Robots with soul

[Shooshie]

This is a TED talk from a guy who designs and builds robots. He takes us through his influences and inspirations, starting with Pixar's "Luxo Jr." lamp animation, and tells how he learned that motion is the key to conveying soul and emotion. So, after learning about animation, acting, and many other things that would influence him, he began to design robots that move with more of a human approach, interacting in real time rather than responding only sequentially to commands.

http://www.ted.com/talks/guy_hoffman_ro ... _soul.html

Somewhere along the line this carried over into music-making robots, and he shows what a difference it makes when the robot who is playing with you acts more like a human who is feeling the music.

There are principles in here that will have some effect on what we do in the future with music. Not only music, but how we interact with robots in our lives.

This is one of those talks in which the more you bring to the table, the more you will get out of it. So, use your imagination; let your thoughts run wild, and listen to what this guy is contributing to our future lives.

Shooshie

[Phil O]

Thanks for that link, Shoosh. I watched the whole thing. I had no idea anyone was working at that level of sophistication. Move over, Siri.

Phil

[FMiguelez]

Thanks for posting that, Shoosh.

I LOVE TED Talks!
I think its link should be in everyone's Safari menu bar. It just gives you very interesting stuff to listen to while having breakfast or lunch

[Shooshie]

I LOVE TED Talks!
I think its link should be in everyone's Safari menu bar. It just gives you very interesting stuff to listen to while having breakfast or lunch

Me too! About once a month, I spend a few hours watching TED talks. Some will just blow your mind. I sincerely hope that at least some of these people are successfully integrating their brilliant ideas into our lives, and that they don't just end up "another good idea in a TED talk."

For anyone who wants to add it to their menu-bar, or bookmarks bar, or whatever it's called,

Voila:

http://www.ted.com

Shooshie

[Prime Mover]

I REALLY want one of those lamps.

Curious, Luxor was a big inspiration to me at one point back when I was first learning motion graphics. I decided to take it one minimalistic step further and make an animation with bouncing monochrome boxes. They jump around, yell nonsense at each other and get all excited about an upcoming news feature (until they get splatted by a giant box). Needless to say, to this date I rate it as one of my favorite works... even though it's all of 10 seconds in length.

Awe, what the hell, here it is. Definitely wasn't my intention to show off, but since I'm talking about it:
http://video.ericbarker.com/Commercials ... igDeal.mov

BTW: I've always been drawn to animation that pays less attention to realism and more to motion. I'd rather see robots like Guy's, they don't look anything like humans, yet they're able to express themselves just as well. I like their slightly exaggerated exuberance.

Here's an interesting question. Is it bad to actually "feel" emotion toward robots? Because that's what we're getting at, when I watched those, it really made me go "awe" and "Yeah, man, dig it!" but they're not real and don't really feel. Yet, we already are completely okay with that, empathizing with characters in a novel, or an animation, or actors playing fictional characters in a movie. Maybe empathizing with robots isn't going to be any different, and we shouldn't worry about it too much.

[Shooshie]

Maybe empathizing with robots isn't going to be any different, and we shouldn't worry about it too much.

My guess is that there is already a Steve Jobs or Elon Musk of robotics at work, creating the robot we all just have to have. This guy may be him. This is going to be very interesting.

Shooshie