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Honda's ASIMO A Few Steps Closer To Human
Rauchenator points to an article on Yahoo! about "the new enhanced Honda Asimo which now can gracefully walk down stairs, respond to human commands and even work like a receptionist (Sit there). The Honda site even has videos showcasing the robot doing its thing. The article points out that the robot makes celebrity-size salaries when put on display, too."
I can just see it, once this robot gets to the U.S. all the riceboys will start putting Japanese stickers on it that they can't even read. Then they'll put an 8" exhaust tip and cut the legs down until they're only 2 inches tall.
Put some glowing blue lights all over it and they're ready to go.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
``We hope to have Asimo on sale once it is more user-friendly, when it will be able to fetch things you ask for,'' said Makoto Hirose, senior chief engineer at Honda R&D Co Ltd.
An Asimo to get those slippers and a beer for you, an Aibo to fetch the newspaper... I think Honda is trying to sell joe-doe life to socially incapable rich geeks.
I intend to live forever, so far so good.
Faster than my wife in the mornings, anyway..
-- a big leap from a previous 40-minute start-up.
Hm, that's more like it..
Excuse me, my wife wants a word wit... argh!
Teaching it not to leave the lid up on the toilet, not to stand up peeing (it leaves a horrible mess of water and oil), taking out the garbage, to cuddle afterwards and how to partake in a meaningfull talk about feelings.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
When they are cheep enough (or someone decides to give a whole stack of cash, um.. i mean sponsorship) I want to make an action movie with these guys. Dress them up, put wigs and flack jackets on them and do all the ninja action movie stuff with them, have them shoot at each other, car chases, jumping onto moving trains etc.
If real actors are already worring about digital actors taking their place (final fantasy etc.) then I just want to give them one more thing to worry about.
-------
Drink Coffee - Do Stupid Things Faster And With More Energy!
I wonder what their intentions are. Are we going to see some scaled down versions in stores next X-Mas? :-)
;-)
It would be nice if the web site gave a bit more info... like tips for aspiring robot developers.
The future of robotics looks VERY bright... more and more powerful CPU's comming out... new materials... advances in computer vision and speech recogintion... Let's hope the future isn't _too_ bright for them.
Later.
When Honda stops making these stupids robots and begins making cyclones...
``In terms of costs and attraction, Asimo would rank among the celebrities called on to host events,'' said Toshiji Asai, manager of Asimo's business office.
Great, what next? Inaugarations by Aibo - hey there nice doggie doggie. Jump over that ribbon?
(no pun intended)...
Could be usefull to drive the cars of the same constructor .. shipped in the "read the news in the morning" package.
Here is the link to Honda site mentioned:
Asimo Special Site.
Neco = cat(japanese), ro from robot. site Same mistake in the zdnet article, extremely similar to the linked yahoo article if you ask me.. :) .. Thanx Reuters..
$HOME is where the
-- silver_p
IBM Japan is paying over $166,000 a year for Asimo to be a receptionist? Looks like our futurist fantasies were half right — robots will do the menial jobs for us, but they'll charge through the nose for it. Maybe I can find a cheap one that'll fetch my slippers for only a couple grand a week.
Now if they could only make it thin and nimble enough to fit inside a Real Doll...
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
This is the link to more information on the robot. http://world.honda.com/robot/
It talks about specifications... and also has a few movies clips of the robot
I mean, if you have that much cash... Well fortunately, they wouldn't make it through the airport metal detectors.
It won't be complete until Honda have made thousands to sing this song, each one a flattened third out of tune with the rest...
Share and Enjoy
Share and Enjoy
Journey through life
With a plastic boy
Or girl by your side
Let your pal be your guide
And if it breaks down
Or starts to annoy
Or grinds when it moves
And gives you no joy
'Cause it's eaten your hat
Or had sex with your cat
Spilled oil on your floor
Or ripped off your door
And you get to the point
You can't stand any more,
Bring it to us
We won't give a fig
We'll tell you
Go stick your head in a pig!
(Done from memory - I'm a very sad man...)
"Information wants to be paid"
I saw a clip of it walking down some stairs on TV yesterday. The movement looks very human. The first few seconds I thought it was a guy dressed up as a robot in some SF movie...
Well, I looked at the exchange rate and now it looks more like $164,000
that's still plenty of loot. If anybody reading this is in the market for a robot receptionist, but doesn't want to cough up 1.5 g's...for only 45,000 USD, I'd happily come to work wearing a bunch of cardboard boxes covered in tinfoil and talk in a funny voice.
beedeebeedeebeedee!
