Aibo

What do you get when you cross stitch taxidermy with the mug of a dead robot? Well, if youre the artist/robot teacher France Cadet, you get a wall full of interactive robo-trophies programmed to react to their environment.

It turns out playing with a robot pet can be just as soothing as interacting with the real thing. Saint Louis University researchers conducted a study in three U.S. nursing homes to see how elderly people would respond to Sonys Aibo, the robo-dog, versus a flesh-and-blood mutt. The subjects were divided into three groups. One got regular visits from the mutt, the second played with Aibo and the third was deprived of both.

For a video of the soccer-playing bots in action, click here (WMV Format).

As World Cup soccer rages in Germany this month, 350 teams from around the world will convene in the city of Bremen to compete in the robotic equivalent, the 10th annual RoboCup World Championship. The goal, so to speak, of this event is highly ambitious: to create android athletes that could whip the human world-champion soccer team by the year 2050and, along the way, advance the field of artificial intelligence.

Dept.: You Built What?
Cost: $200
Time: Many long nights
Practical | | | | | Popcorn