This is a major advancement in robotics because it’s the first 2 winged robot built to such a small scale that it can pass as a real fly but there are still some challenges.

At the moment, Wood’s fly is limited by a tether that keeps it moving in a straight, upward direction. The researchers are currently working on a flight controller so that the robot can move in different directions.

The researchers are also working on an onboard power source. (At the moment, the robotic fly is powered externally.) Wood says that a scaled-down lithium-polymer battery would provide less than five minutes of flying time.

Tiny, lightweight sensors need to be integrated as well. Chemical sensors could be used, for example, to detect toxic substances in hazardous areas so that people can go into the area with the appropriate safety gear. Wood and his colleagues will also need to develop software routines for the fly so that it will be able to avoid obstacles.

So it still seems to have a ways to go before it can be used practically. Still, once engineers figure out how to overcome these challenges, let’s hope this doesn’t go on sale to the general public! Can you imagine the late night infomercials telling you how this invention can catch your cheating spouse in action or record or sit in on your competitor’s business meetings?

The computer program, called Hyperactive Bob, runs on Windows technology, a touch screen display and tv line cameras. According to the HyperActive Technologies website, the total equipment costs are less than $3,000 and the software is priced via a monthly licensing fee.

It has a number of features going for it including:

Sensing the environment:
The system uses robotic vision to count the cars in the parking lot, gathers feedback from employees and collects point-of-sale information in real time.

Artificial Intelligence:
Hyperactive Bob analyzes historical and real-time data to learn about each restaurant individually. Hyperactive Technologies claims that HB is more accurate than most seasoned employees.

Taking Charge:
Hyperactive Bob uses touch screens to tell employees what to do. Employees are instructed how much of which foods to cook; when the food is ready, they tell HB.

The systems have been tested in McDonald’s and Burger King, but Zaxby’s is the company’s first big client. The system was created by former Carnegie Mellon University researcher, Kerien Fitzpatrick, who designed the robotic technology to analyze its environment and make a decision.

Using a small mounted camera on the restaurant’s roof, “Bob” spots vehicles entering the parking lot. It then considers how much food is already prepared and how many employees are needed before telling the kitchen when and what to throw on the grill or put in the fryer. “Bob” also sizes up the vehicles — a big SUV could mean more food to prepare, a run-of-the-mill sedan likely would mean less.

I don’t know if these systems are actually installed in the Zaxby’s restauants, but the idea is very interesting. For any of you Southerners - how well does this work?

Scientific American Mind has a great article on where we are with artificial intelligence. Over 50 years ago, British mathematician, Alan Turing, wrote a paper ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence.’

Turning simply replaced the question ‘Can machines think?’ with ‘Can a machine - a computer - pass the imitation game?’ That is, can a computer converse so naturally that it could fool a person into thinking that it was a human being?

Turing took his idea from a simple parlor game in which a person, called the interrogator, must determine, by asking a series of questions, whether or not an unseen person in another room is a man or a woman. In his thought experiment he replaced the person in the other room with a computer. To pass what is now called the Turing Test, the computer must answer any question from an interrogator with the linguistic competency and sophistication of a human being.

Turing ended his seminal paper with the prediction that in 50 years’ time - which is right about now - we would be able to build computers that are so good at playing the imitation game that an average interrogator will have only a 70% chance of correctly identifying whether he or she is speaking to a person or a machine.

Sadly, as of now, no computer has ever passed the Turing Test. There are a number of reasons why this has proved challenging:

1) Language Skills - Computers need to understand words in their context. For instance the word ‘bank’ could refer to a financial institution or a river bank.

2) Background Knowledge - Computers need to understand how things associate with one another. For instance, they need more than logic to answer ‘Where is Sue’s nose when Sue is in the house.’ They have to know that a nose is attached to a person. Or, if Sue had a nose job, the computer might have to ask which part of Sue’s nose you are referring to. Trying to write software that accounts for all possibilities is extremely difficult.

With any test, there are a number of objections, but the Turing Test is still a standard for artificial intelligence.