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Sanyo Announces "Banryu" Home Security Robot
Fooferaw writes "From the Sanyo web site: Sanyo and smaller tmsuk announce the next version of their "Banryu" home robot shaped somewhat like a dragon (it has the shiny curves of an AIBO, IMO). The Banryu can walk 15m/min., hear, sense in the infrared, and apparently "smell" a fire in the home. It even transmit real-time video." Corrected: The title initially said Sharp...I must have Zaurus on the brain.
He can sense fire, scare intruders, run about 15m per SECOND, he's still working on the real time video... Really, this is a cool gadget, but who needs it?
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
Hrm, why does the headline read Sharp but the product is from Sanyo?
Robocop: "Freeze dirtbag."
Criminal claps
*Robocop powers off*
Criminal claps
Robocop: "Please don't do that.."
Dragon, nothin'. I want the "dragonFLY" from Danny Dunn, invisible boy. Even without the haptic feedback, I'd be happy. At this point, remote audio surveillance seems like the best strategy for relationships in my life...
(*bitter sigh*)
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
How long before the Japanese Yakuza start selling robotic Steve Irwins to disable them?
"Einstein argued that [...] God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer." ~ Brooks
The trick is to walk slowly behind them or use EMP grenades
Although the press release was not specific on exactly what sort of home security functions it would perform, I would think that it's speed would limit it's use. A 15 m per minute (.9 km/h) could easily be out walked by even the most unfit of people. This would seem to make it fairly useless in any sort of roving intruder detection system.
My other sig is funny!
Will it push Grandma down the stairs? Grandma needs to be protected!
NO CARRIER
I imagine that the shiny lizard-like shape intimidates burglars, making them want to run away.
Please... This has got to be one of the lamest gadgets I've ever heard of. You'll get better performance out of a few well placed web cams, some infrared motion detectors, and a smoke alarm or two. At least then you won't have to worry about the batteries wearing down every other day.
"Burnt smell"... hehe, that sounds real technical. Oh well. It's their money they dumped into R&D. I suppose they'll have to learn for themselves that the consumer market for such a device isn't large enough to sustain production.
Soon to be upgraded with 2000 degree centrigrade flamethrower plus optional napalm pack! Now that's secure. Until you come home from cheating on yer wife and try to sneak in.
---
When I grow up, I want to be a kid again.
With the sensor the robot will be able to detect "burnt scent" which is known to occur in the atmosphere preceding a fire.
Oh, boy... I hope it's a bit smarter than simply "smelling" something burning (detecting smoke in teh aair).
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
They forgot to mention the reason it has a smoke detector: like any good robotic dragon it is equipped with some "glands" that basically make, well...
Napalm, son.
A robot that can say "Danger, Will Robinson" and actually mean it!
OLPC Australia
Robber 1: Oh shit a a robotic security system
Robber 2: Gawd damn it! It's spotted us.
Robber 1: RUN!
Robber 2: It's still chasing us... Very... Slowly...
Robber 1: stroll?
Happy Noodle Boy says "F###ing doughnut! Mock me? You fried cyclops!!"
Sharp Announces "Banryu" Home Security Robot
The Banryu can walk 15m/min., hear, sense in the infrared, and apparently "smell" a fire in the home.
Sounds impressive, but my 36" Louisville Slugger probably wouldn't mind delivering a few Newton-meters of torque to Banryu's ass.
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
...I can yell "Beer me!" and it trots over with a frosty mug full.
I wouldn't mind having an ED 209 minding my place. Although if someone did break into my house there wouldn't be much left of it at the end...
OLPC Australia
the base model doesn't seem to have a lot of bite to its bark... but unlike a real dog you might be able to mount a backpack rocket launcher like that dog shadow from the centurions.
On the other hands, real k9s these days can carry body armour, so I guess things might be looking up for organic hounds.
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
Everything that was once directly lived has receded into a representation. -debord
Sure it looks cool, but how hackable is this thing?
Can I interface it to my Linux box to get real time pics to my websever?
I want Linux compatible consumer electronics. I am sick of building my own!
A device that will film me smoking after sex and broadcast the image over the internet.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
I rather have my dog watch my house for fires. And I bet that robot thingy can't bite the balls off an intruder...
All the robots I've bought from this company have had bad motivators.
What are they trying to push on us?
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
If it can smell when things are burning it would be able to tell me when my wife has supper ready
the headline read Sanyo?
Sanyo is a darned good company, though. They're a huge competitor to Panasonic and if I remember correctly, they were doing better than Panasonic on home appliances in Japan, but just don't have enough name recognition overseas. I got to take a tour of one of their R&D headquarters in Osaka over the summer, and I must say, they've got some really cool stuff in very thin, high resolution displays in the works. Hopefully this new robot will get them some of the name recognition they need outside of Japan.
"Its speed has been increased from 3meters/min. to 15meters/min"
On the plus, they did increase the speed 5 fold, hopefully they can go for more if they want it to be some true security for the home.
I still don't understand the fascination for Robots in Japan.
It is obviously part of the japanese culture to contemplate a robot as an ideal solution for this sort of problems and that serious money is invested in reaching that goal. It's also clear how that is not the case in western cultures, just look at the amount of "Funny" posts on this topic.
Now if I would be contemplating having one I see two big problems right away:
-How is it really going to navigate in the mess I have in my appartment, hell I can't.
-How is it supposed to stop intruders when this robot is the single most expensive thing I have in the house! (I bet is not cheap)
The only explanation I can come up with is that is yet another toy for the japanese high class.
IMHO
wtf? that's like saying I can't step over gaps of 1 feet.
screw THAT.
as much as this (middle of page) is unethical, i think it will do better.
and it's SANYO, not SHARP. get it straight, yall.
p.s. the link is april fools joke. don't flame me.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
it WILL kill me in my sleep
Please god tell me it's not purple...
