Andy Boyan, Ph. D.

The pattern of connections in a network predicts how information passes through the network.

Patterns of network connections are identifiable (eg small world, random, regular).

If communication is an identifiable pattern of connections in a network, then we can predict how information passes through communication networks.

I’ve been reading about the Watts and Strogatz model.  Here’s a wikipedia version of said model.

Others have done the next step already, and I’m reading those next.

Cool sports media opportunity today.

Today is the AP Sports Editors Northeast meeting. It is being’s streamed live online at: 
http://bit.ly/17HstgM

There is a Twitter hash tag for you to network and participate at #APSEMarist

Please use the Twitter account you would use for sports reporting and journalism. 

The event is all day starting at 9:15am. 

Two key panels come in the afternoon, including from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. a debate on whether the media should vote on the Baseball Hall of Fame — panelists include the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame Jeff Idelson and TJ Quinn of ESPN — and from 2:30 to 3:15 a discussion on best writing pratices for young jounalists featuring Selena Roberts, Jane McMannus (ESPN NY), and Michael Weinreb (Grantland).

This is about more than learning how robots can be trained to do tasks better.  It’s about a step in research that takes interaction into account.

“A team of roboticists has shown that by getting robots and humans to carry out simple tasks together, then swap roles, synchronicity increases significantly because the machines gain a better understanding of what’s required of them.”

There’s three camps of robotics researchers.  

1) One camp is focused on function and training.  How do we get robots to do the things we want them to do?  They build amazing things and often take humans into account because humans need a UI to be able to use the robot like a tool.  This group is making incredible strides, like the Pneupard CheetahBot.

2) Another camp is taking the social element of animatronic machinery and trying to figure out people react to robotic buddies.  Turns out it’s a complicated situation, but strides are being made here as well.  Meet MAKI, the social home robot that’s trying to get kickstarter funds.

3) Lastly we have the combination of the two.  The consumer robotics people.  They are trying to find ways to sell the function and the social form of robots to consumers.  The thing is, this is somehow trickier than expected.  People aren’t rushing out to buy Grillbot.  The mesh of function and social hasn’t yet hit that perfect point.

You guys know about the pitch drop experiment?

So in 1927 this professor did a demonstration to his students that a material that seems solid (pitch) is actually just a super viscious liquid.

He put this chunk of what seems like rock into a funnel
and waited for it to drip out.

1 year
2 years
3 years
4 years
5 years
6 years
7 years…

finally 8 years later

it drips.

But nobody is around to see it, so they wait again.

Another 8-10 years they wait.  It finally drips, but everyone misses it because it takes somewhere from 6-14 years to drip, so being at that exact moment is kind of hard to do.

So far it has dripped 8 times in the past 8 years.  Nobody has seen it.

The last time they had cameras set up but they all failed. Now it’s getting close to the ninth drip again.

There are webcams up in the room, and dozens of nerds around the globe watching to see if they can catch it happen live.

http://smp.uq.edu.au/content/pitch-drop-experiment

Good luck catching it.

I don’t think the inventors of this window-cleaning robot thought through the basic way that windows are built into actual buildings.  

At 2:09 he pulls out a sticky hangar as a solution for the design flaw.  I cannot believe someone thought this was a good idea.

Bud Black Crown
M&Ms Love Ballad
Audi Prom
Hyundai Team
Go Daddy Perfect Match
Doritos Goat for Sale
Pepsi Next Party
Best Buy Amy Poehler
Oz the Great and Powerful
Coca-Cola Cameras
Oreo Whisper Fight
Fast & Furious 6
Toyota Wish Granted
Doritos Fashionist Daddy
Calvin Klein Abs
Cars.com Wolf
Bud Light Journey (voodoo)
GoDaddy.com Big Idea
Star Trek Into Darkness
Milk PEP
Hyundi Stuck
Volkswagon Get Happy
Coca-Cola Mirage
Subway Congratulations Jared
Budweiser Clydesdales Brotherhood
Taco Bell Viva Young
Sketchers Gorun 2
Lincoln Phoenix
Jeep - America will be whole again
NFL Surprise!
History Channel Vikings
Iron Man 3
Century 21 Wedding
Blackberry - What can’t it do?
E-Trade baby - Save it
Subway FebruAny
Bud Light Lucky Chair
Axe Apollo Lifeguard
Mio Anthem
Kia Hotbots
Gildan Getaway
Pistachios PSY
Lincoln Once Upon a Tweet
Speed Stick Unattended Launrdy
Beck’s Sapphire No Diggity
NFL Leon Sandcastle
Ram Trucks Farmer
Kia Space Babies
Tide Miracle Stain
SodaStream Effect
Mercedes Soul
Samsung The Next Big Thing

I mean, I guess it’d be cool to have a dancing robot. For a few minutes.  But I really want one to empty the dishwasher, pet the cats, and clean the toilets.

A few weeks ago the FDA approved the first medical robot for hospital use. I’m not convinced this is a good idea.

Note: That’s medical robot, not surgical robot.

Medical robots help with patient care.  Stuff like basic patient monitoring.  If you’ve ever been in the hospital, nurses come in every hour or half hour, sometimes longer, to check on you.  in this Dr. Robot scenario, I assume the robot would be doing some of that checking.

The idea is to save some money on staffing. Nurses are stretched thin as it is, and provide more continuous care for situations where it is helpful. Here’s a vid of the RP-VITA in action.

 Here’s why I think it’s a bad idea—People are freaked out by robots.

Most people are not me (or you if you’re reading this). We’re most likely geeky, probably men, who are fascinated by robotics and would spend our time rolling dice on various “checks”. I would LOVE a robot doctor.

However, a survey from 2008 asked participants what household tasks they would be comfortable with robots conducting. The results don’t specifically get at medical care, but they did ask about a few tasks that are similar to care.

Things people are the LEAST comfortable with robots doing:

• Cook
• Care for children
• Care for pets
• Keep me company

Maybe this is the step needed for people to start getting comfortable with robots in the home. maybe it’s the kind of exposure that people need.  On the other hand, maybe it will create an atmosphere that feels like the patient isn’t important enough to receive human care, which could potentially result in reduced health improvements.

(Or, more accurately, better communication results in better health outcomes)

This is a cool step, but it may need a pretty major PR campaign so everyone loves the cute and cuddle RP-VITA bot. Wow, what a terrible name to make patients think about care and comfort.