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Science Fiction in the News Articles
Related to material in Q.U.R.
by Anthony Boucher

Engineer Quinby decides that since androids are often charged with performing specific tasks, why not make special purpose robots, instead of imitating all-purpose humans.

('Q.U.R.' by Anthony Boucher)

Science fiction in the News articles describe real-world events that relate to the ideas and inventions in sf novels and movies. Select a news article:

Do People Prefer Humanoid Robots?
   Interesting study use MRI data to see if human beings are much more likely to enjoy their interaction with humanoid robots.

The Miraculous Stigmatabot Robot Bartender
   Penitents are invited to place their grail below the Stigmatabot's wound spigot, which should give you some insight into this mad creation.

Pancake-Flipping Robot Learns By Example
   Can you flip a pancake? This robot learned how in only fifty tries.

Robot Learns To Clean Whiteboard, Suck Up To Teacher
   What else can you teach this robot by example? I have the feeling that cleaning whiteboards is just the beginning.

Robot Bartender (Or Waiter) From Carnegie Mellon
   Those QR-2 robots, what will they do next?

Monsieur Bartending Robot
   'He poured the liquids into his maw...'- Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Robot Bartenders At Sea
   'We've promised him a generous pension from the royalties on usuform barkeeps...'- Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Robots Learn Cooking By Watching Videos - Foreseen In 1943
   'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'- Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Robot Chef Makes Thousands Of Dinners
   'I got one of those new electronic cameras... and I could construct this one to do it exactly right down to the thousandth of a second.'- Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Robots Don't Need To Be Humanoid
   'People are used to android robots... They'll be scared of your unhuman-looking contraptions...' -Anthony Boucher, 1943.

NVIDIA's DAVE2 Autonomous Car Learns From Drivers
   'So we took pictures of Guzub making a Three Planets...' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Computers Understand Humans By Watching And Modeling Them
   Soon, your computer will be watching you... and judging you.

A Bayesian Approach to Safe Imitation Learning For AIs and Robots
   Um, how about that pension for the humans who serve as the models for robot behavior?

Robot Dog Learns To Be Doggy From Real Dogs
   'So we took pictures of Guzub making a Three Planets, and I could construct this one to do it exactly right down to the thousandth of a second.' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Copilot Software AI Training Sued By Involuntary Contributors
   '...we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.

Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
   'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.' - Anthony Boucher, 1943.

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