Robot Cats are more artificially intelligent than dogs...

From Necoro's press release: Envisioning a society embodying a wide diversity of values, where everyone can live comfortably at peace (what Omron calls the Optimization Society), Omron sees the importance in the realization of a machine that can communicate with humans and understand them. A machine that is gentle to humans and responds appropriately to an individualﾍs needs. Natural communication between humans and machines is made possible with the cat type communication robot NeCoRo.

Created with Omron's core sensing and control technology and artificial intelligence technology, NeCoRo realizes natural human to robot communication. Because of its ability to react to human movement and express its own emotions, people pour their affection into this robot and feel attached to it as they would a pet. By living with each other day after day, the person becomes at ease with the robot as it enriches the person's life.

NeCoRo, a robot with synthetic fur giving it a feline appearance, introduces communication in the form of playful, natural exchanges as between a person and a cat. Via internal sensors of touch, sound, sight, and orientation, human action/thoughts can be perceived, and feelings/wants are generated based on internal feelings. Using 15 actuators inside the body, it behaves in response to its feelings. It will get angry if someone is violent to it, and express satisfaction when stroked, cradled, and treated with lots of love. Based on its own physiological rhythms, it will express its desire to sleep or cuddle. Moreover, through a learning/growth function, while living with each other day after day, the cat will become attached to its owner and its personality will adjust to the owner. And as it begins to remember the sound of the owner's voice and its own name, it will recognize its name when called out by the owner.


1) Responds to human movement/emotions
2) Has feelings and desires, and its personality will adjust to its owner
3) Remembers its name and acknowledges its name when called
4) Synthetic fur gives it a feline appearance, so it feels natural to treat it like a cat, stroking and hugging it

There is a promotional video on ifilm that features some great music.

Cadbury: The Revenge

Cadbury: July 2005

Cadbury: April 2006


















Laura was going to be in this photo, too, but Cadbury ate her.

Dartmouth Cat Show!

This past Saturday, 3 fellow cat fanciers (Melissa, Jessica and Laura) and myself trekked across the pond for an afternoon of positive swoonfestdom. There were many, many beautiful cats but these 3 are my favorites:


This is an Abyssinian, the prettiest I've ever seen! Look at her eyes! they're huge! She was so playful and even climbed up the pole on the judging podium.












This is a Bengal. She was feisty! We saw 2 different judging competitions she was in and she hissed and fussed the whole time! I guess looks aren't everything. She was the only white and black one there; all the others were brown and black.











I have no idea what kind of cat this is, but she might have been my favorite of them all. Whenever I went by her cage she was just sitting very serenely and always had this devestatingly sad expression on her face. Which is bad enough, but then check out the color of her eyes and her little dark grey nose!







It wasn't as good as last year, unless you count the fact that we got to see a cat that we met last year who was all grown up now, and, well, grown up. The tiny little grey kitten named Cadbury had exploded into an enormous grey pompom. I think Melissa has some pure gold pictures. Get on that Melissa!

Cut That Out

Scrapperton, stop making faces. If you keep doing it, your face will freeze like that.

Oh, now you've done it.

CAT SHOW!

Cat show alert!

The Bluenose Cat Club's 37th Annual Cat Show
Saturday
Dartmouth Sportsplex
9am-5pm

Be there.

For serious.




(Also: does anybody want to drive Team Halicats?)

Daydream Believer

Cat Abuse or Entertainment

Here's a video of the Russian Cat Circus from CNN.

Kitten Authorization

ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs a new system for human-checking that forgoes all the useless random string crap that people cannot read, and replaces the whole lot with pictures of cute animals.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.

Or something in the "mass hysteria" ballpark, anyway.

Cat gives birth to Mouse-Kitten!

There is video!

It's too bad that Cy, the Cyclops Cat, died. They could have been pals.