Just love this show, truly one of my favorite programs. I also love the Jonathan Coulton reference in the needlepoint.

The goal of the Robocup is to have a human v. robot match in 2050. There have even been rules suggested to ensure a fair match: check out chapter 6 of "Soccer and Philosophy" Open Court Press, 2010.

I don't know what some people here are talking about. I've already watched it twice and plan to pass it along. To me, this is the epitome of a riveting sporting event...

Wonderful, as always...but have a question that's nearly irrelevant.
I thought this pic of the cross-stitch was hilarious and posted it on my FB. I'm an artist, and FB friends started thinking it was something I made they could buy. Where did this awesome pic come from? I want peeps to know if it's an item they can buy somewhere...

Wonderful, as always...but have a question that's nearly irrelevant.
I thought this pic of the cross-stitch was hilarious and posted it on my FB. I'm an artist, and FB friends started thinking it was something I made they could buy. Where did this awesome pic come from? I want peeps to know if it's an item they can buy somewhere...

Listening to podcast now. Problem 1) comparing tech to organic life has one common problem: humans are making the comparison. That means the way a cornet's family tree is similar to a trilobite's tree only as much as humans see similarities. Problem 2) humans, as the "gods" of technology, are building and controlling the direction, at least in part due to the social nature of our race. Let's not give up our responsibility in this matter.

If SkyNet becomes a reality will the robots speak with heavy Austrian accents or will they be able to fix that?

This is fantastic and terrifying. Robotics is going to be incredibly useful for myriad risky human behavior (ie bomb squads, deep sea-diving, uh oh, military campaigns) skynet WILL happen....I just hope it's not for a while...<a href="http://www.myspace.com/thenewmediaband">The New Media</a>

We don't have to fear the machines when we ARE the machines. The synthesis is coming...

1min 15 - clear dive!

when will they clamp down on this dam cheating in football!

scum

Being a Leeds fan I can see the future benefits of hiring cheap footballers that won't leave for Man Utd...

I am afraid I lost sight of the 'wow how amazing' under the onslaught of 'oh god this is boring'

I can't wait to listen this as a podcast as here in The Netherlands this is the only way to get those high quality radio shows (which actually has something to say compared to the local stations).

I am enjoying every minute Radiolab during my commuting on a daily basis.

Keep it up!

It's like watching a baby video. Things look simple now, but the technology will grow. Maybe not as fast as a human body, but it will grow.

My nine year old plays violin today (and loves Radio Lab!) A few years ago, I was moving her around the living room much as these folks are moving the robots around the field.

If Moore’s Law holds up as Ray Kurzweil and others are suggesting. These robot types will be one million times more powerful within 20 years. I wouldn’t be laughing too hard, you are replaceable! That means all of you.

Love this episode! Really touched on some big questions that have been marinating in my brain juice for a long time-

We love you guys so much we featured you on our "What Inspires Us" section of our blog,

http://blog.amysteryincommon.com/

Thanks for providing great stuff to listen to while we design, print and pull our hair :)

Cheers,
Grace
A Mystery In Common

Love this episode! Really touched on some big questions that have been marinating in my brain juice for a long time-

We love you guys so much we featured you on our "What Inspires Us" section of our blog,

http://blog.amysteryincommon.com/

Thanks for providing great stuff to listen to while we design, print and pull our hair :)

Cheers,
Grace
A Mystery In Common

Fantastic show folks!
The robot theme reminded me of this thing here in Virginia... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQjbOWRZmPQ enjoy!

Watching this should make us all awed by what our bodies do, seemingly without thinking. Also, as another person commented, think about what how a baby learns to control their arms, legs, etc. If you have never observed a newborn, find a friend who has a baby and really watch the process of them figuring out what is them and what they can control is fascinating.

I hope the robots of the future never get a chance to watch this video. Whenever they see how we subjected the earlier models, there will be repercussions

You guys you have to understand that to get these guys to balance on one leg, to self-right, and to track the ball kick it and aim is already a great feat. We have thousands of nerves being used just to get us to stand....
personally I think this is preatty cool

Are all comments here from young people ? Ever watched a baby growing up - learning how to crawl, walk, kick, throw, draw, paint, speak. I doubt that robotics will take millions of years to evolve to the level we have attained (for the god-struck replace millions with 6,000 years).

Ha! May I have the last 9 minutes of my life back?

You guys obviously havent seen boston dynamics bigbot project. These small robots suffer from poor servo speed/strength. Unless it becomes cheaper to implement higher tech servos, then robo football matches are going to be daunting to watch.

You should release a sped up version of this... maybe so that 9 minutes plays out in 90 seconds. This is painful to watch in real-time <g>.

I am a 12 year old, and I must say that growing up in this generation, it seems like our robots are sorely lacking. I mean, we've put people on the moon, we have software that can identify natural languages with 95% accuracy, we have computers that can defeat the world champion in chess, and we just now are being able to use cameras to accurately track how humans are moving (microsoft kinect).
And yet, we still can't get a robot to kick a ball with the right foot? That is seriously behind.

I guess we don't have to worry about Skynet for a few more years.