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Among them is IBM Japan, which hired Asimo as a receptionist for an annual contract of 20 million yen ($166,200).
At $166,200 I'll wear a damned plastic suit in Japan.
I can't help be reminded of the great song by a band called STYX in the rock opera KILROY.
Does this sound familiar?
"Domo arrogato(sp?) Mr. Roboto..."
"I'm not a robot, without emotion, i'm not what you see... My heart is human, my blood is boiling, MY BRAIN IBM!"
-STYX (Mr. Roboto)
Does anyone have any data on how strong it is? How fast it can move? Just wondering if it could kick someone's ass.
"when it will be able to fetch things you ask for"
'OI - ASIMO - GET ME A BEER! - A COLD ONE! - FRENCH! - A 1664 BRUN!'
Asimo wanders to the fridge, finds it empty, goes down to the shops with your CC and picks up a few cold beers, and a bag of nuts, and a magazine. He pays at the counter, leaning forward as though being a little unstable, and wanders back. It wanders through to the kitchen, finds all the glasses are dirty, washes up, pours you a nice cold beer and brings it through to you. It tells you that the chick in the off licence was wearing 'that blue shirt' and makes a lewd hand action. It then dumps a close up video of 'that blue top' to your machine. And presents the nuts. You never thought of the nuts, but you do actually quite fancy some nuts.
Ahhhh Heaven!
Robots are very different from humans. We don't really understand what their drives are, or theeir motivations. What we do know is that they are getting faster and therefore more intelligent. Already researchers at Reading have produced robots that actually misbehave.
Experiments like this seem like we're giving our potential overlords far too much self control, and far too much power. If we keep this up, we may soon find ourselves slaves to a the robots rather than the other way round.
1.A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2.A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3.A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
I'm not sure if that makes me feel any better.
The 114.6-pound product of 15 years of development by Japan's third largest carmaker, first unveiled a year ago, can now be initialized, or booted, within four minutes -- a big leap from a previous 40-minute start-up.
;-)
It might seem heavier than a traditional secretary but it seems it doesn't need to spnd ages in the bathroom to get attractive enough to welcome visitors...
BTW, 160 kilo-$ a year is cheaper than a year's worth of jewelry, romantic dinenrs and hidden hotel rooms with "the real thing"... but once again I'd miss it
1.A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
;)
2.A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3.A robot must protect its own existence, except where such protection would conflict with the First or Second Law.
...so a robot would never bring Asimov a beer
Scurf
It's about the latest robot 'toys'.
They introduce one of those Sony robotic dogs to a real dog, guess which one won!
Check it out here...
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
No you fool. It doess't earn any fookin salary. HOnda are planning to rent it out instead for outrageous sums so that they can recover some of the money they invested. With the present economic situation, I don't see any company shelling out megabucks so that they can have ASIMO moving to-n-fro in some exhibition stall....
Aside, does anyone know why Honda got into ASIMO rpoject at the first place. My guess is that they wanted to give their engineers experience in electric motors, hydraulics, and/or system programming....typical Honda....can't wait for 2004 NSX....ye gods...
You just know that Honda's gonna get together with these guys.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
ASIMO doesnt hold a candle to ROBOT FRANK. www.roborfrank.com
Mmmh, when will I have my Ping-chan [MegaTokyo.com] just for me ? Asimo is ... less exciting.
If it did, I would eagerly buy it!
It's just a BloJJ
Remember the old Eliza program which pretended to carry on a conversation? Same algorithm - if you've got absolutely no frappin' idea, just say something non-commital. Fools most of the people most of the time.
... maybe ... but i'm not sure..
Funky Dory!
Old Lady #1: When my ex-husband passed away, the insurance company said his policy didn't cover him.
Old Lady #2: They didn't have enough money for the funeral.
Old Lady #3: It's so hard nowadays, with all the gangs and rap music..
Old Lady #1: What about the robots?
Old Lady #4: Oh, they're everywhere!
Old Lady #1: I don't even know why the scientists make them.
Old Lady #2: Darren and I have a policy with Old Glory Insurance, in case we're attacked by robots.
Old Lady #1: An insurance policy with a robot plan? Certainly, I'm too old.
Old Lady #2: Old Glory covers anyone over the age of 50 against robot attack, regardless of current health.
