Robert Hickson • Sep 15, 2011 •
Part 1 looked at trends in Robotics. Here I consider some of the challenges, as well as provide more information on military robots. Challenges What is needed for robots to be valued and respected members of our world? As a non-specialist I see five main requirements: Discriminating – It is easy for us to distinguish individuals and objects by … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 14, 2011 •
Robots have been a promise and a fear for the last century. Up till now robots have been used for what have been called the 3 D’s — Dull, Dirty and Dangerous work. Things like building cars, vacuuming, mining, chopping up carcasses, search & rescue, and joining the armed forces. But there are also robotic footballers, … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 02, 2011 •
An interesting infographic from Cisco forecasts the anticipated growth of devices connected over the internet. It notes that the number of things connected to the internet in 2008 was greater than the world population. By 2020 it predicts that 50 billion things will be connected — from cows to household appliances. This assumes that Internet Protocol version 6 is … Read More
Robert Hickson • Aug 02, 2011 •
These blog postings will be on the theme of looking to the future — foresighting — particularly in relation to science and technologies. But not exclusively; I’ll also be examining social, environmental, economic and political trends and developments around the world as my fancy and browser take me. I’m on the look out for interesting developments, significant trends and influencers … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Aug 02, 2011 •
Honestly, what is there to say at this point? Sciblogs just keeps getting more awesome. The newest foal to be welcomed to our fold is Robert Hickson, who will be penning the fantastically classically-named ‘ariadne: a foresight blog‘. He’s going to be doing a spot of foresighting. Some scrying, … Read More
Chris McDowall • Jun 24, 2011 •
Over the next couple of days I am helping run an online event called Magnetic South – an online game about the long term future of Christchurch. It is part of Christchurch City Council’s Share an Idea suite of initiatives and will input to the development of the Central City Plan. The game is being run on … Read More