Computers that can lie

Some believe machines will eventually prevail, once they are programmed to figure out their version of lying.
- www.wsj.com

Robots making their own discoveries

It's a "robot scientist" that researchers believe to be the first machine to independently come up with new scientific findings. Aptly, the bot is named Adam.

As reported in the latest issue of the journal Science, Adam autonomously hypothesized that certain genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae code for enzymes that catalyze some of the microorganism's biochemical reactions. The yeast is noteworthy, as scientists use it to model more complex life systems.

Adam then devised experiments to test its prediction, ran the experiments using laboratory robotics, interpreted the results, and used those findings to revise its original hypothesis and test it out further. The researchers used their own separate experiments to confirm that Adam's hypotheses were both novel and correct--all the while probably wondering how soon they'd become obsolete.

(http://www.cnet.com/news/robo-scientist-makes-gene-discovery-on-its-own/)

Altruism in Robots

Robots in a Swiss laboratory have evolved to help each other, just as predicted by a classic analysis of how self-sacrifice might emerge in the biological world. "Over hundreds of generations…we show that Hamilton's rule always accurately predicts the minimum relatedness necessary for altruism to evolve" (www.wired.co.uk)

The Painting Fool

I'm The Painting Fool: a computer program, and an aspiring painter. The aim of this project is for me to be taken seriously - one day - as a creative artist in my own right. I have been built to exhibit behaviours that might be deemed as skilful, appreciative and imaginative. My work has been exhibited in real and online galleries; the ideas behind my conception have been used to address philosophical notions such as emotion and intentionality in non-human intelligences; and technical papers about the artificial intelligence, machine vision and computer graphics techniques I use have been published in the scientific literature. (thepaintingfool.com)

Nico Demonstrates Self-Awareness

When raising an arm while looking at himself in a mirror, Nico's software system is able to identify himself as "self." The scientists programmed him to classify objects as "self," "other," or "neither" depending on information obtained from a camera behind one of his eyes. (inventorspot.com)

Robots affecting employment

According to a widely cited study by economist Carl Benedikt Frey and engineer Michael Osborne, 47 percent of jobs in the United States are at high risk of disappearance due to improving technology. (registercitizen.com)

iRobot Humanoid

Reader concertina226 writes: "Building a robot that has legs and walks around is a very expensive proposition. Mother Nature has created many wonderful things but one thing we do have that nature doesn't is the wheel, a continuous rotating joint, and tracks, so we need to make use of inventions to make things simpler,' [iRobot CEO Colin] Angle tells IBTimes UK. 'The reason it has taken so long for the robotics industry to move forward is because people keep trying to make something that is cool but difficult to achieve, rather than trying to find solutions to actual human problems. Technology can be extremely expensive if you don't focus." (hardware.slashdot.org)