The Science Fiction Review Technology Robotic Exoskeleton to Enhance Soldiers

Robotic Exoskeleton to Enhance Soldiers

I recently ran across this interesting video during one of my many sessions with StumbleUpon. The video via GeeksAreSexy (shown after the “more”) demonstrates a guy in a robotic exoskeleton performing a variety of tasks to demonstrate the strength of the device. This was a weird coincidence because I was in the process of reading Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. His Mobile Infantry armor was much more elaborate, but I’m always interested when things from science fiction start to become science fact.

I was a bit skeptical of the cable hooked up to the back, because that didn’t seem very “portable,” but the video goes on to explain that the final version will be 100% portable with varying levels of armor protection. What is most interesting is that they talk about the goal of making the exoskeleton operate as an autonomous robot when the person steps out of the suit. I’m sure lots of research will have to be completed before the programming of such a robot would be possible.

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So who wants to control your own personal robot?So who wants to control your own personal robot?

How would you like to control your own personal robot to do your bidding? The new movie Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, takes this concept to extremes. In the movie, humans link their minds to a robot and control them directly. This is a bit different than being converted to a cyborg like Ray Kurzweil predicts.

As CNN reports:

“Surrogates” director Jonathan Mostow, whose film credits include 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” said he was drawn to the concept of surrogate robots as an extension of current technology. And, he said, as he met with scientists, he became convinced that something approaching the concept could one day be a reality.

It seems like the concept of “old fashioned” humanoid robots is  finally becoming outdated. I wonder how Isaac Asimov would feel? It is one thing to boss around a robot using the Second Law of Robotics, but actually mind-melding with one, or becoming one is completely different. The main dilemma in Surrogates is that someone found a way to fry someone’s brain before they were able to jack out of the robot they were controlling. This concept is very old, dating back to the old Virtual Reality plots. I was very interested in the movie when I first saw the trailer, but after reading some lackluster reviews, I think I might just wait for DVD.

The critics could be wrong though. Do any of you think I should give it a chance?

Check out the full article via CNN for more information. I found it to be an interesting read.

The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray KurzweilThe Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil

The Age of Spiritual Machines Book Cover
A few months ago a co-worker of mine suggested that I read The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil. We had been talking about AI and he mentioned that this was an interesting read. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, as I had never heard of Kurzweil before. After a few Google searches I got the impression that he was a quirky futurist.

This book was published back in 1999 and by the end looks very much like science fiction. Many of his predictions are founded on some sort of research. I can see how they would have seemed a bit “out there” almost 10 years ago. I wondered how many of his predictions would hold up. Central to his philosophy is the Law of Accelerating Returns. In short, technology will continue to progress ever faster as time goes on. He displays an interesting graph of the exponential increase of computational power in various models of computers over time. The line is slightly curved upward, which represents an increase in exponential growth over time. So, according to Kurzweil computation is progressing exponentially exponentially faster.
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