With micro / pico projectors being sold for under $250, and robot toy maker Wowwee getting in the game, it was only a matter of time before projectors would be found on robots -- especially since the general concept dates back at least three decades to R2D2's holographic projections in the original Star Wars trilogy.  In fact, Hizook previously examined a number of robots with projectors used to communicate intention.   Following the development of a laser pointer interface by the Healthcare Robotics Lab (to which I belong), myself and numerous labmates ruminated about the marrying of these two technologies -- it seemed a natural extension of the "Clickable World", wherein the world is composed of virtual buttons or icons selected via a laser pointer analogous to a PC mouse, to include visual feedback via an on-robot projector.  It seems ideas rarely stand in isolation; I'm now aware of two robotic systems that use both video projectors and laser pointer interfaces.  The first is a very preliminary "late breaking results" submission to HRI 2009, while the other is a fully-realized system developed in JST's ERATO program.  The latter research happens to have a compelling video, embedded below.

Early robots have found utility in warfare dating back to World War II (and arguably earlier), with the invention of simple electrical servo-mechanisms for fire control and targeting.  While fire control has become extremely advanced, its "human in the loop"  nature kept us (relatively) oblivious of the ethical implications of robots in warfare.  However, increased autonomy and point-and-click capabilities are forcing us to reevaluate the ethical implications of robots in warfare.  Enter a new book by P.W. Singer, entitled Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century.  Singer was recently interviewed by NPR (and on The Daily Show by Jon Stewart), where he talked about a number of interesting issues.  Links and discussion follow.

The folks at Dr. Matsumaru's Bio-Robotics & Human-Mechatronics Laboratory have worked on some very interesting human-robot interaction projects.  I'm particularly interested in their video-projector interfaces.  In one scenario, the video projector shows the robot's intended motion trajectory.  In another scenario, dubbed the "Step-On Interface" or SOI, users step on projected "buttons" to control the robot.  According to videos (below), Dr. Matsumaru is targeting home-based service robots.  Read on for videos and more information about the video projector robot interfaces, as well as some others (using visible lasers, LCDs, and Persistence of Vision or POV displays).