[ cut to Sam Waterston, Compensated Endorser ]
Sam Waterson: I'm Sam Waterston, of the popular TV series "Law & Order". As a senior citizen, you're probably aware of the threat robots pose. Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel. Well, now there's a company that offers coverage against the unfortunate event of robot attack, with Old Glory Insurance. Old Glory will cover you with no health check-up or age consideration. [ SUPER: Limitied Benefits First Two Years ] You need to feel safe. And that's harder and harder to do nowadays, because robots may strike at any time. [ show pie chart reading "Cause of Death in Persons Over 50 Years of Age": Heart Disease, 42% - Robots, 58% ] And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free.. because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. Now, for only $4 a month, you can achieve peace of mind in a world full of grime and robots, with Old Glory Insurance. So, don't cower under your afghan any longer. Make a choice. [ SUPER: "WARNING: Persons denying the existence of Robots may be Robots themselves. ] Old Glory Insurance. For when the metal ones decide to come for you - and they will.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
Damn... Now this.
I was saving my money for a new Aibo.
I wonder is this robot is also compatible with my Honda Civic so I could read the paper on my way to work.
For somebody who's grammar and spelling is usually impeccable, that post is pretty fucking bad.
just=>Just
you=>your
mean=>mean:
Capitalisation, punctuation,blah,blah
Jon Katz=>Jon Katz'
decrepid=>decrepit
Does it catch diseases?
0. A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
are the amusement companies going to just strut the robot around as is for that much money? or are they going to put their character costumes over it.
i can see it now, "Mickey, take a picture with me."
"What did you say?" while picking up it's arm and twiddling its fingers.
The flash goes off and it fritzes out circa Itchy and Scratchy land.
And are Asimov's laws really what the developers are going to follow presently or in the future? The major funding comes from the military and giant corporations, and we all know they want killing machines or mindless drones. So we have soldiers and slaves, it just doesn't seem like a good future.
also, a mini-discussion @ e2 about the laws: here
xavii aka bob
You can see Asimo climbing down the stairs at the most recent event here
"...grammar and spelling is..."? That reminds me of people who write "excelent comunicater" on their resumé.
...can even work like a receptionist
What? You mean that it can file and paint it's nails, play windows solitaire and gossip on the phone?
HH
--
When the robot hordes come for us, the ones who only have insurance will be first to fall.
All I need is my trusty BFG9000.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
... it wouldn't be in their interest to make something strong enough to beat up larger children or nerds.
"Among them is IBM Japan, which hired Asimo as a receptionist for an annual contract of 20 million yen ($166,200)."
hey! that's more than I get! And he cannot even find some free pr0n site within 2 minutes! [given enough bandwidth]
:)
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
Hello Slashdot !! Wakeup !!! I sent you the link TWO MONTHS AGO that Honda had updated the Asimo !! And your only NOW posting it ?!?!?! Stop sniffing the glue and get off the dope !
They ought to combind the 2 and then we can do away with the need for women. I bet it would be cheaper in the long run!
It's getting better, but I have to say that I won't invest in one untill it can do what all good robots can do, DISCO!!!!!!
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
could it stand up to Vlad the Impaler? :)
-Evan
Beer is good for you. Besides being protective against cardiovascular disease, it aids your digestion and was the primary means of imparting medicinal herbs for most of human civilization. Of course, Asimo would probably know the difference between mass-produced garbage labeled beer and real beer. It would not however, bring you your smokes.
So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
nt
I like the idea that Honda is researching different areas besides cars. They've done research on solar powered cars too. It makes me wonder if Nissan and Toyota put their R&D dollars towards things other than vehicle refinements. What makes Honda so special? If Nissan and Toyota do do other things, why don't we hear about them as much as Honda?
I wonder if it can pick grapes and open eggs withouth squishing them?
to Honda/Acura of North America: Give us back the 5 door Integra!!!
--- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
Seriously guys - what will all those pretty but stupid chicks do if robots get all the cushy receptionists jobs??
Two words: Human Resources
Wouldn't it be ironic to have a robot work in the HR department?
--- rapper/producer/bachelorette party stripper
...replace those annoying fast food employees? I was thinking the other day about how I really wish I could just press buttons at McDonalds for my food and have robots hand it to me. It's not as though that food requires a chef to prepare it, or a human touch to garnish it just so.
I just figure I have a better chance of understanding an electronically modulated voice on that drive-thru speaker than a mumbling teenager.
The point of robots is to handle shit jobs below the intellect of humans, right?
