iTunes + Robot Podcasts = Learning on the go!

Do you like iTunes?  Do you like robots?  Do you like podcasts?  If you answer yes to all three of these questions, do I have a recommendation for YOU!  I’ve recently found a great podcast that inspires me to do further research on my favorite science/science fiction topic: Robots!

The title is Robots: The Podcast for News and Views on Robotics. There are other robot-related podcasts, but I will check them out later. This podcast is the first one I found and there are so many episodes available. Each episode is around a half hour or around 45 minutes. The first episode I listened to was one with an interview with scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro, who created the Geminoid, a copy of himself. This episode is titled, “Androids, Human Presence, and the Uncanny Valley.” You have to listen carefully though, because Mr. Ishiguro is speaking on a phone and also he has a Japanese accent of course.

What I really like about this podcast is it has topics I am looking for. There are two episodes about Robot Ethics and two episodes about Science Fiction that include robots and androids. There is even an interview with David X. Cohen, who works on Futurama, and he will be talking about the show and his view of the future, according to the info on the podcast. I definitely have to check that out; I love Futurama even more because of the fact that robots and humans co-exist in the 3000s. Personally I can’t subscribe to this podcast because my seven-year-old desktop computer doesn’t have much gigabytes left to hold megabytes and megabytes of podcasts and music, but I’d like to check back on this podcast often and find a select group of episodes to download. It helps that the podcasts are free!

A realization about my science fiction…

I have actually known for a long while now that I need to do more research on robotics for the science fiction I plan to write and publish in the near future. I’ve read some of Technophobia!, and want to read David Levy's Love + Sex with Robots in the near future as well, in fact as soon as I can. But I need to be reading on actual robotics—what really makes machines work.

In the past I wasn’t very interested in engineering and the building and controlling of robots. I’ve only been interested in robots and androids that appear in science fiction. The author, of course, would throw in some words and phrases that indicate he or she knows a thing or two about robots and computers. I stupidly told myself, “I am not going to do that. I don’t have to. I just want to focus on the character of the robot or android.”

Well, to understand how a robot, android, or talking computer might respond to a human, or how its own thoughts develop and spark, I DO need to know the historical and scientific facts about how robots and computers work. What would it look like inside a robot’s head? If it were able to think and compute, where do all the chips and cables go? I need to learn about key words like circuits, cables and programming. I probably should have taken learning courses on robotics and artificial intelligence. Maybe when I have a safe amount of money set aside for that pursuit.

So here is what I feel like I need to do. I need to just go ahead and write down the robot stories I have in my head…….all seven or eight of them, or so.  Later when I have enough background information and can incorporate the knowledge into the stories, I can choose one and work on them one at a time. Knowing that they won’t be published for at least the next two years, I feel a little discouraged about this giant writing project.

But I want to do it.  I need to work harder.

Nao Robot

Futaba Humanoid Robot

I have to share this video as well. I like the music that is playing in the background; it enhances the wonder that comes from watching this video. With a remote control, this robot can walk in different directions, even do a head-stand! I've watched this video four times now and it still amazes me.

Watch what happens when it falls down ;D




www.robots-dreams.com

Fighting Robots Video

It's really short but I wanted to share it because the action is so cool :)

Early Signs: Cubix: Robots for Everyone

I used to watch this computer-animated cartoon show called CUBIX: Robots for Everyone.  I remember this show and I watched it when it started in the summer of 2001.  It has returned to air on Saturday mornings at 7:00am.

This cartoon is about a robot named CUBIX (he is made of cube-shaped pieces).  He is able to convey emotion through facial expressions. This is in a world where humans and robots coexist, robots of many different kinds.  It was a very colorful cartoon.  It's nice that it's coming back to TV again.

I'll try to catch an episode or two, if  I feel like getting out of bed at 7am on a Saturday morning, ha ha hah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubix

Google Image Search for CUBIX: Robots for Everyone

Update for Robot Anime I’ve been watching + Mega Man Megamix

Tuesday afternoon I had a chance to catch up on some robot anime. I watched episodes 15 and 16 of Casshern Sins.  There is no bad episode, this show is so great and powerful.

After watching Casshern Sins, I watched episode 8 of Android Kikaider the Animation. It was a compilation episode, but I didn’t mind. It was a good idea that episode 8 happened to be a compilation episode because it has been a while since I watched Android Kikaider the Animation anyway. If I wanted to watch robot anime, lately it was Casshern Sins. Episode 8 of Shotaro Ishinomori’s animated series touched up on some issues that were pretty important to the show; Mitsuko’s feelings for Jiro; Jiro’s loneliness; Jiro’s negative self-image as Kikaider; Kikaider’s strength, and other things important to the story.

Now there are only five more episodes of Android Kikaider TA that I have to watch.  I am almost sorry that the series is only thirteen episodes.  But that means I can watch the series again in Japanese audio.

Recently, I think on the night before watchin the anime, I read the first chapter of Mega Man: Megamix Volume 2. The author and artist is Hitoshi Ariga. This chapter features Skull Man. I can only say that the story for this chapter reminds me of the many reasons why I love robot literature so much, especially when it comes to robot characters that lack something (like love) and are misunderstood.  Even if you are not a Mega Man fan, but you like robots/ robot literature, read this manga.  Hitoshi Ariga’s stories for Mega Man are truly amazing.

Another Robot anime I am interested in: Time of Eve

I subscribe to Anime Reviewers Weekly and just today I got this newsletter about a six-episode anime called Time of Eve.  It is made into a movie, combining the six episodes into one feature length unit.  I saw the first picture/screenshot the review provided and thought, "Wait, is that a robot?  Wow, I gotta read what this is about!"  And it turns out that robots and androids are part of the focus for this anime.  I like how the reviewer mentions the fact that science fiction is a metaphor, and this is a big reason why I like science fiction related to robots, androids, cyborgs, all that. 

   Earlier in Cybernetic Dreams I wrote about how robots and androids, even cyborgs can be discriminated against, because they are different from humans; they are made of mostly metal and have computers for brains rather than the squishy, flesh and blood matter with which human beings are composed.  There are androids that look apparently more robotic than human, and there are androids that look and act so close to the human being that it would be hard to tell the difference at first.  In this anime, it seems that both types of androids are represented.  That is very good.  I am looking forward to the fact that this anime will be addressing some important questions, not  just for science fiction pertaining to robots, but for our future.  A future that is not only about humans' relationship with robots, but with other humans with different ethnic backgrounds and customs.  This is why robot literature (especially from Isaac Asimov) is so good, and in my opinion, the best type of sociological science fiction you can ever read.  This is what guides me to the reason that I must check out this anime Time of Eve.  I think it is something Asimov would be interested in seeing and discussing as well.

When there does come a time when  humans must co-exist with robots and androids , the humans must find a way to live with them-- and that means humans must acknowledge the robots' and androids' existence with respect.  This is how their co-existence will facilitate and begin.

So what if robots and androids don't have emotions?  Yet.  Sometime, they will.

Here's the review at the link below.

Link:
http://animereviewers.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/time-of-eve-review-movieona/