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Sony Releases Walking Humanoid Robot
Steve Wight writes "Looks like Sony had a bit of robot envy the other day when Honda officially released their 120cm humanoid robot. Well, here is MSNBC's story about Sony's new walking humanoid
robot which looks pretty cool, even if it is on 1/2 a meter tall. Fifteen meters per minute walking speed and can get up if it falls down. Although, the Honda robot could squish it under its foot. *grin*"
Oh my god. My wife just looked at the picture and realized that the robot is dancing The Macarena. (I am not making this up.)
No kidding, I think it is both interesting and potentially useful. I wonder how soon it will be until this kind of work is used for instance in building useful prostheses. People that can not walk any more might have a use for a machine that can do it for them.
There is an article on Japanese ZDNet here with pictures of the robot actually kicking the soccer ball, and then doing the "GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL" pose. But it doesn't drop to its knees and take off its shirt. The CCD can differentiate the colors of the ball, and kick the one you tell it to. Pretty cool.
Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
Not buying one until facist recording practices stop.
Is a "facist" recording practice one where only someone with a pretty face gets a record deal? Actually, that's a pretty good summary of modern pop music.. ;-)
Down with facist recording practices! We want voicist practices!
I'd rather have an autonomous vacuum cleaner look like...a vacuum cleaner.
;boogie !
I think I tend to agree with you. There *MAY* be a sound reason for having them shaped to look like and mimick human movement, but the biggest reason I can see for it is that that's what people expect.. Given this age of GUI interfaces, perhaps what they're looking at the "user friendliness" angle. I.e. if it looks more human, it'll be easier to interact with as if it were human.
People who are already technophobic might feel silly talking to a box on the floor that sucks up the crumbs, but they'll feel right at home talking to MS-JoeBot.
But look on the bright side! If they weren't humanoid robots, they wouldn't be able to
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
-The Reverend (I am not a Nazi nor a Troll)
=(.\')=
As has been said before by many people (Asimov may have been the first), we have build our world for bipedal creatures. For a general purpose robot, it must be humanoid to use our tools. It is also much more efficient to have a humanoid robot be a chauffeur, maid, and cook than to put a brain into every vacuum cleaner, stove, car, fridge, microwave, and toilet plunger that you own.
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT
Human troops is desperate combat with the machines for possession of the dead Earth. The humans are a ragtag guerrilla army. Skynet's weapons consist of Sony SDR-3X and P3 Hondas (human-like robots), four-legged gun-dogs called Aibos, and airborne PlayStation 2's.
SEQUENCE OF RAPID CUTS:
Explosions! Beam-weapons firing like searing strobe-light.
A gunner is an armored personnel carrier fires a LAW rocket at a pursuing Aibo, bringing the dog to its knees in a fiery explosion.
A TEAM OF GUERRILLAS in a intense fire-fight with Sony and Honda endoskeletons in the ruins of a building. Three Sonys advance, firing rapidly. A Honda P3, with flesh ripped open and back broken, gropes for a rifle on the ground.
A PlayStation 2 overruns a human firing position. Soldiers are cut down as they run. Fiery explosions light the ranks of advancing machines.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
There's at least one very good reason for the humanoid shape -- when you start by assuming that your universe of interaction is a world that was intended for humans. If you put a human and a six-wheeled tank on the surface of Mars, sure, the tank will probably win (at least over a semi-flat surface). But what about when you tell them both to go upstairs, through the doorway, pick up the magic 8-ball off the desk and come back? You need a humanoid robot to navigate such terrain, otherwise what happens is you end up having to reengineer your office into something more robot-friendly, and how many places (non-industrial) want to do that?
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
The accompanying video is for the Honda robot, which is big. The Sony robot is the tiny one. I could find no video of the Sony robot.
www.HearMySoulSpeak.com
How long until Sony and Honda build enough for a soccer team? The Aibos are already playing, we may as well extend the competition to bipedals.
FYI, STEF is the annual, employees-only gathering of Sony geeks worldwide in Tokyo.
-----
Klactovedestene!
A leash attachment for the humanoid to walk Aibo.
Seriously though, this thing looks like a cross between an astronaut and a Transformer. Anyone know how good this thing is at balancing yet? I assume that since it walks without tipping over (at least on a level plane) that the balance arms were computed correctly. But how much flexibility is there in the balance structure for the robot to be modified? If I put a Voltron sword in its' hands, will it tip over when it walks?
*sigh* Yet another geek toy... I need more money at this rate...
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
so if I can get it to reboot a computer then I can replace my tier I support group, let alone any telecom one! come on Sony make it do something that is useful!
Not buying one until facist recording practices stop.
I want to see a couple of these things locked in Gundam-style combat.
--
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
From the article:
:)
Responding to commands, it can pick out a specifically colored ball and kick it toward a goal net, Sony said.
Presumably it can do the same thing with the company's Aibo robot dog, a second-generation model of which Sony began selling last week for 150,000 yen ($1,366), down from 250,000 yen for the original version.
Now, I'd really like a robot that can kick an Aibo towards a goal net.
Code or be coded.
And just how is this offtopic? I was referring to a product similar to the Sony bot.
I concede that these early stages have to be done first, but looking at this, I wonder how practical a humanoid form factor is going to be for robots. Having been brought up on too much bad science fiction, I feel distinctly uneasy at the sight of these 'droids mimicking human movement. Also, I wonder how much utility this form factor is going to have for machines. I'd rather have an autonomous vacuum cleaner look like...a vacuum cleaner.
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
These new breed of robots better understand the command Klaatu.
I would be pretty pissed off if my robot person starting kicking my $1300 robot dog.
If you watched the video, you'll see the robot standing by a couple of kids. He DWARFS them- and it's only supposed to be 20 inches tall? I know the Japanese people are short, but that's ridiculous. Something ain't right.
Besides, the robot walks like an 80 year old man with calcium deficiency...
-p4
(c) All Rights Released.
From the article:
Capable of kicking Aibo the dog...
Uh-oh... watch out for PETA...
Anyway, it's good to see they've already got our fledgling artificial intelligence machines started out on the right track -- going after their electronic comrades rather than their human owners!
kugano
I suspect, given where mankind's motivations put its money, there's an unspoken race to see whether we have robotic combatants or robotic sex toys first.
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->