AUTOMATA

               I was looking for new movies about robots that are not so mainstream. By that I mean not involving amazing and unrealistic looking humanoid robots. We know that machine intelligence will not be housed in such good looking female forms. How sexist with little boy imaginations are these movie producers.

               I use the term machine intelligence because the the term "artificial intelligence " makes most people think it is some how not real. It will be real just different, and that is fine with me.

               Well I found one truly amazing and overlooked film. The boring mainstream media did not put it on my radar , so I am glad I went looking and looking and looking. It is called "Automata" and it weaves a great story with amazing looking robots , which I love to watch. They move and react so lifelike that it sent a chill up my spine. When they spoke I almost cried. 

                For now I will leave you with this video and picture. However I will be back to talk about some more. What is there really to talk about but robots anyway, everything else is soooooooooooooooooooo boring.

You are just a machine ??!!

Let us Hear it for the Robots !!

Spirit and Opportunity are well named. It takes spirit to take advantage of an opportunity.  Here these poor abandoned robots have performed brilliantly on Mars. One sadly is stuck but the other keeps going an going. I feel that they deserve recognition for what they have achieved on behalf of the human race. They have been transmitting data for years and years and they were only slated to work for ninety days. It goes to show you where well planned robotic can pave the way for humans.

Indeed we need to look up, if not to the stars just yet, then at Mars. When we look down at our progress on this planet we seem to be fumbling the ball just a tad. I have always thought that our robots,  the children of our collective genius , will lead us onto a path of surviving and thriving.

Lester the Robot head

LESTER

Here is a video of my latest robot Lester. He is made once again from spare parts. His head was from an old robot I took apart about 15 years ago. 

He was built around the 324 and some parts I had. My building philosophy has always been that you use what you have at hand. It might take some creative thinking and tinkering but I have found time after time that it works. What was fascinating was that the signal to the board where the circuit was went through almost three feet of wire from the light dependent resistor (LDR).

The 324 and the circuit built around it to run Lester.

Me holding one of the LDRs.

I do believe it is an excellent use of spare and thrown out parts!!

I'll BE BACK !!

Hello,

Yes like the terminator I'm back. Actually I do not go anywhere. I am back writing and looking after my long ignored blog. Like I have said in another blog, yes I have more than one, I do not stop thinking and living. It is just that life intrudes and I feel I have nothing to really contribute, so I stay silent. Now I am known to be expressive of my views. I have the firm belief that everyone is entitled to my opnion. However I am beginning to realize when I post something on the web it takes on a life of its own.

Since it lives after we have written it I want to be very sure when I write things down that they are worthy. My ideas are usually what I have been thinking about for years and so are well thought out. I have said it before and no doubt will say it again and again, not a day goes by that I do not hink about my penultimate favourite subject ROBOTS.

Here is a video of my Robot Tipsy. He is one of the older BEAM robots I had built a few years back. He worked ever so well and I would feed him with light and he would run ever so slowly. Unfortunately I moved from the basement to the top floor of my house. In the process of the move Tipsy hit the ground so hard that he broke. After almost a year I repaired him. One day I noticed something the basement could never offer , bright I mean really bright sunshine. So I rigged a very shakey platform and watched as Tipsy moved. His solar panel loves the sun and he triggers so quickly that it suprised and delighted me. As you can see he went faster than I thought he would and fell. However he was alright though it took me a little longer. The reason I call him Tipsy is that in his present configuration he has a tends to tip over.