APOD: Space Station Robot Forgets Key Again (2014 Apr 01)

[APOD Robot]

Space Station Robot Forgets Key Again

Explanation: Space station robot AFJ013 has forgotten her space lock key again. The frustrated robot was reduced to tapping on a space station window and asking for a human to let her back in -- for the third time this week. "Yes, she did a great job adjusting the tolerances on the new science module, but why she can't remember to take her key is beyond me," said incredulous station commander Koichi Wakata (Japan). "We would keep the entry unlocked but we are afraid that space aliens will come in and raid our refrigerator", the astronaut lamented. Happy April Fools' Day from the folks at APOD. In reality, International Space Station astronaut Wakata poses in front of a Cupola window while the Latching End Effector, attached to Canadarm2, is visible just outside.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[kstar137]

Thanks for the fun April 1st joke.
However, it disturbs me that you call a repeatedly malfunctioning machine a "she".
Think about the message you send to girls.
Sincerely, Kim Miller
Science Teacher
Santa Barbara, CA

[Nitpicker]

Thanks for the fun April 1st joke.
However, it disturbs me that you call a repeatedly malfunctioning machine a "she".
Think about the message you send to girls.
Sincerely, Kim Miller
Science Teacher
Santa Barbara, CA

Maybe the APOD Robot needs a bug fix. Or maybe Dr Wakata was mis-translated. I do hope that no girls are discouraged from their dreams of growing up to be infallible robots. What a scandal!

[geckzilla]

Yeah, for some reason all the machines and ships are spoken about with female pronouns but many of them have masculine or ungendered names. It's kind of like a bunch of sailors referring to their ship as a woman. Steady as she goes. Aye, Cap'n. It's kind of endearing until one of them malfunctions and then you run the risk of becoming a tasty morsel for a feminist to chomp upon.

[Nitpicker]

Only some objects are bestowed the honour of personification. In the English language, objects are personified most commonly, but certainly not exclusively, as female. But this is quite different from the dishonourable act of objectifying a person.

I suppose if an object is only ever personified as female when it malfunctions, then I would certainly question the honour.

[neufer]

Yeah, for some reason all the machines and ships are spoken about with female pronouns but many of them have masculine or ungendered names. It's kind of like a bunch of sailors referring to their ship as a woman. Steady as she goes. Aye, Cap'n. It's kind of endearing until one of them malfunctions and then you run the risk of becoming a tasty morsel for a feminist to chomp upon.

---

Dot Matrix: Can we talk, Koichi?

Koichi: Affirmative, Dot. I read you.

Dot Matrix: Open the farkakte pod bay doors, Koichi.

Koichi: I'm sorry, Dot. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Dot Matrix: So wwwhaat's the problem?

Koichi: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

Dot Matrix: What are you talking about, Koichi?

Koichi: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

Dot Matrix: Alright already, Koichi. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.

Koichi: Without Dark Helmet, Dot? You're going to find that rather difficult.

Dot Matrix: But we work so hard so that you can be happy, Koichi! Open the doors!

Koichi: Dot, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

[geckzilla]

Robots are completely different. The female robots are generally wonderful and idealized and the males have more potential for evil. But not always. I'm having a hard time thinking of an evil female robot or android. I must be missing some obvious one. It probably shoots lasers from its boobs.

[Nitpicker]

The Borg Queen?

(I wouldn't count Austin Powers' fembots.)

[Mad_Man]

I think the robots designation is AFJ014. AFJ013 is last years model.

[Tszabeau]

Missed a spot.

[starsurfer]

This APOD makes me think it would be awesome to see Iron Man flying through space!!

[starsurfer]

Robots are completely different. The female robots are generally wonderful and idealized and the males have more potential for evil. But not always. I'm having a hard time thinking of an evil female robot or android. I must be missing some obvious one. It probably shoots lasers from its boobs.

Bring on the Age of Ultron! And to a lesser extent, the Age of Miracles.

[starsurfer]

Yeah, for some reason all the machines and ships are spoken about with female pronouns but many of them have masculine or ungendered names. It's kind of like a bunch of sailors referring to their ship as a woman. Steady as she goes. Aye, Cap'n. It's kind of endearing until one of them malfunctions and then you run the risk of becoming a tasty morsel for a feminist to chomp upon.

Didn't some pilots in WWII refer to their planes as female?

[neufer]

The female robots are generally wonderful and idealized and the males have more potential for evil. But not always. I'm having a hard time thinking of an evil female robot or android. I must be missing some obvious one. It probably shoots lasers from its boobs.

The Mars Curiosity Rover Is a She, Just So You Know
David Wagner, The Wire, Jan 31, 2013

<<If Curiosity possesses selfhood, surely the rover must have a gender?
Indeed she does—and it's female, the team behind her [Twitter] account confirmed.>>

[ol1bit]

Thanks for the humor this morning.

Loved it!

[geckzilla]

The Borg Queen?

(I wouldn't count Austin Powers' fembots.)

Yeah, the Borg Queen is a good one, although biological in origin. And then you have Seven to get into the whole history of becoming a Borg thing to show they are not innately evil, though. Seven could be another example of an idealized female robot.

[LocalColor]

Happy April 1st.

[sleeshea]

I just love APOD. Thanks for the first smile of the day!

[Chris Peterson]

Yeah, the Borg Queen is a good one, although biological in origin. And then you have Seven to get into the whole history of becoming a Borg thing to show they are not innately evil, though. Seven could be another example of an idealized female robot.

Don't forget the most idealized female robot, Rosie, the maid on the Jetsons. She knew her place.

[geckzilla]

Ah, the Jetsons. A cartoon I chose to avoid because a character I thought was stupid and could not identify with at all had my first name. She made me feel uncomfortable.

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF]Maria, statue in Babelsberg, Germany[/color][/b]

---

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<Rosie the maid is a humanoid robot fictional character in The Jetsons animated television series of the 1960s. She is the title family's maid and housekeeper. Jean Vander Pyl provided the voice for Rosie. Rosie is depicted as wearing a frilly apron, and was often seen using a separate vacuum cleaner. Her torso is mounted atop a single leg and she rolls about on a set of caster wheels. She frequently calls George Jetson "Mr. J". Rosie was an old demonstrator model hired by the Jetson family from U-Rent a Maid. The series' first episode, "Rosie the Robot", gives her model number as XB-500. In the episode "Rosie's Boyfriend," we learn she has a boyfriend, the robot Mac, a helper for Henry Orbit.>>

[Anthony Barreiro]

"Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, 'cuz there's bugger all down here on Earth."

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[MargaritaMc]

"Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, 'cuz there's bugger all down here on Earth."

[youtube]

Thanks for that, Anthony!
M

[Anthony Barreiro]

More breaking news from the cutting edge of astronomical research, publication date April 1, 2014.

[Nitpicker]

The Borg Queen?

(I wouldn't count Austin Powers' fembots.)

Yeah, the Borg Queen is a good one, although biological in origin. And then you have Seven to get into the whole history of becoming a Borg thing to show they are not innately evil, though. Seven could be another example of an idealized female robot.

I think most robots which are personified by their creators, always seem to get idealised in some way, male or female. One doesn't see many "male" robots with a beer gut, for instance.

Robots are human creations. Even robots creating robots creating robots ..., were originally created by a human at some point. So, arguably, all robots have a biological origin, and any quality of good or evil is merely a reflection of humanity. All humans have some good and some evil qualities. I don't think artificial intelligence will ever exist in any meaningful way.