‘Intelligent’ Robots Hold Rich Potential for Korea R2D2 May Soon be Your Household Companion Korea’s Smart Robot Ambitions Catch Int’l Attention October to See Venture Into Space-Age Robot Utopia Korea has developed its own android capable of facial expressions on its humanoid face, the second such machine to be developed after one from Japan. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy invited some 60 children to the Kyoyuk Munhwa Hoekwan in Seoul to introduce Ever-1 to the public. The name combines the first human name found in the Bible, Eve, with the “r” in robot.

• Korea Unveils World’s Second Android

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today announced plans to hold its third Grand Challenge competition on November 3, 2007. The DARPA Urban Challenge will feature autonomous ground vehicles executing simulated military supply missions safely and effectively in a mock urban area. Safe operation in traffic is essential to U.S. military plans to use autonomous ground vehicles to conduct important missions.

DARPA will award prizes for the top three autonomous ground vehicles that compete in a final event where they must safely complete a 60-mile urban area course in fewer than six hours. First prize is $2 million, second prize is $500,000 and third prize is $250,000. To succeed, vehicles must autonomously obey traffic laws while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles.

• DAPRA Grand Challenge

“A European version of the DARPA Grand Challenge [CC] is being held in Germany next month. Instead of a race through the desert, the EU challenge is split into three events. Urban, non-urban, and landmine detection will be the ‘courses’, with multiple winners in each event. Interestingly Sebastian Thrun, winner of last year’s Challenge, has been forbidden from taking part despite being a European citizen.” From the article: “The trials will take place in and around Hammelburg, a mockup of a town used by the German military for training exercises. In the non-urban course the robots will have to contend with a one-kilometer route containing ditches, barbed wire fences, cattle guards, fires, narrow underpasses, and inclines of up to 40 degrees. The urban and landmine 500-meter trials will require the robots to negotiate doorways, stairs, partially collapsed buildings, and poor visibility from smoke or partial lighting. Along the way, they will also have to search for designated objects and report their findings back to base.”

• Slashdot | The European Grand Challenge

dylanduck writes “Good news for rover fans – Spirit is safe for the winter. It had been heading for a north-tilting spot to make sure its solar panels got enough sunlight during the imminent winter to survive, when a sand trap appeared. But, despite its busted wheel, it scooted round and is now sitting pretty. From the article: ‘We’ve got a safe rover,’ says principal investigator Steve Squyres. ‘That’s huge news for us.’”

• Slashdot | Spirit Rover Reaches Safety

“A new robot can recognize the difference between a mirror image of itself and another robot that looks just like it. … The ground-breaking technology could eventually lead to robots able to express emotions.”

Slashdot | Robot Demonstrates Self-awareness

Jason Striegel wrote a story about how he was mistakenly added to a celebrity and a sex-chatbot list. Jason quickly finds that he has a hard time convincing people of his human origins, thus failing the Turing test himself..

How I failed the Turing test | BlogCadre

Eh-Wire writes “Roborior, a house-sitting robot armed with a digital camera, infrared sensors and a videophone is on sale in select Japanese department stores. The house-sitting robot can detect break-ins with it’s infrared sensors and then call the owners cell phone and stream video to the tiny screen. At $2600 each the Roborior is not cheap. For those that require something a little more substantial, Tmusk, the manufacturer of Roborior, has produced a four legged version called Banryu. This one is the size of a large dog and sells for around $18,000. It’s not supposed to shed hair or sleep on the furniture which could make it quite popular.”

Slashdot | House-Sitting Robot Hits Store Shelves in Japan

ScentCone writes “A University of Tokyo team has developed a flexible, laminated network of pressure and temperature sensors suitable for jobs such as robot fingers. Circuits as pressure sensors, and semiconductors as temperature sensors are not new, but the thin, networked laminate of the two is novel.”

Slashdot | Japanese Researchers Develop Sensor Skin

shpoffo writes “Engineers at the University of Tokyo in Japan have created a robot that can catch a ball moving faster than 186 miles per hour (300 kph) – more than 270 feet per second. It uses an array of photodetectors to directly control the three finger actuators – which can rotate 180 degrees in 0.1 seconds. It’s only catching softballs at the moment, but operators are optimistic for it to soon catch other objects and grasp moving things. A video with odd sci-fi TV-series (coral cache) accents is available.”

Slashdot | Robot Catches High Speed Objects

“An android could get away with it for a short time, 5-10 seconds. However, if we carefully select the situation, we could extend that, to perhaps 10 minutes,” – Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, Osaka University, Japan.

jolyon writes “The BBC is reporting that Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised – a “female” android called Repliee Q1. ‘She’ has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, can flutter her eyelids, move her hands like a human and even appears to breathe. She can only sit though at present, so we’re a long way from Blade Runner yet.”

* Slashdot | Japanese Develop ‘Female’ Android