"I love you, you love me, I'm robot se-cur-i-tee..."
"Consider yourself a member of a virtual corporation with Mr. Torvalds as your Chief Executive Officer." - Linux Advocac
I think "ryu" in Japanese means dragon (hence why it looks like a dragon). What does "ban" add to it? Anyone know, out of curiosity.
today is spelling optional day.
The big Honda humanoid robot has it right, but costs too much.
Went to a talk at Stanford today on low-cost stereo vision systems. Those have been around for years, but they're about to get cheap. Unfortunately, the killer apps are security-related, but the robotics community will benefit anyway.
We're getting close to actually being able to do this stuff right, after decades of frustration in the robotics community.
Burglar breaks window, enters house.
Robot dog (metallic sound): WOOF!
Burglar: Oh, hehe. One of those crappy, yet expensive robot dog toys. Come here, Rex. Tee hee. (Reaches out to grab it)
*BZZZZZT*
*THUD* (sound of lifeless body impacting floor)
Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
OK, We've all known that technology was going to begin replacing humans eventually... and in a crazy twist, its the dogs get blindsided out of nowhere!
Someone, quick, start a non-profit organization to save the dogs!
How can it be overrated when no ones modded it yet? Moron.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
From the second paragraph of the article:
..."
"The new "Banryu", which means "guard-dragon" in place of "guard-dog",
So there you have it.
this is all i need, now my PET will bitch about my severe nicotine addiction
I'd rather have something that could at least double as a fire extinguisher..
:-)
Could it be rigged to cock it leg over the fire???
Burma?
Urk...
</i> dammit
Burma?
"It even transmit real-time video."
Yeah, I'm going to recommend that all sorrorities on campus deploy these units for, ummm, safety reasons.
--all the stuff you want a robot to do is not that hard, where they get lame is in the travelling around part. The stickler appears to be so far in the primitive walking. Scratch that, they need wheels or tracks. Make it a lot cheaper. The guy who invented the segway had an ubermobility wheelchair thing. I saw it once at a medical trade show.(well, I think it was his, long time ago now) Turn that badboy into a robot. It could climb stairs, carry serious invalid weight. Start with something like that, trick it out. You could make it 7 feet tall at the top, now THAT might make someone stop and think if it was staring him in the face with lotsa e-vile red glowing blinkenlights and a voice coming out. I guess the little cute robot dragon is better for the very small japanese housing or say a small urban apartment here. For a more mainstream robot in the US it has to be able to negotiate stairs, PLUS grab the dang lawnmower and do the grass. Might as well get some work out of them for their electric bill.
heh
--dogs are great, got two. They are small,15 lb'ers, good for fires or intruders for notification purposes. 10 cents of pepper spray or straight ammonia in a squirt gun would knock them out, same as any rottweiler at 150 lbs. That's what I used to use when bicycling and jerks let their packs of mutts chase bikers and cars. Spray, howl, done. Got tired of breaking frame mount air pumps as a club. False security with a dog, useful for detection, not for "security" as regards other humans, not any determined human anyway.. You need a thinking human who's armed and awake for any real security, that and actual for-real barriers to entrance. I think of "guard" dogs as sensors and kamikaze slower-downers to the badguys.
-no security at your home if the bad guys can get in. No one is all that security conscious most places I've seen. Thick plexi windows and steel reinforced door jams and solid steel doors exist, hardly no one uses them. I've custom installed them for people, and have some friends who did it, but it was always after the fact of getting robbed.
And a lot of newer houses, sheesh, vinyl siding on the outside,then gyp board,then fiberglass insulation then drywall. Like, all you need to get in someone's new house built like that nowadays-and quietly- is a simple razor knife right through the wall, skip the doors and windows. It's a problem not advertised much in the press.
That's a good idea -- I wouldn't want Ryu coming into my home and hadouken-ing the place up.
"Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
My dog is a freakin genius. He never barks at anything but strangers and kills everything smaller than him that gets into the house. Never had a fire but he came and bugged me once till I realized I had left the oven on. Sure, a robot doesn't crap in the yard but it also doesn't care about you. Call me old fashioned but technology just can't replace some things. Lets see that piece of crap catch a frisbee
If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it. -- Calvin Coolidge
Don't worry: this is only the japanese version, designed with their market in mind. Here's a rundown of the rumored features of the American version:
10ft Balrog formfactor
Acetelyne driven in head to give it authentic Balrog look and industry leading Knaw.
Feet include built in retractable heavy duty rollor blades for high speed street use, and lower speed offroad action.
Balrog Bat flight module, for when running is not an option.
16ft sword, splash anodized for effect.
Broadband satalite uplink for sending realtime video as you rape and pillage Florida spammer's estate when not guarding your apartment against terrorists.
Optional grenade launcher, still undergoing ATF testing.
Low rader cross section.
UltraLife Plutonium batteries
Militarized Isreali version comming soon!
Maskirovka
So you had a three legged incontinent dog, big deal :-)
Try NetBSD... safe,straightforward,useful.
Sounds like some sort of anti- Street Fighter clan...
I'd expect the commercial release to be a lot more capable.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Neal Stephenson, in his book Snow Crash , writes about just that. They run at supersonic speeds and can disarm a gang of armed thugs in an instant. They were nuclear powered, though. And required an actual canine brain in the machinery. Each Rat Thing could communicate with other Rat Things through wireless connections, forming a network. Virtual barking over this network alerted Rat things in neighbouring vicinities to come and lend help if needed.
Reminds me of Ping of Megatokyo.
As usual, speculative fiction paves the way to the future.