Re: [agi] First issue of H+ magazine ... http://hplusmagazine.com/
2008/10/17 Ben Goertzel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > Including a brief article by me about open-source robotics, that I wrote > back in April... Open source robotics may eventually occur, but I think it will require some common and relatively affordable platforms. It becomes much easier to usefully share code when you're dealing with the same hardware (or at least compatible hardware). The hardware requirements are not spectacular. Really all that's needed is a PC on wheels with some minimal motion control electronics, but unfortunately no such system is available today at a reasonable cost (say, less than $1500) which can be bought off the shelf by an interested amateur (as per the home computers of the 1980s). I am hopeful though that such a common platform will eventually emerge, but for people like me it has been a long wait with a few false dawns. As for the iCub, although this is open source this is also a complicated and expensive system. Only a few priviliged individuals will ever get to work with this machinery, and so the economies of scale which characterise the open source movement probably won't apply here unless a hardware abstraction layer is ruthlessly enforced. --- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Re: [agi] First issue of H+ magazine ... http://hplusmagazine.com/
On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 4:10 AM, Bob Mottram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Open source robotics may eventually occur, but I think it will require > some common and relatively affordable platforms. It becomes much > easier to usefully share code when you're dealing with the same > hardware (or at least compatible hardware). Bob, it's already happening behind your back, and I'm not talking about iCub. While platform standardization is important, there's other things that you can do like write cross-platform compatible applications and compilers, or working on rounding up all of the GPLed source files that are scattered across the web for software that people have released but nobody has ever really collected, and such. - Bryan http://heybryan.org/ --- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Re: [agi] First issue of H+ magazine ... http://hplusmagazine.com/
2008/10/17 Bryan Bishop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Bob, it's already happening behind your back, and I'm not talking > about iCub. While platform standardization is important, there's other > things that you can do like write cross-platform compatible > applications and compilers, or working on rounding up all of the GPLed > source files that are scattered across the web for software that > people have released but nobody has ever really collected, and such. Cross platform code is not really a major issue. The basic problem is that if I expend a lot of time and effort developing a super manipulation program for a robot arm can someone else then take that code and reuse it, without needing to make a prohibitive number of changes or necessarily understanding the algorithms in detail. If the answer to this is "yes" then open source robotics is really possible. The history of robotics, certainly in the industrial realm, is one of multiple proprietary and mutually incompatible systems, with very little in the way of code reuse. Imagine if every time you bought a new PC you had to manually write an operating system for it yourself before you could begin doing anything useful. Something similar to this has been the situation with robotics for most of its (admittedly brief) history. I am optimistic that things will change though. As always, the price/performance ratio resulting from Moore's law predicts that a real open source movement in robotics will become possible some time soon. A few years ago it almost looked as if a company called "White Box" was about to produce a decent PC based robot for around $1000, but after delays and redesigns the eventual product turned out to be $5000-8000, effectively squashing the chance of it becoming a common platform. Still, I think some company will eventually succeed in producing a mass market PC based robot. --- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Re: [agi] First issue of H+ magazine ... http://hplusmagazine.com/
Yah, although I wrote that article about the iCub, I'm not particularly confident it's "The One" ... mostly I just wanted to call attention to the concept of open-source robotics, and in a journalistic article one needs to focus on *some* specific example... On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Bob Mottram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 2008/10/17 Bryan Bishop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > Bob, it's already happening behind your back, and I'm not talking > > about iCub. While platform standardization is important, there's other > > things that you can do like write cross-platform compatible > > applications and compilers, or working on rounding up all of the GPLed > > source files that are scattered across the web for software that > > people have released but nobody has ever really collected, and such. > > > > Cross platform code is not really a major issue. The basic problem is > that if I expend a lot of time and effort developing a super > manipulation program for a robot arm can someone else then take that > code and reuse it, without needing to make a prohibitive number of > changes or necessarily understanding the algorithms in detail. If the > answer to this is "yes" then open source robotics is really possible. > > The history of robotics, certainly in the industrial realm, is one of > multiple proprietary and mutually incompatible systems, with very > little in the way of code reuse. Imagine if every time you bought a > new PC you had to manually write an operating system for it yourself > before you could begin doing anything useful. Something similar to > this has been the situation with robotics for most of its (admittedly > brief) history. > > I am optimistic that things will change though. As always, the > price/performance ratio resulting from Moore's law predicts that a > real open source movement in robotics will become possible some time > soon. A few years ago it almost looked as if a company called "White > Box" was about to produce a decent PC based robot for around $1000, > but after delays and redesigns the eventual product turned out to be > $5000-8000, effectively squashing the chance of it becoming a common > platform. Still, I think some company will eventually succeed in > producing a mass market PC based robot. > > > --- > agi > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > Modify Your Subscription: > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > -- Ben Goertzel, PhD CEO, Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC Director of Research, SIAI [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome " - Dr Samuel Johnson --- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
RE: [agi] First issue of H+ magazine ... http://hplusmagazine.com/
This is cool it's kind of like a combo of Omni, a desktop publishing fanzine with 3DSMax cover page, and randomly gathered techno tidbits all encapsulated in a secure PDF. The skin phone is neat and the super imposition eye contact lens by U-Dub has value. I wonder where they got that idea from, superimposition glasses may be easier to interface with, I mean how do you get a wireless processor and antennae into the lens? John --- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=117534816-b15a34 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
