Friday, December 6, 2013

Drones and Robots, Part 2

Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, 9am to 10:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

We have examined  the use of drones and robots in war, so for next week we will look at how the same technology is being used in peace. There were three TED Talks about this subject which came out in the just last few months.

  1. Lian Pin Koh: A drone's-eye view of conservation: As you watch this video see if you can count all the military technologies that are being used in this conservation effort. Contrast how drones are used in world collaboration as opposed to world conflict.
  2. Andreas Raptopoulos: No roads? There’s a drone for that: Do you think this technology developed for sub-Saharan Africa was the inspiration for Bezo's proposed drone delivery system? Is there a delivery drone in your future?
  3. Henry Evans and Chad Jenkins: Meet the robots for humanity: Why is this quadriplegic so happy? How important was the drone's "coolness" factor?

4 comments:

  1. Fascinated with both the moral questions and the wonderful and dreadful world coming and here already. Wish I were part of the tech world and hope the future for our grandchildren does not turn out bad when so much of this tech could be used for good. War and military applications are frightening. Seems there is no place more for sci fi to go as we are using every imaginable thing already!

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  2. Dear Room-in Colleagues:
    today's discussion on robots brought to mind great movie that drives home the point of the import of robots to issues that are important to us. The movie's title is Robot and Frank ; friendship doesn't have an on-off switch. The movie stars Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon among some other notable actors. I strongly recommend the movie because it's on topic of what we were discussing. The movie is well done and entertaining, yet brings home the point that we grappled with today's meeting. Robots have a great deal of potential in ways that are still unfolding and will remain unfolding for years to come.
    The movie is entertaining and I've come to realize at this stage of life the power of narrative in driving home critical points that are often lost in technological jargon in scientific knowledge.this movie may be rather rented from the Howard County library. It is relatively new been only a few years old and I'm sure can be obtained from other sources. The robot interfaces with the question of aging and caring for aging and parents. I'm sure that most of us can every appreciate this problem. I recommend it will be so strongly that it alone is worth a membership to the library, in my opinion.
    Vince

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    Replies
    1. It was a pretty good movie. Thanks for the recommendation. The credits at the end show many companion robots that now exist.

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  3. The movie is available free online for those with Amazon Prime. I'm watching it now.
    Robot and Frank

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