@skittlzncombos: LOL! It will exactly like the real thing!!
I love the robotic voice in the clip; "oops. I can't grab it. "! Might go with the bot for some...

jige

We can do this ourselves in a way. You can feel when your hairs stand on end due to being brought near something with an electrical charge, and of course we can feel whether an object is hot or cold without touching it.

Elliuotatar

Great, now my sex bot will know I'm trying to touch it, and know when to pull away. Dammit.

skittlzncombos

I am trying hard to think of a funny reference to not being able to grab things, but I just can't do it.

portugue

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: Wow, that was a major run on.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

@Elliuotatar: Sometimes I think it's more than that. I, and I'm sure many others, can usually sense the presence of somebody walking in a room or standing behind them whether or not they actually hear them. It's also never failed that the other person I am looking at on the freeway usually turns to acknowledge my passing interest which is especially comical when they have their finger up their nose (as I so often do).

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

@portugue: I was thinking more along the lines of there now being something one step above the left hand, but yeah, that wouldn't apply to pre-touch sensitivity.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

No one else thought of the greatness of a claw machine game incapable of loosing? Well.. great for those of us who can never get that kushy batman pillow! Kyar..

SweatshopArtist

Just another thing to fear when the robots uprise.

Tomahawk214

"pre-touch, which they describe as having a range longer than touch, but shorter than vision"

very oddly put, but i dont see how its vague. you can see things coming, but you cant really "sense" them (unless you count hearing and maybe goose bumps). So basically, since the robot has no eyes, it cant see that you are standing 10 feet away. However, once you get within a few inches, it does its magic, recognizes ur precence, and acts accordingly

you know i wonder if there really is a chance that we'll wind up going to war against robots....

jrghoull

This is pretty cool - like how sharks and other fish can sense electric fields in water. I could even see this being specialized to aid in determining the proper strength of the actual grip part; the sensors figure out what type of object is nearby according to its conductance (or lack thereof) and tell the hand how hard to grip.

behavin

@Dapole: looking back, really not that funny, but cut me some slack. I may or may not have had a few, and just finished a Cognitive Neuroscience final and had a Econometrics final earlier in the day... So my brain is a little fried.

Dapole

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: "It's also never failed that the other person I am looking at on the freeway usually turns to acknowledge my passing interest which is especially comical when they have their finger up their nose (as I so often do)." Happens to the best of us... Occasionally.. Ok more then i'd like to admit... Don't look at me, im a monster!!!

Dapole

@Dapole: They tried to teach us the econometric system in school, but it didn't take. :(

strider_mt2k

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog:
I'm pretty sure that people notice your passing interest because we have peripheral vision, and even though we can't conciously make out any details in our peripheral vision, there must be enough details there for our brains to subconciously tell that there is a face looking at us.

Elliuotatar

That's a real page turner. no really.. those are those pager turner finger tip thingies.

Denver_80203

Good for baseballbots

MarlboroTestMonkey7

@Denver_80203: I thought they might have been French ticklers...thanks for clearing that up!

FiveLiters