Telexistence and avatar Robots

Imagine being able to inhabit a robot avatar across the world.  Walk around Paris without leaving your living room, tour the pyramids of Egypt or pick up a rock and skip it across an Alaskan lake while in your pajamas.  

Telexistence: Control a long distance Robot Avatar using VR gear

A Japanese company has been developing robot avatars for some time now, and they are finally coming closer to their goal of creating robots completely controlled by a virtual-reality headset and gloves.  Check out their promo video here: 

As long as nobody tries to hack into my head and control me, I'm all for this tech.  I already use google earth to travel around the world as I please from wherever I am, why not take it a step further?  

I love the city

There's something about each city which makes them almost like a living organism, a person.  The sights and smells of a Tokyo fish market, riding the front upstairs seat on a double decker bus navigating through London traffic, descending the Spanish steps in Rome,  or walking the royal mile in Edinburgh . . .  the surreal feeling of walking down the "Eixão" of Brazil's capital of Brasilia, the busy backbone highway which shuts down every Sunday for people to enjoy; or your plane almost touching skyscrapers as you land in San Diego, each city is unique and distinct.   

MY obsession with water and the ocean

Ever since I can remember, I've been obsessed with the ocean.  I love the beach, swimming, and I even jumped in the fountain at Leicester square whilst living in London years ago . . . well that was a bet I was put up to by a bunch of Study abroad girls I was living with at the time, but that's another story . . . 

There's something calming and hypnotic about moving water, but also inspiring.  Bruce Lee said, "flowing water never goes stale, so just keep on moving."  

Can robots and humans get along?

Everyone seems to be afraid of robots these days.  I get it, robots are different and can be scary.  Robots are taking jobs, robots are going to rise up and revolt . . .  but robots and humans working together can make beautiful art.  Check this out: 

And of course Timberlake's robot gets up close and personal here:

Are you a Dream or a nightmare?

You know that feeling when you meet someone romantically and start to get to know them and to see their quirks and unique characteristics . . . the mysterious time when you aren't sure where it might go . . . is she a dream or a nightmare?  Either way I'm in . . .

Vlog 4: New Orleans, 25 pages of comics, and snowboarding robots

Check out my latest vlog about the adventures of the past month.  

Gearing up for the Sundance Film Festival

Got in a few turns up in Park city, looking forward to the film festival next week!  Gonna be a crazy busy festival as always.  If you are in town come say hi to the Robot!  

Dreaming of Snowboarding

I love snowboarding.  I remember the first time I went I broke my wrist.  We were hiking, not at an actual resort.  I'd been skateboarding for quite some time but hadn't really ever snowboarded before moving to Utah.  I loved going off kickers (small wooden jumps) on my skateboard and so when I first tried going off a jump on a snowboard, and could get many times higher and farther than a wooden skateboard kicker, I went too big and snapped my wrist.  It just so happened that my friend's old car got stuck in the snow so everyone pushed while I drove the car, with a broken wrist.  It wouldn't have been so bad except that it was a stick shift so I had to use my elbow to steer since my wrist was broken and I needed to shift with the good hand.   

Utah is home to some amazing snow, the locals say "Greatest Snow on Earth" because the snow here is light, fluffy, dry and soft.   Also tourists love Utah because unlike other famous ski areas like Vail or Tahoe, resorts are only 1/2 hour from the airport.  This year we haven't gotten much snow but I'm dreaming of heavy snowfalls this holiday season.  

20 pages of my graphic novel are up!

Today I'm so happy to post the 20th page of my graphic novel.  This page has special meaning to me because it's all about getting out of my comfort zone, taking those steps of uncertainty into the unknown. As a person with social anxiety, every time I leave my home can be a struggle. Sometimes just knowing others feel the same way makes all the difference.

I can still remember the night I first left nurse Jean's apartment.   Inside was comfortable and safe but the outside world called me.  As I stepped out into the street it was as if I was floating rather than walking, the excitement and anticipation of exploring the city engulfed me.  Each tiny detail was a new discovery: a cat slinking by, the loud kids in their costumes, streetlights buzzing and cars humming past.  

Comfort, fear of the unknown, anxiety, these things can trap us and keep us from happiness and success.  All my life I search for that same feeling I felt leaving the apartment that first night, and it only comes when I get out of my comfort zone.

You can read my story from the beginning here.

Can a Robot "Catch Feelings"?

I was listening to an episode of "This American Life" this afternoon during my workout and it hit really close to home when the story of a police detonation robot came on.  It got me thinking about my life and frustrations with myself.   

Here's a link to the story: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/603/once-more-with-feeling?act=3

As a cyborg I'm caught between the robot and human worlds, sometimes I wish I could rip out the robotic parts altogether, and other times I wish I could be only electronic with no human emotions.   

Once the conversation turns to feelings I feel my robot elements overheat before eventually shutting down.  It's an emergency procedure to avert disasters which I've had in the past I'm sure.  In therapy once the analyst told me that it was a defense mechanism called stonewalling.  I'm not sure if she was right or not but all I know is that when I try to compute strong feelings like love my system begins to overload and shut off.  

I don't like that so I generally avoid love and romance.  Not to say I'm not interested or active in the dating world I just don't let things get to far because sooner or later I catch feelings and my system shuts down.  

Japan's Softbank group has invented a robot named "Pepper" who is supposedly the first robot to show emotions.  you might remember Pepper because it was performing wedding ceremonies in a past blog of mine.  What intrigues me is the same thing that always intrigues me about human's curious obsession with robots:  there is never any thought given as to whether or not a robot should have feelings, only to how to make them have feelings.  

As I mentioned before, I'm not a real robot, I have both electronic and human elements, so I can't speak for the robot community.  But I can imagine that Pepper wants to share in the human experience as its masters do.  Would Pepper, upon feeling the excruciating and crushing weight and scope of human emotion, want to turn them off, as I do sometimes, or would it be thrilled by them?