|
Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
|
|
Sega idog Robot Puppy (Update)
Sega unleashed its newest creation in Tokyo; a robotic dog called idog that can compose, play and dance to music.
Update 27-Jan-05: The various functions of the idog are clearly illustrated in the (freshly translated) diagram below:
(From Sega idog robot)
Owners can program idog with an audio input jack at the base of its left hind leg (it's friendly with Apples iPod, for instance). The idog has a number of switches located on its nose and other parts of its body that can cause the robot dog react to movement and to light up and express its emotions.
(From Sega idog robot)
A famous science-fictional robot dog that can also sense movement and express emotion is Ray Bradbury's Mechanical Hound from his 1953 masterpiece Fahrenheit 451:
Montag touched the muzzle.
The Hound growled.
Montag jumped back.
The Hound half rose in its kennel and looked at him with green-blue neon light
flickering in its suddenly activated eyebulbs. It growled again, a strange rasping
combination of electrical sizzle, a frying sound, a scraping of metal, a turning of cogs
that seemed rusty and ancient with suspicion.
"No, no, boy," said Montag, his heart pounding.
He saw the silver needle extended upon the air an inch, pull back, extend, pull back.
The growl simmered in the beast and it looked at him.
Montag backed up. The Hound took a step from its kennel.
Montag grabbed the brass pole with one hand. The pole, reacting, slid upward, and
took him through the ceiling, quietly. He stepped off in the half-lit deck of the upper
level. He was trembling and his face was green-white. Below, the Hound had sunk
back down upon its eight incredible insect legs and was humming to itself again, its
multi-faceted eyes at peace.
(Read more about Bradbury's Mechanical Hound.)
Hopefully, the cute, puppy-like idog will be friendlier than the Hound. The Hound was the companion of the firemen, who burned books instead of putting out fires. It also hunted enemies of the state by smell.
Read more about the idog at Sega takes leash off robot dog. Read an article about a proposed robotic dog that will help our soldiers in the field - DARPA's Big Dog Robot.
(First version of this story 20-Jan-05; thanks to Dave for translating.)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/28/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.
| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 34 )
Related News Stories -
("
Robotics
")
Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.' - Lee Chaytor, 1958.
Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
When the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.
AlphaGarden Robot Cares For Gardens Better Than Humans
'...a simple clock-set servok with pipe and hose arms.' - Frank Herbert, 1965.
TeslaBot Uber Driver (2024) And The Automatic Motorist (1911)
'Robots have worse problems than anybody' Philip K. Dick, 1954.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
|
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"
Can A Human Land A SpaceX Rocket On Its Tail?
'If she starts to roll sideways — blooey! The underjets only hold you up when they’re pointing down, you know.'
Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
'...she dropped her hands from the wheel, took the robot snake from his box.'
Has Turkey Been Stealing Rain From Iran?
Can one country take another's rain?
We Need To Build Anti-Drone Systems For Civilian Spaces
'the real border was defended by ...a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats...'
SensorWake Scent-Based Alarm Clock
'The odalarm awoke Jorj X. McKie with a whiff of lemon.'
AI Worms That Spread
'...there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net now'
Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
When the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.
FlexRAM Liquid Metal RAM And One Particular SF Movie Robot
'Its lines wavered, flowed, and then painfully reformed.'
Ulm Sleep Pods For The Homeless
'The lid lifted and she crawled inside...'
Prophetic Offers Lucid Dreaming Halo With Morpheus-1 AI
''Leads trail away from insertion points on her face and wrist... to a lucid dreamer...'
More Like A Tumblebug Than A Motorcycle
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel...'
Tesla Camera-Only Vision Predicted In 1930's SF
'By its means, the machine can see.'
First Ever Proof Of Water On Asteroids
'Yes, strangely enough there was still sufficient water beneath the surface of Vesta.'
Aptera Solar EV More Stylish Than Heinlein Steel Tortoise
'When confronted by hills, or rough terrain, it did not stop, but simply slowed until the task demanded equaled its steady power output.'
Gigantic Space Sunshade Would Fight Global Warming
'...the light of the sun had been polarized by two crossed fields so that no radiation could pass.'
More SF in the News Stories
More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories
|
|