Doug Blank's blog

Robots killing people

Doug Blank — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:22:24 -0400

In a recent article in GOOD magazine, Chris Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced "cheek-sent-me-hi") noted:

Among the many changes in U.S. policy after 9/11 was one that went unnoticed by everyone except a few geeks: The military quietly reversed its longstanding position on the role of robots in battlefields, and now embraces the idea of autonomous killing machines. There was no outcry from the academics who study robotics—indeed, with few exceptions they lined up to help, developing new technologies for intelligent navigation, locomotion, and coordination. At my own institute, an enormous space is being out-fitted to coordinate robotic flying, swimming, and marching units in preparation for some future Normandy.

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Researchers study software gender gap

Doug Blank — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:34:20 -0400

Two computer scientists have found an interesting difference between how men and women use software. From an MSNBC report:

Laura Beckwith, a new computer science Ph.D. from Oregon State University, and her adviser, Margaret Burnett, specialize in studying the way people use computers to solve everyday problems — like adding formulas to spreadsheets, animation to Web sites and styles to word processing documents.

A couple of years ago, they stumbled upon an intriguing tidbit: Men, it seemed, were more likely than women to use advanced software features, specifically ones that help users find and fix errors. Programmers call this "debugging," and it's a crucial step in building programs that work.

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Robot Conflict

Doug Blank — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:16:12 -0400

In the past, the Franklin Institute has invited us here at Bryn Mawr College to participate in demonstrations of our interesting robotics projects. We have always been very happy to take a group of robots on a nice Saturday morning in the Fall and have some fun showing kids of all ages our toys, er, I mean, "research opportunities."

However, this year I am hesitating. This year, the FI is bundling their robot demonstrations with an event called Robot Conflict. They describe it this way:

A Talk on the Philosophy of Computer Science

Doug Blank — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:15:06 -0400

Bryn Mawr College Department of Philosophy, Department of Computer Science, The Center for Science in Society, and the Delaware Valley Distinguished Lecture Series in Computer Science presents:

William J. Rapaport
University at Buffalo

Title: Philosophy of Computer Science

William J. Rapaport is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, an affiliated faculty member in the Departments of Philosophy and of Linguistics, and a member of the Center for Cognitive Science, all at State University of New York at Buffalo. His research interests are in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, knowledge representation and reasoning, contextual vocabulary acquisition, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, critical thinking, and cognitive development. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Subtlety of Gender Bias: robots, classrooms, and Top Chef

Doug Blank — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:15:04 -0400

Here at the IPRE, we are working on developing hardware, software, and course materials based on robots for use in teaching introductory computing courses.

One aspect of the project that we are very conscious of is how the students might perceive robots in the classroom. One of our goals is to develop materials that will attract students into computing. If we use a device that some students find alienating, then we will, of course, have failed. So, we are sensitive to such perceptions, specifically those that have gender correlations.

How can one develop materials that are sensitive to gender biases? The same way that you write good software: you need to test. Feedback is the only way that you can know for certain, and then you revise and test again. We all have biases and, even when we are aware of that fact, these biases can still pop-up and have adverse affects.

iRobot Create challenge

Doug Blank — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:52:31 -0400

John Billington from iRobot has just announced a robot challenge, and the winner gets $5,000!

I am writing to let the robotics and education community know that
iRobot is offering up free Create robots to students who want to enter
the iRobot Create challenge. Please let any students or interested
parties know that all they need to do is post their idea here before the
end of June:

www.instructables.com/group/iRobot

The contest deadline to make your robot is the end of August. We are

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The Philosophy of a Good Robot Assignment: Competitions in the Classroom?

Doug Blank — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:18:16 -0400

One of the first ideas that comes to mind as an assignment using robots in the classroom is to have a competition. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Create a buzz on campus, get people talking about your course! Get students hooked, and engaged! Motivate them to spend some time on the subject! Sounds like you can't go wrong.

But I think that there can be problems with competitions in the classroom. However, you can tweak a competition to avoid problems. What could possibly be wrong with a good-natured, friendly competition? Of course, some students might not do well with the stress. But even beyond that, there might be subtle issues even if everyone wants to participate. Consider the following.

Japanese robot dances "spontaneously"

Doug Blank — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 07:03:46 -0400

In the news items today is a story about a robot that dances:

Japanese robot dances "spontaneously" (Moldova.org) - A new Japanese robot twists and rolls to iPod tunes in an intricate dance based on complex mathematics. Technology developers convince that one day robots will move spontaneously instead of following preprogrammed motions. Equipped with Kenwood Corp. speaker systems, Tokyo-based venture ZMP Inc.'s 35-centimeter (14-inch) long Miuro robot - which looks like a white ball wedged between two halves ... [Yahoo Robot News]

Bill Gates explains Microsoft's Robotics Interests

Doug Blank — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:25:50 -0500

Bill Gates stumps for robotic future - ZDNet Blogs - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates lays out the robotic future in the cover story of January's Scientific American magazine, which has a C-3PO type robot on the cover. In the story, Gates argues that the robot industry is akin to the PC industry 30 years ago ... [MSN Robot News]

In this Scientific American cover story, Bill Gates explains some of the background to Microsoft's interests in robotics.

Surveyor SRV-1 Robot: First Impressions

Doug Blank — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:34:03 -0500

In this post, I'll take a look at the SRV-1 robot from Surveyor.com. The SRV-1 Starter Kit costs $375 (additional robots are $295, and educational discounts are available). The kit comes with the robot, USB wireless connection and recharger, pictured here:

The SRV-1 is the first robot offering from Surveyor. It is tread-driven, small, and sturdy. The SRV-1 falls into a new niche in advanced robots for education and research in that it has a low-cost camera that requires no additional special hardware, except for the included USB wireless connection. In the past, if you wanted to use a camera on an autonomous robot, your choices were generally limited: you could use an onboard webcam (which required a laptop); or you needed an analog wireless connection with a special "frame capture" board.