Be afraid......Be Very Afraid

Brenda, who writes from Planet Brenda (http://planetbrenda.blogspot.com) has previously voiced that she is terrified of robots. Something I saw tonight on UNC-TV might make her hide under the covers for a while. On the program Scientific American Frontiers, there was a segment about engineers at MIT who have created a robot named Leonardo, who looks like a large, first generation Furby. Leonardo is said to be the first robot with artificial intelligence. It was fascinating to watch him (or it) move upon voice command and respond to the questioners' (Alan Alda) directives. Leo has cameras in his eyes which help him mimic the movements of the person with whom he is interacting. According to a woman who was instrumental in his creation, they are attempting to make a robot with which you can interact as you would with a human, and would respond to much as you would a human. This has been difficult before, since most robots have looked more like machines than people (except for R2D2 - or was it C3PO?). So Brenda, avoid this program at all costs, should it be repeated.