User talk:Rchamberlin

Talk is cheap, actions speak loudest.

Here are my startup notes on the Virtual Robotics article.[]

Proposed page name:

What is a Virtual Robot?
Lets define first, what is a robot and what do we mean by virtual?

Robot = A contrived device which performs work, with or without human oversight.
 * Examples - a thermostat would be a robot, simple, but a robot. The Unimate is an early example of a programmed robotic arm, one can be seen in operation at Henry Ford Museum.

Virtual =

Before we can begin to define a Virtual Robot, we need to explore a glossery of terms, as well as determine the scope of our definition.

For example, many video games depict robots on the play screen, and these robots could be called Virtual Robots. This should perhaps be considered a branch of Virtual Robotics, which may be explored seperately, but is not the main concern of this article.

Another example comes to mind, that of the representation of a process in working (computer RAM) memory. While one can draw an equivalency between the 1's and 0's of the program and the electronic switches of the computer memory, thus arguing that the process is real and not virtual, for our purpose, we can accept that as the process will not be consistantly found functioning at the same absolute locations, and on the same RAM switches, it may be considered to be Virtual.

Also, the human brain - drawing a rather loose parallel, the human brain is the hardware, while the human mind is the Virtual bit.

Purpose of article:
Give some kind of structure to the wide range of robots, servers, services, agents, processes, service machines and functions that otherwise don't have a home. Note, these are not nuts and bolts machines, but exist only in software. They perform tasks from the simple loop - such as sample something, do task based on sample result, do it again, to maintain optimum human conditions in a building, or fly an aircraft from point a to point b, or a space shuttle. Their "code" runs on all types of platforms and machines. Those machines may also be linked via networks and networks of networks.

It has been conjectured (by whom?) that if human intelligence is a funcion of brain/neuron density, then according to moore's law, by the year 2020 ([]), the same density will be available to computers (random access memory), and soon after, the human neuron density will be surpassed by the computer community, and machines should - automatically become intelligent. This remains to be seen, lacking empirical proof.

List of Virtual Robots
or names by which they are called:

Bots, Services, Service Machines, Server(s), Spider(Spyder), Simulations, Agents, Daemons,


 * Questions: What others are missing? Can a relational database be considered a Virtual Robot? On the Savant level perhaps?

Types of Virtual Robots

 * Atonomous - Self programming, self learning, un-constrained.
 * Rooted - anchored to a particular machine or platform.
 * Example - Mail Server,SMTP Server, POP3 Mail Server


 * Tools - actually snippits of code which perform mindless tasks - which can be made to loop.
 * Example - Macros, routines, spread sheet formulas


 * Wild - Free ranging, unconstrained, usually parasitic -
 * Example - Virus, Trojan, Worm


 * Animated - Simulation of physical robot in Virtual Reality
 * Example - VR


 * Questions: Is the types section incorrect in its groupings or definitions? Is there a better way of organizing the list? What types are missing?  Need more better examples.

See also:
VR Example Game Paper Robotics Prospectus Virtual Pets Telegarden Development/Simulation