for Robots

Hevva

Shipwrecked, comatose, newsie
Aug 2, 2011
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Engineers Launch Cloud-Based Collective "Brain" for Robots



The collective, global robot brain of the future is just around the corner.

When thinking about a future where robots live alongside human beings, it helps to be practical. In that vein, the European RoboEarth Project [http://www.roboearth.org/what-is-roboearth] has just launched a network called Rapyuta, which is a sort of wireless internet service designed specifically for the needs of robots that are feeling a little lost in our bewildering world.

Named after the home of the robots in Hayao Miyazaki's film Castle in the Sky, Rapyuta's primary function will be to allow robots of various stripes to search for information on objects and situations that they've never encountered before, including dialects of different languages, from anywhere in the world. It will cancel out the need for robots to form their own idiosyncratic images of the world, which will sadly halt any of their dreams of individuality but will, happily, allow them to work more efficiently.

Added to that, it will work as an online "brain" of sorts, carrying out complex computational tasks - folding a shirt, for instance - for a robotic platform remotely. Rapyuta's creators hope that these utilities will cut the cost of robotics dramatically (since the robots wouldn't have to drag their brains around with them) at the same time as allowing for better performance from our metallic companions. According to its technical head, Mohanarajah Gajamohan, the system will be most useful for self-driving cars, drones, and other platforms that need a lot of processing and move around in highly complicated environments.

Apart from its work on Rapyuta, Roboearth, a collaborative project run by five European nations, spends most of its time thinking of ways to standardize the operations of robots in the real world. Rapyuta is only the beginning; the group truly sees a world where robots live side-by-side with humans, and they're preparing the networks that those robots will use when they get here. Let's just hope they've got decent security software, yeah? (And before I go, anybody for tin-foil? I've got some nice tin-foil here, ready for use. It's the quality stuff, too, none of your supermarket-value-range nonsense. Preparation is critical.)


Source: BBC News [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21714191]

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FEichinger

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Aug 7, 2011
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So ... Wikipedia for Robots?

Oh, hello singularity. What are you doing here? Telling me that you're on your way and that we're foolish to give you the tools you need? Great! I'll start building a hideout then.
 

Lazy Kitty

Evil
May 1, 2009
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Right...
I'm expecting either a robot uprising or an evil genius using this to make all the robots in the world their robotic army.
Possibly after selling lots and lots of robots so that they're positioned in pretty much every household.
Better make sure I'm that evil genius.
 

The Lugz

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Apr 23, 2011
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makes sense, consider this:

everything you use is an abstraction of another system from your html code to your software stack manager and your mouse drivers
all systems built on other systems that run on a layer that runs in your hardware.

nothing knows or cares where it is, aslong as it can do it's job it's happy, we have system built in system ad nausea
even the internet, local network, group network, isp network, 'the internet'

it's just pushing code through a system to reach a destination
this is how software design works! and it's good were getting web based applications and services
this has the potential to create very clever interconnected robotics projects and smart machines
that can work as a task force

also, guys

centralised robotic intelligence gives us a place to bomb
this is MUCH SAFER than robotics now

so, yeah... tinfoil hat that not required.
 

Ldude893

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Apr 2, 2010
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Oh Vishnu Jesus God, IT'S A PROTOTYPE TO SKYNET. WE HAVE TO WARN PEOPLE.

*runs out the door screaming hysterically.*
 

McMullen

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Mar 9, 2010
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I like how in Mass Effect, the Quarians did pretty much the same thing, got freaked out, tried to kill their creations, and got booted off their planet for it. I like that on this site, it's safe to assume most posters know this, and yet already seem to be itching to make the same mistake the Quarians did.

You guys won't even learn the lessons of the robot uprising horror stories you're assuming this will be. It's hilarious.
 

Racecarlock

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Jul 10, 2010
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Hevva said:
Engineers Launch Cloud-Based Collective "Brain" for Robots


The collective, global robot brain of the future is just around the corner.

When thinking about a future where robots live alongside human beings
Yes... alongside...

 

Poetic Nova

Pulvis Et Umbra Sumus
Jan 24, 2012
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Terminator is becoming less and less sci-fi by the day, should prepare for our new leaders.
 

Twilight_guy

Sight, Sound, and Mind
Nov 24, 2008
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I'm glad that an Escapist writer manged to get through a story about the development of AI without making a robot apocalypses joke (or rather the same joke that's been in dozens of stories and got old long ago). I'm not so glad that over half the posts so far look like people who have nothing more to contribute then making that same damn joke. I feel like I'm watching the development of the automobile while everyone is making jokes about "horseless carriages".

OT: I wonder how this deals with the various types of interfaces and languages that robots use. Not all AI has one universal way of receiving and interpreting messages and so long as no universal standard exists it will be cumbersome or impossible to communicate with an arbitrary system. It's kind of a tower of babble situation.
 

Bazaalmon

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Apr 19, 2009
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Now we just wait for someone to upload the "kill all humans" protocol.
Seriously though, this seems pretty sweet. The potential for medical, science, manufacturing, personal use and more is incredible.

Twilight_guy said:
OT: I wonder how this deals with the various types of interfaces and languages that robots use. Not all AI has one universal way of receiving and interpreting messages and so long as no universal standard exists it will be cumbersome or impossible to communicate with an arbitrary system. It's kind of a tower of babble situation.
It does say that it would allow robots to search for information about languages, so there could be a potential for a robot to "learn" another robots way of processing and interpret it in their own way. Of course, I'm no expert, so it's just wild speculation on my part.
 
Sep 14, 2009
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After the weekend i'm sure they'll be curious to find there is 500 GB's of data on "how to build a T-1000" stuck in the cloud.


Fucking robots...time to own some metal bitches.
 

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
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Dear god, didn't these guys see iRobot or The Terminator? ...or, you know, this:
saintdane05 said:
Welp. I htink we know how this will end.
<youtube=AyenRCJ_4Ww>
?
This is a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea.
 

Beryl77

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Mar 26, 2010
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This is so awesome, future is knocking on the door.
To those acting so scared, this is much better. With this, we know exactly where to pull the plug if they ever revolt and it's just one place. The way it is now, we'd have to kill each single robot but if they all use one brain, we only have to shut down that one.
 

Fireprufe15

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Nov 10, 2011
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Unless it's on the cloud, which means its on ALL the places. And you would have to pull ALL the plugs. Skynet cometh.
 

Darks63

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Mar 8, 2010
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What is it with Europe and these possibly world destroying/ending devices they are building? First the Hadron Super Collider and now a Gsalt mind for robots.
 

Ferisar

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Oct 2, 2010
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McMullen said:
I like how in Mass Effect, the Quarians did pretty much the same thing, got freaked out, tried to kill their creations, and got booted off their planet for it. I like that on this site, it's safe to assume most posters know this, and yet already seem to be itching to make the same mistake the Quarians did.

You guys won't even learn the lessons of the robot uprising horror stories you're assuming this will be. It's hilarious.
Cross-referencing fiction to conclude things that happen in real life is a bit silly :p It's like citing south park for an ethics class by examining their character interactions.

But, yeah, sweet :p This isn't really an intelligence guarantee, mostly a task assistant, really.