Like anything else, right now this is just a PR move. eventually the cost will come down. The cost sounds like it is in line with the Mini computers that were destroyed in the market by the PC
You will know that they have become ubiquitious when you can have a robot rock band, complete with robots actually playing guitars, piano, etc. doing the dancing, etc
If fact that is a rather decent prediction. Robot Rock as a Craze.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
They should enter it into battle bots. =)
I SURVIVED THE GREAT SLASHDOT BLACKOUT OF 2002!
...this thing kind of walks like my grandpa...
now just add some depends, a lincoln continental, and some funky flowery shirts and i wouldnt be able to tell the difference
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
Really? What's its score on Solitaire, then?
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
a machine that looks like a human? Seriously, what is the point in developing a robot that looks like a human? The design is so limited! Look at all the trouble with bipedal travel. Also, until it has decent AI capabilities, it's not doing anything amazing as far as I am concerned. They've just made a robot that can respond to commands, like any other robot can do, that command set is just more complex, and the robot is alot bigger and looks like a deepsea diver.
What?
They could have picked the name first and then looked for an acronym to fit it.
The recording industry has already done this. Maybe you're familiar with a few of these "artists": Britney Spears, NSync, the Backstreet Boys, OTown, Christina Alguilera... =)
It gets better:
Coincidence? Hhmmm...
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Its good to see midgets are getting work but i dont know how hot it is in those suits?
"All I can tell the "lesser of two evils" folks is that if they keep voting for evil, they'll keep getting evil."-Lp.org
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
It walks down stairs?
Alone, or in pairs?
4. Don't go berserk.
(From "Odd Job", I forget which issue)
normal(adj)- people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots [DECS]
The humanoid Isamu robot is powered by RTLinux. Does anyone know if this is also true for Honda's Asimo? What's the relation between the two projects?
With a name like that you must have a mullet. You should submit your picture to www.amimulletornot.com and who know you might find a man just for you ;)
1. A robot must not infringe on intellectual property, or through inaction, allow a intellectual property to be infringed.
2. A robot may not injure a human being unless that human being is infringing intellectual property. If that's the case, go nuts.
3. A robot must protect its own intellectual property and prevent anyone from hacking, disassembling, or reverse-engineering the robot.
Robotiq.com is heavily tested on animals
Please check here (or just go to my journal page). I wrote this article (after it being rejected by slashdot) on monday in my journal. How about a little credit, tim?
Mods - this isn't off topic. Its quite on topic (check the link before you mod).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
(from the book robots and empire)
I don't know about you, but that bothers me.
And before they can perceive what constitutes harming, and therefore how to avoid it, they need to have much much more advanced perceptual subroutines and the appropriate hardware to support them. At least this means that we've got a bit more breathing room before they come at us maliciously. :)
Score: -10, Quoted Styx.
Anyone need a fearless ground force? Give this one a few years, lighten it up, armour it, add a rifle of choice, and you've got one hell of a infantry unit. Asimov's laws, whatever. This thing isn't going to be your secretary, it's going to be a great addition to some nations military. There is still substaintial work to be done on the concept, they've definately demonstrated that it's possible to develop a robot that is bipedal and flexible. I'm not sure a lot of people would have thought you could do what they're doing now.
Nowhere is this shockingly obvious application listed in any of Honda's sites or any popular articles on the topic.
..don't panic
Honda has invested more than 100M dolars to get to Asimo. It walks. Now it even responds to human commands. In about 10 years it will be able to get you a beer. That in it self may seem like trivial, but once it can help you with 'simple' things, it can do things like nursing. Japan has aging population. 25% of Japan's population will be over 65. That's 40M. Nursing care is expensive (especially since Japan doesn't import foreign workers). Robots like Asimo could take care of 'simple' things. Once in mass production its cost would be in range of a good car (later even less). Would you like a janitor, cook, housemaid, gardner, fireman, guard, babysitter, courier, butler.... for a price of a car?
A human receptionist probably makes $13,000-$16,000 a year at most for working as a full-time receptionist.
But the damn robot makes $166,000 a year to sit there?
Some people are so intrigued by such simple things, that they spend lots and lots of money on stupid ideas.
"Ha ha! We have a robot as a receptionist! How cool!"
Trust me. Intel will do it first!
"And to intoduce out Pentium 9 line, we have three blue robots playing music!"
I have a japanese friend that told me they used organic nerves on Asimo. This sounds scarry, but sort of interesting. Anyone have any info on this?
If these walls could talk they'd probly still ignore me. --MF DOOM
And the fucker would prevent me from smoking, lest he let me come to harm through inaction?
