Robo-GOOOOOAL!

Christopher Dahl — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 19:30:58 GMT

This is obviously a very interesting set of problems that they are dealing with. But I think that people in general will find dealing with peer-level robots just a little menacing.

Wouldn't it be more immediately useful to design a robo-wolf spider to hunt cockroaches or a robo-weasel to hunt mice or robo-dragonflies to hunt mosquitoes? ...

Robo-GOOOOOAL!

M James, Cheshire, England — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 00:43:30 GMT

You asked "Would you ever be able to trust your kids to a robotic traffic guard - or for that matter, a robotic soccer referee? " Definitely not a robotic traffic-guard. Referee? How fast are the reaction speeds, and can you imagine the vocabulary the robot would need to learn for arguments with players?

However, I have used AIBO to play nanny and spy on the children. The camera, microphone ears and ability to speak what I type make it an excellent way to keep an eye on the kids when they're in a different room. AIBO also reads bedtime stories from the MP3 files on my PC.

All in all, I'd say the robot's usage is only limited by our imagination.

Robo-GOOOOOAL!

Andy, Santa Fe, New Mexico — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:10:09 GMT

Loved the page about "How to Survive a Robot Uprising." I'm going to go out right now and buy it, and immediately afterward purchase an Adidas track suit and oversized, rapper-style, hideously tacky gold necklace with "ROBOT: DO NOT KILL OR MAIM" in big, flashy, cubic zirconium-studded letters.