Julias Jackson is an 11-year-old boy living with autism, whose only real social interaction comes from playing online multiplayer games on Xbox Live, an activity that became more difficult when the Xbox Live team branded him a cheater. More »
Robots playing Guitar Hero are not new; one playing the game with up to 98 percent precision is, however. Wired found the Cythbot, a creation of southern California engineering firm Cyth Systems, at this week’s Robo developers conference in Santa Clara. It’s not actually for sale. Nor is it much more than an aluminium cage with pneumatic “fingers” to hit the frets, while a camera tells it what’s coming. Cythbot can play in both solo and compete modes, getting as high as 98 percent, but usually on average around 75 to 80 percent. This is disquieting news, as Isaac Asimov and Stephen Hawking predicted that 100 percent on “Through the Fire and the Flames” is when Skynet becomes self-aware.