I think such a robot would quickly get a readjustment of the sledgehammer kind.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
It's 2001....where are all the flying cars we were promised in all those sci-fi movies back in the 50s and 60s?
Hey Honda, work on the flying car!
I'd post my picture, but I don't feel comfortable with the idea that you'd be beating off with it.
oooolala! So what's that give you 160 hp?
hahaha. lamer ricer loser!
Link to the movie clips.
Only about 270 hp
:)
other than that it looks stock
havn't broken anything yet. (fingers crossed)
More than I expected. Torque is still a little too low for my tastes, but if the car is light enough I guess it would be fun.
Have you seen this?
http://www.turbodrivenconcepts.com/
On Thanksgiving they're releasing the twin turbo kit for the '96-'98 Cobras. Should be over 600 hp with the turbos,exhaust, and a new fuel system.
It will cost around $6k, but for a 9 second car it's worth it! I can't wait! My snake is gonna get blown!
Might this robot work for telepresence? Explore mars with a remote controlled Asimo? (granted, lag time would be a problem, but if we can make it smart enough to somewhat take care of itself...) Use a fuel cell to power it, (im assuming its using normal batteries right now) and we could get most of the thrill (for the audience) and flexability of a manned exploration with none of the stresses of prolonged space travel on the human body. I doubt the tech is stable enough to be used for NASA work, but maybe in the near future?
What actually happens though is a little different. The manufacturing sectors become more and more automated and the jobs become more and more information-based.
A greater percentage of our population is employed today or runs a licensed business than before the industrial revolution.
Work won't go away. It will just change.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Honestly. When these robots can give a perfect headjob, I think we'll have them in every house.
My parents have already said they will buy me this car when it becomes available here. I cant wait!
On the article, they say it can go down stairs and stuff. I wonder - can it go up?
Ever drive a real car?
Fuck you taco-bell.
Arigato
and you've got the ultimate Battle Bot! Of course, I doubt it could win as much as it makes at it's current job...
Depends how you set up the car and how competant the driver is, I would suggest that someone who supercharges their civic would also have the nous to be able to handle a powerful . There is nothing wrong with understeer if you know how to prepare, execute and exit out of turns properly :)
Ever drive a 911 Turbo? Yes the 996 spec. But thats an AWD vehicle and contray to popular belief does not exhibit neutral handling characteristics. With a tendency to understeer (pushing) coming into a corner and oversteer (getting loose) coming out of it, AWD cars can often be very unpredictable.
Po
The article mentions that Asimo (pronounced Ahsh-mo) translates to "legs, even" or, more precisely, "legs, too". However, due to the large number of homophones in the Japanese language, the first part of the name (Asi) also translates as "evil". So, this robot is "evil, even".
Bistromath
You're tilting at windmills. They're too stupid to know they're stupid. And we're stupid for reading and posting here.
okey.. get this straight...
all mustang drivers have mullets and mullet attitudes
all honduh drivers are riceboys who don't know how to drive and have poor taste in body ahem... enhancements
and all porche drivers are snotty racing purists with too much money who look down on all inferior cars (non german cars that cost under 40k)
there. are all stereotypes in this thread properly represented?
In by 2015, before Moores Law runs out, a $1000 desktop will be as smart as we are. Computers, whether silicon, quantum, or molecular dot, will continue to have their clock speeds soar. In our lifetimes, we will see computers that are millions of times smarter than we are. Our future is to become cyborgs. Otherwise, we will remain stupid, frail creatures with short lifespans. I'm sure if we ever see aliens, they wont be biological, like on star trek, they will be machines
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
We've been bombarded as a society of images from japan, images of gigantic nuclear fission power Mech's over 50feet tall carrying giant sized rifle's obliterating everything in thier path. It's obvious japan is taking the step to make these dreams a reality. This would be considered a first step in such a weapons program. Teaching the thing how to walk, avoid obstacles that would trip it up, and how to balance itself upright.
I know of one place I would love to see these things march over, just parachute them out of a plane, armed with an m16, walk right into an enemy tunnel mwahahahHAHAHAHA I bet any amount of money they have a secret underground labertory located underneath a stadium where they are teaching these things to aim and keep their balance with an automatic weapon.
It's kinda neat to think my goverment has been funding ID software to teach us how to pilot these things in the future, WADS mouse interface on my Gundam is gonna rock.
All stereotypes were properly represented.
Not that the stereotypes are accurate at all.
I have almost no hair at all. I'm what you might call "Hairless" if you will.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin