Learning Robotics Technologies: What, How and Where?

Have the fascination with robots? Want to learn robotics? Well, what are you waiting for, enroll Bachelor of Science in Robot Technology! But wait, do you think your compassion would be enough for you to take this course? Well, think again.
Course: Bachelor of Science in Robot Technology

This degree aims to teach and train students to become professional robot engineer. Their course syllabus would include variety of works with Mathematics and Engineering fields. Their programs would teach and familiarize with computer programming and the key operations of the robots. There are also choices of emphasis on Technology Management if the students wish.

Requirements: Ofcourse to be able to qualify for this course, you would need to be knowledgeable and must have skills with mechanical and electrical algorithms and rules. Well, they actually encourage that you finish a degree first with these fields. They also require that you must posses skills in the following:

• Basic Electrical Engineering
• Applied Electrical Math
• DC and AC Machines
• Programmable Logic Controllers
• Quantitative Mathematical Reasoning

Skills that will be learned with this would include the ability to understand both the physical and the conceptual functions of robots, to be able to formulate and create working machines.

Well, sounds promising. Now, where should I go if I qualify? There are many schools all over the world that caters and offers robot technology and other related courses. But recently, USNews.com has release their top preferred schools for robotics. I prefer Purdue University.

Purdue University. Their freshmen retention rate is at 86%! Got in for the first year? Well, good luck. This university has earned many acclaims (click on the link to see).

In March 2008, Purdue's speech-language pathology graduate program was ranked second and the audiology program was ranked ninth by U.S. News & World & Report magazine. In engineering, Purdue's aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical program was ranked fifth and the civil and mechanical engineering programs were ranked seventh.

Purdue's Krannert School of Management had two programs ranked in the top 10. Productions/operations was ranked third and supply chain/logistics was ranked eighth.

Purdue's School of Pharmacy was ranked ninth.

Graduate program rankings reflect both masters and doctoral programs or only doctoral programs.

Still thinking this is the right direction for you? Go ahead. Enroll. :)

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence

Is it possible that the robots in the future would develop artificial intelligence? Sounds like it only exists in the movies, ey. But judging from the development of technological innovations right now, this is very much possible.

While surfing the net, I found this very interesting book. Here are the details provided at Amazon:

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence

by Hans Moravec

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press (January 2, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674576187
ISBN-13: 978-0674576186
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces

The book tackles on the great possibilities of the future machines and the chances that robots can indeed develop intelligence.

Product Description by Kirkus Reviews
"A dizzying display of intellect and wild imaginings by Moravec, a world-class roboticist who has himself developed clever beasts . . . Undeniably, Moravec comes across as a highly knowledgeable and creative talent--which is just what the field needs."

Read the following reviews.

One would be making a mistake to let Mind Children recede unopened into a guiltless oblivion. It's a tonic book, thought-provoking on every page. And it reminds us that, in our accelerating, headlong era, the future presses so close upon us that those who ignore it inhabit not the present but the past.
-Brad Leithauser (New Yorker)

A comprehensive and highly readable survey of the state of the art in robotics.
-M. Mitchell Waldrop (New York Times Book Review)

Moravec, by his own admission, is an intellectual joyrider, and riding his runaway trains of thought is an exhilarating experience...This is an intellectual party that shouldn't be pooped, no matter how much it may disturb the neighbours and encourage over-indulgence.
-Hans Moravec (Guardian)

If you have time, go ahead and check it out. Let me borrow, okay, lolz!

Website Optimization and Link Building Tips

Want to optimize your site to be very organic and search engine friendly? I posted some tips on Virtual Assistant Inc blog about the focus on the content for your website. Here is an excerpt:

Website optimization means that we do the best in order for the website to be compatible to all its users, or in oder words, we maximize its usability. By users we mean, those who are visiting the site. There are instances that people use an outdated browser or a non-flash compatible one, and we do not want them not to be able to navigate the website we are making. We also want to maximize the web pages to be very friendly to the search engines, in order for it to find your content. But what are the things to consider to optimize your website?

To read full account, please visit the post about Website Optimization.

On the other hand, building links is also important. I also made another post with regard to the things to consider upon building links.

Upon outsourcing, one of the first things most website owners would consider is directing traffic to their site and adding its popularity. But how can this be done?

One of the best way to do this is by Link Building. Link building means that we create links that will direct other people to your site. This is also one of the things that Google takes into consideration upon assessing the importance of your content. And how can we build these links? There are many ways to make links.

If you're interested, read my post about Building Quality Links.

Feel free to leave a comment there. :)

The Human Side of Technology Supports Wikipedia

After a while seeing it on their site and after reading a post posted by my good friend Roger of Cynosure, I decided to go ahead and join the campaign of Wikipedia's WikiMedia Foundation.

So, let us say you wanted to know something. A research is needed. Whether it is about an historical event or an influential person, or a TV show information, to whom do we lean on?

I could already hear all of us answer in chorus. "Wikipedia!"

Wikipedia, according to, well, Wikipedia, is a "free, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites) and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's 10 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone who can access the Wikipedia website. Launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, it is currently the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet."

Throughout its existence, we turned into this source for help, now they need us, wouldn't we have enough reason to join their cause?
Please support Wikipedia and please donate now. Thanks Wiki!

My Top Five Robot Movies

These days where one can make wonders on the big screen with realistic special effects, it seems easier to make sci-fi movies and robot films. My topic today, my top five favorite robot movies. But I sure want to make some twists and I wanted it to be more related to our theme. So yeah, I chose my top five robot movies wherein the robots developed humanity. Here it goes.

5. Wall-E
What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, Wall-E, short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class, discovers a new purpose in life, besides collecting knick-knacks, when he meets a sleek search robot named Eve. Eve comes to realize that Wall-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans, who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home. Meanwhile, Wall-E chases Eve across the galaxy and sets an adventure into motion.

4. A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
In the not-so-far future the polar ice caps have melted and the resulting raise of the ocean waters has drowned all the coastal cities of the world. Withdrawn to the interior of the continents, the human race keeps advancing, reaching to the point of creating realistic robots (called mechas) to serve him. One of the mecha-producing companies builds David, an artificial kid which is the first to have real feelings, especially a never-ending love for his "mother", Monica. Monica is the woman who adopted him as a substitute for her real son, who remains in cryo-stasis, stricken by an incurable disease. David is living happily with Monica and her husband, but when their real son returns home after a cure is discovered, his life changes dramatically. A futuristic adaptation of the tale of Pinocchio, with David being the "fake" boy who desperately wants to become "real". (by Chris Makrozahopoulos: makzax@hotmail.com)

3. Robocop Series
After Omni Consumer Products (OCP) announced that it bought out the Detroit police department, the department decides to go on strike. Alex Murphy, gets transferred from Metro South to the West. He and his partner, Anne Lewis, track down a group of criminals led by Clarence Boddicker. Unfortunately, Murphy was killed by Clarence's gang. Bob Morton, one of OCP's employees, transforms Murphy's corpse into Robocop, to compete with another employee Dick Jones' ED-209. Robocop's tests are successful. Unfortunately, Robocop rediscovers his memories (when he was Alex Murphy), and now knows he has to find and arrest Clarence Boddicker. He realizes that Clarence is working for Bob Morton's competition Dick Jones. Now, Robocop must stop both Clarence and Dick Jones. (by John Wiggins)

2. Blade Runner
In 2019, humans have genetically engineered Replicants, which are essentially humans who are designed for labor and entertainment purposes. They are illegal on earth, and if they make it to our planet they are to be hunted down and killed. Rick Deckard is a blade runner, or a hunter of replicants. A group of replicants make it to Los Angeles to seek out a way to extend their life span. Replicants have a built in 4 year life span, and this group is at the end. Although he hunts them to the end, the replicants end up teaching the detached Deckard what it really means to be human.

1. The Terminator Series
In the future, Skynet, a computer system fights a losing war against the humans who built it and who it nearly exterminated. Just before being destroyed, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah, the mother to be of John Connor, the Leader of the human resistance. The terminator can pass for human, is nearly indestructible, and has only one mission, killing Sarah Connor. One soldier is sent back to protect her from the killing machine. He must find Sarah before the Terminator can carry out it's mission. (by John Vogel:jlvogel@comcast.net)

There you have it. Well, can robots really develop feelings? Can they become humans? We can never tell.