Emmet’s Full Size Dream House

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Oct 23, 2019 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

In the LEGO Movie 2, Emmet is inviting Lucy to his dream house. Similar to a Tardis, it is bigger on the inside than from the outside. But when we get to see the backside of the house, it becomes clear that there is a full size version that is different from the set 70831. I too several screenshots and tried to assemble this full size version of Emmets house based on the shots from its rear side.

The house can be opened up by removing half of the roof and by opening up the other half. We have the famous couch and the double decker porch swing. Here are some screen grabs from the movie and their MOC counterpart.

Ethik in KI und Robotik

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Oct 7, 2019 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

My first scientific book in German is now available. Here is the blurb:

Was darf KI eigentlich?

Unser Leben wird zunehmend von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) und Robotik beeinflusst. Autonome Fahrzeuge kommen auf unsere Straßen, Roboter werden für eine Vielzahl von Aufgaben im Gesundheitswesen vorgeschlagen – von der Unterstützung älterer Menschen bis zum Einsatz bei Operationen – und Algorithmen entscheiden über Kreditanträge sowie sogar über den Einsatz automatischer Waffensysteme. Viele Menschen befürchten, dass KI langfristig die Kontrolle über unser Leben übernimmt.

Vor diesem Hintergrund wird es immer wichtiger, die ethischen Grundlagen und Auswirkungen des Einsatzes von KI und Robotik in unserer Gesellschaft zu diskutieren. Dieses Buch bietet eine Einführung in das Thema, die keine technischen, rechtlichen oder philosophischen Kenntnisse voraussetzt. Es behandelt Fragen des Vertrauens, der Verantwortung, der Haftung, des Datenschutzes und des Risikos in der Beziehung der Nutzer zu KI-Systemen und Robotik.

Die Autoren veranschaulichen die Themen im gesamten Buch anhand von Beispielen. Am jeweiligen Kapitelende befinden sich Fragen, die zur Diskussion von KI-Anwendungen einladen, von der Gesundheitsfürsorge bis zur Kriegsführung. Weiterführende Literatur dient ebenfalls als Anregung für den Leser.

Aus dem Inhalt:

• Was ist KI?
• Was ist Ethik?
• Fairness und Vertrauen in KI-Systeme
• Verantwortung und Haftung bei KI-Systemen
• Risiken der KI für Unternehmen
• Psychologische Aspekte der KI
• Privatsphäre und KI
• Human Enhancement
• Autonome Fahrzeuge
• Militärische Anwendungen der KI

New LEGO 18836pb03 Shield

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Aug 26, 2019 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

The new LEGO Classic Castle shield 18836pb03 is just beautiful. Time to create a new drawing of the artwork. I have to find a way how to incorporate this new shield in my previous poster and t-shirt.

That’s a bit racist

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Jul 15, 2019 in Press | 0 comments

TVNZ reported on our work in their documentary “That’s a bit racist“. Our work was shown in the second episode. Here it is for your reference.

Why do you think ethics is an important topic for AI and robotics?

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Jun 17, 2019 in Research | 0 comments

Erich Prem interviewed me in Singapore during our book sprint on the role of ethics in robotics and artificial intelligence.

LEGO Brick Dimensions and Measurements

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Apr 21, 2019 in Uncategorized | 7 comments

The LEGO bricks are precisely designed to fit perfectly together. There is a 0.2mm gap between bricks next to each other. The gap between two bricks stacked on top of each depends on how careful to pressed them down. Of course there are several websites that show you the exact measurements, but some of them were a bit confusing or even broken.

LEGO 2×4 Brick (3001)

I enjoy working in 3D so I used Fusion 360 to create this technical drawing of the LEGO Brick. You can download the model over at GrabCAD and the PDF file from here.

LEGO 2×4 Plate (3020)

This plate is 1/3 of the height of a normal brick. You can download the model at GrabCAD and the the PDF file from here.

LEGO 1×4 Technic Brick (3701)

The technic bricks have a hole in the side for pin connectors or axles to go through. I had to cut open a brick to get the exact design of the inside tubes right. The model is available at GrabCAD and the PDF file from here.

How religious is Christchurch?

Posted by Christoph Bartneck on Apr 17, 2019 in Culture, Documentation, Research | 0 comments

While driving around Christchurch I noticed a church on almost every corner. The name of the city could have already given me that hint, but it is better to check the facts first before jumping to conclusions. Christchurch was named after the Christ Church College at Oxford University.

There does not seem to be any register for churches in New Zealand and hence I searched the Charities Register for charities that provide religious services. The results contain more than 7000 charities, but many of them are no longer registered and/or have stopped operation. After some cleaning of the data I was left with 5590 records for New Zealand. It is important to note that not every religious charity is a church and not all churches are registered as a charity. One charity could also operate several churches. But for what it is worth, this approach does seem like a good approximation. The various Anglican parishes, for example, are listed individually.

Mapping these religious charities on a map would be slightly misleading since bigger cities will naturally have a higher number of charities. To create a density map of the religious charities in New Zealand I had to take the population distribution into account.

InfoShare from StatsNZ allows you to download the download the Estimated Resident Population for Urban Areas. It contains population estimates for many of New Zealand’s cities. Unfortunately, this list does not contain all the small cities, such as Akaroa.

After cross referencing the charities with the population information I created this density map of religious charities in New Zealand. Christchurch has 517 registered religious charities and a population of 404,600 in 2018 which results in 0.0012 people per charity. This puts Christchurch in the lower half.

You can have a look at the full visualization over at Tableau Public where you can also download the source data.