Just found http://www.roboteducation.org/ with a free book “Learning Computing With Robotics“. This book, and the website are part of The Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE).
from IEEE Spectrum
POSTED BY: Evan Ackerman / Fri, February 11, 2011
Modular Robotics’ Cubelets are designed to be an absurdly simple way to build robots. You don’t have to know how to program anything or even how to build anything; just snap a few specialized Cubelet blocks together and poof, you’ve got a robot. Want to build something different? Just use different blocks in different combinations, it’s that easy:
Cubelets Engineering Prototypes from eric schweikardt on Vimeo.
See FULL ARTICLE
Link to company website
By Daniel Kohn
With the category of “US Cities” and the clue ” Its largest airport is named for a world war II hero; its second largest, for a world war II battle” and his wrong answer of “What is Toronto???????” Watson still outperformed its human competitors in Jeopardy! this past week. I think Ken Jennings note (below) might be a bit premature
but I am really impressed with Waton’s technology. I still have many technical questions, but for the most part it is a very impressive attempt at understanding natural human communication. Watson’s ability to pick out the most important information and be able to play Jeopardy does signal that computers are coming that will rival HAL in 2001 (although hopefully without the murdering part).
I see, very soon, that Watson could be broken down into component programs that people could run over the internet, similar to how Folding at Home or Seti at Home works now, but in Watson’s case, each computer would run a part of Watson’s “Intelligence” and as people need the processing power, it is spread out over the computers on the net running the Watson@home software. But in this case, it could also use the internet as its database (Watson on Jeopardy was NOT connected to the internet). Think of the what could be done with this technology, especially when harnessed with Voice Recognition software on a local computer. IBM (the makers of Watson) could take search to the next level and be the next Google.
Am I saying that the question of Artificial Intelligence has been solved…..NO! But this is a significant leap forward that will have a profound effect on computer technology for years, maybe even decades to come.
Following Jeopardy! Win, Experts Discuss Future Of Computers And Humans.
The AP (2/17, Robertson, Borenstein) reports IBM’s Watson computer soundly defeated its two human opponents in Jeopardy! “Watson’s victory leads to the question: What can we measly humans do that amazing machines cannot do or will never do?” The article offers responses from an array of engineers and scientists, including experts from IBM, Carnegie Mellon University, the Envisioneering Group, Portland State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, among others. “The next step for the IBM machine and its programmers: taking its mastery of the arcane and applying it to help doctors plow through blizzards of medical information,” among other potential applications for “technical support centers, hospitals, hedge funds or other businesses that need to make lots of decisions that rely on lots of data.”
We’d like to invite you and students to participate in the 2011 Programming Challenge at the University of Memphis on Saturday April 30th, 2011. This event will be an opportunity for your students to learn about exciting technologies in computing.
The theme for this year is Web App Design and Programming Robots.
In this one-day event, students will learn about the technologies in the morning. And in the afternoon, they will compete with each other in teams. For detailed information, including REGISTRATION and PREPARATION for the competitions, please visit http://www.cs.memphis.edu/programming_challenge
Space is limited. Registration must be done by March 15, 2011, so we have time to prepare. Information about registration and preparation is here: http://www.cs.memphis.edu/programming_challenge/ .
If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.
Regards,
Vinhthuy Phan
Associate Professor of Computer Science
University of Memphis
Email: vphan@memphis.edu
Event website: http://www.cs.memphis.edu/programming_challenge/
IBM’s Watson is challenging the two best human Jeopardy Champions. Will a computer prove it can beat humans at this popular game show?
Tonight (ooops missed it) and the next two nights watch Jeopardy to find out.
Nova did a wonderful special on Watson. Watch the full episode HERE. Below is just the preview:
Here is a preliminary round with PBS Host Miles O’Brien recorded last week.
Follow this story at GOOGLE NEWS
Just received a wonderful web edition of “Robotics News From IEEE” Articles include:
Building an Internet For Robots
David Hanson’s New Robot Heads
Robot Crawls on Power Lines
A New Kind of Factory Robot
Also included is a link to “Top 10 Robot Videos” Like:
AND
What is Engineering Technology? Watch this and find out:
For more info goto the University of Memphis Engineering Technology Website
Yesterday, the second part of the US First Quick Build was held at the University of Memphis, Herff College of Engineering, Engineering Technology Department.
The session finished with everyone having the base of the robot finished (frame, gearbox, wheels and drive chain). Most teams at least tested their control system to verify the wiring was correct, their “radio” was configured and the cRIO had working code. Two Teams: St Mary’s Team 3686 and Hamilton High School Team 3783 had the robot rolling out the door!
Thanks again for all the teachers and mentors of the teams for coming out. But I would especially like to thank the Mid South Makers, IEEE University of Memphis Student Chapter and the students of the Engineering Technology and Engineering Departments for helping out to make this event a huge success.
