EVIL ROBOT MFG. CORP.

Things have been busy in the little world of the EVIL ROBOT MFG. CORP. The arrival of my son Bruno in March has left me little time to attend to publishing. But now that we have come to a unilateral agreement on sleeping at night it seems as if I might be publishing more often.

Thanks to all you who have been patient and thanks for all of your correspondence. To that end, many of you have asked that I expand the topics to gadgets and other ephemera I collect and obtain. So, I will be doing that. Look for more posts about devices, technology enabled clothing, art, and as those of you who know me know - my profound passion for watches. Look for these new topics and usual fare in the upcoming days and weeks.

The Computer-Human Interface has a new contender technology. Though I’d like to think we’ve come a long way with computers, the keyboard and mouse remain the predominant way we interface with them. We’ve had the unfulfilled promise of handwriting and voice recognition and hope that something better will come along sooner or later. Perhaps this is it - brain computer interface technology pioneer Emotiv Systems will have its EPOC neuroheadset to market before Christmas 2008.

The lightweight US$300 EPOC is, worn on the head but does not restrict movement in any way as it is wireless. The set detects conscious thoughts, expressions and non-conscious emotions based on electrical signals around the brain. It opens up a plethora of new applications which can be controlled with our thoughts, expressions and emotions.

The Emotiv EPOC will be the first high-fidelity brain computer interface (BCI) device for the video gaming market when it becomes available to consumers via Emotiv’s Web site and through selected retailers in late 2008 for a recommended retail price of $299.

The company is also opening its application API to developers and providing a range of tools to enable developers to integrate neurotechnology into their applications. The initiative will spur the adoption of brain computer interface technology in video gaming and other industries, enabling consumers to experience an entirely new form of human-machine interaction.

The Emotiv EPOC detects and processes human conscious thoughts and expressions and non-conscious emotions. By integrating the Emotiv EPOC into their games or other applications, developers can dramatically enhance interactivity, gameplay and player enjoyment by, for example, enabling characters to respond to a player’s smile, laugh or frown; by adjusting the game dynamically in response to player emotions such as frustration or excitement; and enabling players to manipulate objects in a game or even make them disappear using the power of their thoughts.

Yet another direction enabled by the EPOC is that of live animation using the unit’s facial recognition sensors to mimic the wearer’s facial expressions in an animated avatar.

Exciting possibilities abound.

You can't say I didn't tell you first..

A new study by ABI Research predicts that the personal robotics market will be worth $15 billion by 2015. The report examines the consumer market for toy robots like Sony's Aibo and the recently released iSobot, as well as increasingly sophisticated single-function “task” robots such as the Roomba vacuum cleaner and Looj gutter cleaning robot from iRobot.

The ABI “Personal Robotics” study also looks at developments in commercial robotics and software development platforms that will play an important role in the future of the market as operating systems become standardized and advances in commercial robotics flow through to consumer products.

ABI says that the forecast growth in the personal robotics market will see major advances at affordable consumer prices and provide revenue opportunities for a wide variety companies, from small robotics-focused software companies and microcontroller vendors to larger semiconductor vendors and giants like Intel, Microsoft and the major automotive manufacturers.

Commenting on the industry's future, ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis says: "Some people may spend as much on a multi-task humanoid robot as they do on a car, buying fewer, but more expensive, robots. This scenario will occur well in the future, but as we reach 2015, we can expect to see an increasing use of complex manipulators."

Toyota Motor today unveiled a robot that can play the violin as part of its efforts to develop futuristic machines capable of assisting humans in Japan's greying society.

The 1.5-metre-tall (five-foot), two-legged robot wowed onlookers with a faultless rendition of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance. With 17 joints in its hands and arms, the robot has human-like dexterity that could be applied to helping people in the home or in nursing and medical care, the carmaker said.

Toyota, which already uses industrial robots extensively in its car plants, said it aims to put robots capable of assisting humans into use by the early 2010s.

The new robots come three years after Toyota unveiled a trumpet-playing robot -- its first humanoid machine -- in a bid to catch up with robot technology frontrunners such as Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. Makers of robots see big potential for their use in Japan, where the number of elderly people is rapidly growing, causing labour shortages in a country that strictly controls immigration. Japanese are famed for their longevity of life, with more than 30,000 people aged at least 100 years old, a trend attributed to a healthy cuisine and active lifestyle. But the ability to live longer is also presenting a headache as the country has one of the lowest birthrates. Japan's most famous robot is arguably Asimo, an astronaut-looking humanoid developed by Honda which has been hired out as an office servant and has even popped up to offer toasts at Japanese diplomatic functions.

It aims to start trials putting some, including the mobility robot, into practical use in the second half of next year. Further work is also planned to improve the hand and arm flexibility of the violin-playing robot so it can use general purpose tools. Carmakers are also looking to use robot technology to develop more sophisticated cars. "Technologies used to enrich the abilities of robots can also be used to improve the functionality of automobiles," said Watanabe.

According to a new prediction from Nokia, up to 25% of the entertainment consumed by people in 2012 will have been created, edited and shared within their peer circle rather than coming out of traditional media sources. This user-generated content phenomenon has been dubbed “Circular Entertainment” and could be the future of news information delivery.

The statement from Nokia is backed by a global study, entitled "A Glimpse of the Next Episode", carried out by The Future Laboratory and views from industry leading figures with Nokia's own research from its 900 million consumers around the world. The mobile phone giant has constructed a global picture of what it believes entertainment will look like over the next five years. With a marked rise in awareness of movements such as Wikipedia, Creative Commons and blogging, there has been a shift in thinking regarding user-generated content. No longer is it considered untrustworthy or inaccurate as was the case many years ago. “The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups - a form of collaborative social media," said Mark Selby, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia. Of the 9000 people surveyed in the Future Laboratory study a staggering 39% watch TV on the internet, - 46% regularly use an instant messenger program and 29% regularly blog.

Nokia's views Circular Entertainment working like this - someone shares video footage they shot on their mobile phone from a night out with a friend, that friend takes that footage and adds an MP3 file, then passes it to another friend. That friend edits the footage by adding some photographs and passes it on to another friend and so on. The content keeps circulating between friends. Interesting.

According to Tom Savigar, Trends Director at The Future Laboratory, "Consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment be truly immersive, engaging and collaborative. Whereas once the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers now and in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment.” This “immersive living” is the rise of lifestyles which blur the reality of being on and offline. Entertainment will no longer be segmented; people can access and create it wherever they are.

Well, no kidding Nokia...