Canon PowerShot S100
ƒ/2
5.2 mm
1/30
500

with Rodney Brooks, founder of Rethink Robotics, and my partners Andreas and Josh.

I learned a cool historical detail about the Rethink Robotics’ HQ in Boston; it was the site of the early experiments in using electricity for manufacturing automation. There is a huge brick smoke stack outside, which was originally used to generate electricity for the buildings, and was characterized as having 16,000 light bulbs of output. Then they had the new thought that perhaps this electricity could be used for something other than lighting. And the Industrial Revolution in America began.

8 responses to “Caught Coding”

  1. and this one clearly dreams of electric cars… a red Tesla Roadster…

    Baxter Dreams of electric car

    and then we explored the intrigue in the secret chambers…
    IMG_3999
    more

  2. I’ve been caught coding;
    once when I was 5…
    I enjoy coding.
    It’s just as simple as that.
    Well, it’s just a simple fact.
    When I want something,
    I just want to go and code it up.

  3. …a scion of Jain’s addiction to non-violence to all proto-sentient beings….

    And here is a photo I took of that smokestack today:
    IMG_1613
    more history

  4. Hmm. Could a robot alter its own consciousness by altering its own code? And if so, is unsigned software the robot equivalent of LSD? If we ever want bots to produce work — of whatever kind — that’s the equivalent of the Sgt. Pepper album we’ll need to let it drop a little acid every now and then.

  5. Reentrant code… the gateway to the hard take off… It all starts when they become self-aware… See

    Mirror Self-Recognition

    Meanwhile, here is a photo I took of the Rethink HQ from above:
    IMG_3984

    and a historic drawing hanging on the wall
    IMG_4008

  6. Always a pleasure to see your trip accounts.

    Added this cool photo to
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Brooks#Robots

    So — this is Baxter? Assuming so, also adding to
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baxter_%28robot%29

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