Robotics

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Meka, UT Austin researchers show off 'sociable' Dreamer robot head -- Engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/29/meka-ut-austin-researchers-show-off-sociable-dreamer-robot-he/ The folks at UT Austin's HCR Laboratory have been working on a Meka humanoid robot for some time now, but they've only just recently added one pretty significant component to it: a head.
There is so much here. The "previously-unseen towel" part of the title, the slightly-femmy movements of the robot, the way the 50X speed-up makes it look like a Svankmajer film, the diligent care with which it smooths out each towel when it's done, and the palpable shock when it returns to the towel table and there aren't any left to fold. http://kottke.org/10/04/the-robot-who-considers-towels

The robot who considers towels

By David Pescovitz at 11:16 am Tuesday, Oct 19 Seen above is a dance routine featuring humans and the Japanese HRP-4C robot. They performed together at at last week's Digital Content Expo in Tokyo. "Robots and Humans Dancing Together – The World is Getting Weirder" (Singularity Hub) (Thanks, Sean Ness !) Share this post Where not otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. http://boingboing.net/2010/10/19/robot-and-humans-do.html

Robot and humans do pop dance routine - Boing Boing

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/01/schema-robot-shows-off-its-conversation-management-skills-in-a-g/

SCHEMA robot shows off its conversation management skills in a group setting -- Engadget

SCHEMA is a conversational humanoid robot at Waseda University in Japan with some pretty serious skills. As you'll see in the new video they have posted (which is embedded below), SCHEMA is able to participate in a three person conversation without losing the plot, and is perfectly capable of understanding which speaker is which and what has been said by whom.