The closing session of LIFT Asia 08, From robots to networked objects, saw three world class speakers share their thoughts on the future development of robots.
First up, Tomoaki Kasuga (Speecys, Japan) explained that robots might become an extension of our family and in some cases, even part of our family. Robots would be humanoid in shape, connected to the Internet (with their own IP address), suggesting and providing content for us.
Second came Frédéric Kaplan (EPFL, Switzerland) who sees robots shaped to fit the specific task intended for them.
Finally, to some whoops and cheers from the crowd, came Bruno Bonnell (founder of Infogrames and former CEO of Atari). He wanted to throw out Asimov’s laws of robotics. And then likened the classification of robots to that of different species. Finally he suggested that robotics would fuse with the human body (citing a watch that could, for example, monitor our body and inject us with necessary medicine to remedy a deteriorating condition).
Now how do we relate all of that to journalism?
Well, taking up Kasuga’s view that the robot would be humanoid in shape, robots would be able to physically deliver a newspaper or magazine to us. Or they would simply broadcast the days headlines to us as we went about our business. If we believe Kaplan then we might see more advanced versions of the E-Ink Flex Tablet Display? And if we subscribe to Bonnell, we might see implants that beam information directly onto our eyes.
Within the next few weeks the speakers slides will be online as will edited videos of the speeches. When they appear I’ll post them up.
A heartfelt thank you to organizer Lauren Haug for his kindness in providing me admission to the conference. LIFT Asia 08 has certainly left a lasting and memorable impression on me.
My meeting at Bagdad Cafe yesterday was with Lee Sun-Hwa, president of the Korea Federation of Business and Professional Women Jeju.
The organization aims (among other things) to “contribute to society by enabling women to sustain themselves economically. In addition, BPW offers personal development programs for members such as mentoring, leadership training and e-Business training”.
From October 24th – October 28th there will be a BWP international congress in Mexico City. Members of the Jeju chapter will be attending and hoping to promote the island as the location for the next BWP international congress.
Jeju Life is going to help with this promotion by providing articles and images which will be used to help produce a short, promotional booklet about the island.
If you’re interested in knowing more about the BPW on Jeju then drop me a message for Sun-Hwa’s contact information.
I collected the September issue of Jeju Life yesterday and began distribution across the city. With the help of Joanna Burgess we’re at La Vie, Modern Time and soon to be Mr Lee’s Bike Shop. Later on today Bagdad and El Paso will also have copies, though these tend to go really fast. Get them while you can.
Brian Miller writes about the Mongol occupation of the island and the remnants of their rule while Katarina Kuruc and David Holmes review ROOMINE – a swish place to stay close to Seongsan Ilchulbong.
I have a lunch appointment with some government officials who are planning to produce a booklet on Jeju for a UN meet in Mexico. More details later.
Posted by jejulifeblog 
Posted by jejulifeblog 
Posted by jejulifeblog 
