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Eric, unveiled to the world in
y1928, was the United Kingdom’s
first robot.
Britain’s first robot was a dazzling
sight to behold, with broad
shoulders, light-bulb eyes and a
thick-barreled chest.
On Sept. 20, 1928, Eric, as
the robot was named, was unveiled
before members of the
Society for Model Engineers’
annual convention. Weighing
more than half a ton and requiring
35,000 volts of electricity, the
impressive figure fascinated audiences.
Eric then embarked on
a tour that took him around the
fworld, and the futuristic bot became
an international sensation.
But years later, Eric was lost, and
his fate remains a mystery.
Now, London’s Science Museum
is running a Kickstarter
campaign in hopes of raising
money to rebuild Eric. He
w
RUSSIAN DENVER
By Charles Q. Choi
By Jaclyn Jansen
By Charles Q. Choi
Artificial intelligence may one
day embrace the meaning of the
expression «A picture is worth
a thousand words,» as scientists
are now teaching programs
to describe images as humans
would.
Someday, computers may
even be able to explain what is
happening in videos just as people
can, the researchers said in a
Colorado Russian Newspaper published in English 720-436-7613 www.gorizont.com/rd
Smart’ Blocks Turn Lego Creations into Web-Connected Toys
New electric blocks from
Brixo Smart Toys can add elec-
sensors, motors and lights
wtronic
yand Internet connectivity to
your Lego sets.
New Lego-compatible blocks
created by quantum physicists
could amp up your best creations
by adding internet connectivity,
yelectronic sensors, motors and
lights to existing Lego sets.
The new devices, from Israelbased
Brixo Smart Toys, use
chrome-plated blocks that conduct
electricity to connect batteries
with electronics. The blocks
yare safe to hold, just as regular
batteries are, the researchers said.
«The human body resists
electrical currents from passing
though it– it has a high electrical
resistance,» said Brixo founder
Boaz Almog, a quantum physi-
at Tel Aviv University. «At
ycist
low voltages– less than 15 volts–
yalmost no current enters the
human body upon contact, and
hence no harm is done.»
There are currently four kinds
of electric blocks. In addition
to the chrome-plated connector
blocks, the researchers developed
another that can hold a
regular 9-volt battery, constantly
monitor electric current to prevent
short circuits, and conserve
power when creations are idle in
order to extend battery life.
Others, dubbed «action
blocks,» may contain motors
to move creations or LEDs that
can light up Lego designs. Socalled
«trigger blocks» contain
sound, light and proximity sensors
to help creations respond
to their surroundings, and they
can also grant creations wireless
connectivity via Bluetooth, the
researchers said.
In combination with Lego
Technic sets– which include
wheels, rods and other complex
parts– machines such as cranes
and Ferris wheels can be created.
Moreover, wireless connectivity
allows people to control their
creations via their smartphones
or even remotely and automatically
through the internet, the
researchers said. For instance, it
could be possible to turn on all
of the smart home devices in
your home simply by hanging a
key chain with a Brixo block on a
Brixo board by the door.
«Brixo will allow makers to
build internet-of-things devices
with a minimal learning curve
and with maximal flexibility mechanically
and electronically,»
Almog said.
Almog came up with the
idea for these electric bricks in
2013. His son had successfully
wired an electric science kit and
proudly showed it to Almog,
but when Almog asked his son
where the circuit was, he realized
his son could not see it through
the forest of tangled wires. His
son then went to play with his
favorite toys, Legos, and the idea
for Brixo was born.
«Brixo is all about building circuits,
and seeing and understanding
what you built,» Almog said.
A Kickstarter campaign to
Retro Robot from the 1920s May Get 2nd Chance at Life
will join more than 100 other
bots that copy the human form
(known as humanoid robots) as
part of the museum’s upcoming
exhibit on robots.
