Driverless cars are often called autonomous vehicles – but driving isn’t an autonomous activity. It’s a co-operative social activity, in which part of the job of whoever’s behind the wheel is to communicate with others on the road. Whether on foot, on my bike or in a car, I engage in a lot of hand gestures – mostly meaning ‘wait!’ or ‘go ahead!’ – when I’m out and about, and look for others’ signals. San Francisco Airport has signs telling people to make eye contact before they cross the street outside the terminals. There’s no one in a driverless car to make eye contact with, to see you wave or hear you shout or signal back. The cars do use their turn signals – but they don’t always turn when they signal.
“In the Shadow of Silicon Valley” by Rebecca Solnit
Author: julien
Cute monocycle robot with middle fingers
I love how this little thing balances itself.
They call them arms, but they look more like fingers to me.
Obviously, their creators care about it. It’s so cute how they try to push it off-balance without hurting it.
Absolutely Robody Cares
Rothing speaks bullshit more than an android nobot in a wheelchair tele-operated by a white dude wearing Hololenses, as if he was in some kind of alternate hospitality world we’d all want to live in.
Making it a square video does not make it cooler either.
“Remote caregivers”, I suppose that’s what they call “robodies”, providing “companionship”, “genuine human connection” and “the warmth of human interaction” is now a “comforting reality”, says the soothing female narrator voice trying to hit every keyword in the marketing 101 playbook.
“Nurturing human connection, enriching lives and redefining the essence of care”, more like nurturing the techno dream of total surveillance, enriching stock value for shareholders and pouring gasoline over healthcare.
Robotaxis are on fire
San Franciscans celebrate Chinese new year by setting Waymo’s robotaxi on fire.
More than meets the vision sensor
Waymo, the robotaxi company from Alphabet/Google, broke the first law of Asimov.
Way more interesting is to read how the robocompany describes the incident:
“The cyclist was occluded by the truck and quickly followed behind it, crossing into the Waymo vehicle’s path. When they became unoccluded, our vehicle applied heavy braking but was not able to avoid the collision,” Waymo said.
https://boingboing.net/2024/02/07/waymo-autonomous-car-hit-bicyclist.html
Let me emphasize that: “the cyclist crossed into the Waymo vehicle’s path“. That’s such an engineering thing to say. It’s your 2 tons metal box on wheels that does not have a small moving vehicle hidden by a larger one in its computation vision model. Your software calculates a trajectory to pass behind that truck. Oops, there was a cyclist there. But it’s the cyclist who crosses your path? How convenient.
Robots put you to sleep… forever
Philips DreamStation, a robot to help you breath at night, turned out to be a killing machine.
Since April 2021, the FDA has received more than 116,000 MDRs [Medical Device Reports], including 561 reports of death, reportedly associated with the PE-PUR foam breakdown or suspected foam breakdown.
Problems Reported with Recalled Philips Ventilators, BiPAP Machines, and CPAP Machines
Manufacturers […] are required to submit medical device reports (MDRs) when they become aware of an event that reasonably suggests that one of their devices may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury, or has malfunctioned and that device or a similar device marketed by the manufacturer would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur.
ibid.
Philips recalled the machines and stop selling them in the US. Where else are those still on sale?
/ht @boingboing
…but safe
Not sure if it’s intentional, but agile and safe in the same sentence is sure to hit high on search engine confusion, especially with a github website to promote your paper. You’re going to get a ton of hits from webshits with 99 problems but robotdog obstacle-avoidance ain’t gonna be one.
Also, calling something “but safe” is, how do I say it clearly but nicely, shooting yourself in the bearing balls. You’re not going to make me think for one sec that this noisy cocaine high articulated pet is inoffensive.
Looks like you know your classics though. The “robotdog kicking bloopers” are always welcome. You seemed a little too careful though not to hurt the animal, a little too safe?
No driver, no fines
Driverless cars have been documented running red lights, blocking emergency responders and swerving into construction zones.
Driverless cars immune from traffic tickets in California under current laws
[…] When driverless cars break the rules of the road, there’s not much law enforcement can do. In California, traffic tickets can be written only if there is an actual driver in the car.
Who’s programming who?
Illustration, p 27, Petite Philosophie des algorithmes sournois.
Shitscram at Boston Dynamics
Engineers at Boston Dynamics celebrating christmas by testing robotdog collaborative features and laughing at their failure.