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RoboCup 2007

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:21:45 +0000

“The 2007 installment of RoboCup has begun; individual events opened to the public today. RoboCup is an international robotics symposium and competition whose goal is to advance the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence to the point that in 2050 a robot soccer team can defeat the human world champions. This year, RoboCup is located on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, GA, marking the first time a university is hosting it and only the second time since it began in 1993 that it is located in the United States.”

Slashdot | RoboCup 2007 Opens At Georgia Tech

Making Robots More Human

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 13:03:51 +0000

Stumled upon this article that describes scientists moves to make robots more human. In my own Droids simulator I have also worked on a hide-and-seek simulation, since there are many human aspects to cover in that simple game.

George the robot is playing hide-and-seek with scientist Alan Schultz. George whirrs and hides behind a post until he’s found. Then a bit later, he hunts for and finds Schultz hiding.

If that sounds childish, consider that Schultz is working his way up to teaching the robot to play Capture the Flag.

What’s so impressive about robots playing children’s games? For a robot to actually find a place to hide, and then hunt for its human playmate is a new level of human interaction. The machine must take cues from people and behave accordingly.

This is the beginning of a real robot revolution: giving robots some humanity.

Robots Invade Computer Science Classes

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 14:25:29 +0000

“Two colleges are hoping to make computer science courses more attractive by including personal robots with the textbooks. Looking to boost enrollment in introductory computer science classes, Microsoft Corp. is working with Bryn Mawr College and Georgia Tech on developing new ways to bring robotics technology into the classroom. Douglas Blank, a computer science professor at Bryn Mawr, said the goal will be to start incorporating the robots in introductory courses at the suburban Philadelphia college next spring. Georgia Tech hopes to start during that term as well. The idea behind the program, Blank said, is to make computer science more hands-on and practical, rather than simply about debugging programs.”

Robots Coming to Intro Computer Science Classes