«Eric was everything you’d
imagine a robot to be,» said Ben
Russell, lead curator for the exhibit,
which will display robots
that were built over the past
500 years. Eric could stand up,
look around, sit back down and
answer a few simple questions,
Russell told Live Science.
Russell is spearheading the
effort to bring Eric back to life.
With pictures and short video
clips, as well as some early design
drawings of the robot, Russell is
working to rebuild a replica of
New Artificial Intelligence Can Tell Stories Based on Photos
new study.
Computers have grown increasingly
better at recognizing
faces and other items within images.
Recently, these advances
have led to image captioning
tools that generate literal descriptions
of images.
Now, scientists at Microsoft
Research and their colleagues
are developing a system that can
automatically describe a series of
images in much the same way a
person would by telling a story.
The aim is not just to explain
what items are in the picture, but
also what appears to be happening
and how it might potentially
make a person feel, the researchers
said. For instance, if a person
is shown a picture of a man in a
tuxedo and a woman in a long,
white dress, instead of saying,
«This is a bride and groom,» he
or she might say, «My friends got
married. They look really happy;
it was a beautiful wedding.»
The researchers are trying to
give artificial intelligence those
same storytelling capabilities.
«The goal is to help give AIs
more human-like intelligence,
to help it understand things on
a more abstract level– what it
means to be fun or creepy or
weird or interesting,» said study
senior author Margaret Mitchell,
a computer scientist at Microsoft
Research. «People have passed
7
fund Brixo raised $716,791 from
6,171 backers by the time it finished
on May 11, far outpacing
its original goal of raising
$50,000. The company plans to
ship its products to customers
starting this fall.
«Brixo will come out of the
box with building instructions
and suggestions for basic models–
for example, car, helicopter,
alarm clock,» Almog said.
Brixo will also host an online
community where amateur and
professional tinkerers and developers
can share building instructions
for models and learn how
to create new devices. The community
will go online later this
year, Almog said. «Brixo supports
and encourages tweaking
and tinkering,» he added.
Future Brixo blocks may include
ones that can recognize
voices or make sound, Almog
said. The company is currently
developing an application programming
interface (API)– software
that allows other programmers
to write apps and other
programs that can make use of
Brixo, Almog said.
the famous robot. Enough archival
material exists to know what
Eric looked like from the outside,
but «the challenge is to reverse
engineer the inside,» Russell said.
The curator is teaming up with
expert roboticist Giles Walker to
place «modern-day guts» inside a
1920s-style robot exterior.
If the crowdfunding campaign
can successfully raise
more than $50,000, Eric will join
the Science Museum’s robot exhibition,
and the rebuilt robot
will embark on an international
tour, just as his predecessor did.
Eric the Robot’s first appearance
at an event in 1928.
Despite the impressive technology
that went into making
each robot in the museum’s new
exhibit, Russell realized that
these robots are not particularly
useful machines. What could
Eric do? «Not much; he doesn’t
even have a pelvis,» Russell said.
Even the most advanced humanoid
robots that are built today
have more in common with
celebrities and showmen than
practical tools, Russell said. For
example, the ASIMO robot, built
by Honda, «incorporates astonishing
technology,» Russell said,
but still does a live show each
day for audiences. He suggested
that these machines are as much
about art as science.
This has become the central
theme of the Science Museum’s
robot exhibit, which opens in
February 2017. According to
Russell, the exhibit asks, «What
is our motivation? Why do we
keep inventing ourselves as machines,
when the human form is
quite poor for this?»
The Kickstarter campaign to
rebuild Eric will run through
June 16. The project has already
raised more than $31,000 of its
$50,471 goal. Tickets for the robot
exhibit are available online through
the Science Museum’s website.
down stories for eons, using
them to convey our morals and
strategies and wisdom. With our
focus on storytelling, we hope
to help AIs understand human
concepts in a way that is very
safe and beneficial for mankind,
rather than teaching it how to
beat mankind.»
Telling a story
To build a visual storytelling
system, the researchers used
deep neural networks, computer