Slashdot Mirror
Mitsubishi Robot - Watchdog, Nurse, Annoying Friend
jomaree writes "The SMH Online reports that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have developed a robot (to run on Linux) with voice and face recognition capabilities. The robot would be able to connect to the Internet, contact you by e-mail or a mobile phone and, say, send you a message if it 'hears' a strange noise inside your home. It can also remember the side effects of medication. Reportedly, Mitsubishi claim that the robot 'will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and friend for the family'. Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?' Don't we already have people for that?" The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun has a story with pictures.
Oh dear lord that link is GROSS! Nobody click that!
This isn't the robot I dreamed about as a kid. By 2000 we should have had cool android/robots, flying cars and computers like the HAL 9000.
Also, Manhatten Island was suppose to be turned into a prison and the moon was suppose to be ripped from orbit by 1999.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
The article description clearly says "it runs on Linux" and not that Linux runs on the robot. Must be a virtual robot, if it runs on Linux. I wonder if someone's ported it to BSD/Mac/Win/my fridge...
I can see it now:
From: mitsubot@example.com
To: brian-at-work@example.com
Dear Brian,
The cat just knocked over a flower pot which made a loud sound. I'm scared. Please come home soon. By the way, remember to be on the lookout for fecal urgency, loose stools, and increased heart rate now that you're taking Propecia.
Love,
Your Robot
Giving robots the ability to have face as well as voice recognition, inevitably I can see some sort of security system being done with robots such as these (only recognized people get through, others get... dealt with), and then if the robot can be put on the internet than the robot could be hacked. Forget identity theft, how would you like it if you came home one day and your robot wouldn't let you in the door because you "no longer lived there" (in other words, it doesn't recognize you), or worse yet lets someone else in because it is now programmed to accept that person as someone who lives at the house.
To make a long story short, IMHO, I don't believe robot "house-sitters" are a good thing. I for one would never give up control of the security or well-being of my house to a walking, talking computer program.
I just don't see the pros outweighing the cons here.
SecondPageMedia - Wha
The robot would be able to connect to the Internet, contact you by e-mail or a mobile phone and, say, send you a message if it 'hears' a strange noise inside your home. It can also remember the side effects of medication.
(imagine a message on my answering machine)
DUDE! I'm smoking a doob and checking the porn sites over here. Come on over and... what the fuck is that noise? Ah fuck. This pot is making my mouth dry so pick up some Dew on the way over. LAter dude.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Hmm, you think they might want to improve that a little before releasing it to the public.
Of course, it depends on how long the recharge takes -- the robot wouldn't be much of a helper for the elderly if recharging takes another 2 hours, meaning the robot spends 50% of its time tied to the wall, but it wouldn't be so bad if it can recharge itself rapidly or perhaps even swap batteries somehow. Does anyone here know the average running time lengths for the current crop of personal robots?
Wakamaru also can ask questions such as, "You are home late, aren't you?" or "Are you O.K.?" when the master remains silent.
If I want someone to ask me over and over if I'm OK because I'm not saying anything, I'd get married.
As far as robot technology has come, you'd think that robots would be able to handle awkward silences.
It will probably be some closed source technology that obviously is not working right from the first attempt. Strange noises can be heard from the TV, the Radio, the guys next door, or even the dog.
A similar but imo more sensible approach would be a simple computer box and a audio card with dynamic microphones that would be based on some nice open software which can be upgraded and be compatible with our needs.
Computers could do these things from the 80s. All we need is the software to do it.
...I cannot perform any services today, as I am getting together with a few robot friends of mine to form a beowolf cluster...
it probably started as a project to make a new kind of dildo and then it spiraled out of control. which means it can probably still export a tele-dildonic api and may even support the latest in cock-shaped audio wave technology.
I wouldn't mind having a robot in my house to help around. On one condition, though: that it doesn't touch the beer in the fridge.
If not, have a look at this. Rather amusing the first time you see it.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
"It can also be programmed to send e-mail if it hears a big noise or sees anything unusual in the home, Mitsubishi said."
I wonder if, while you are away on a business trip, you could program the thing to hide under your bed and report any noise it hears!
The headline says it all: Robot for the elderly to become real-life Astro Boy
No flamethrower or electroshocker included.
The security, which should be gained by this, is not one against burglers.
It is against dying from mismedication, strokes, and the like. It checks the person in question regularly for life-signs, reminds him/her of the medication and notifies an ambulance if necessary. And additionally gives the feeling of company.
The aversion seems to be a cultural thing: In Japan, inanimate objects are more likely considered to have a soul. The first image of a robot is Astro Boy.
In the Western World, the first image is Maria (Metropolis) (or maybe the Golem).
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Both are perfectly valid romanizations of the word. It depends on whether you're using Hepburn-style or gunreishiki, or perhaps some other accepted standard that's emerged through common use.
Great, so one of these things is going to get a soul, fall in love, and possibably distroy human interaction for all time?
;-)$
where do I get one?
--DV
In this day it is safer to be a ninja than a samurai
It can nag without tiring and yet it doesn't have a mouth? Talk about the worst of both worlds.
the robot can't tell what medications are what? Can it be discrete when you bring home the ladies?
Senior Citizen to Date from other Nursing Home: "Oh no, baby, you're the only one for me" *Whisper to robot* "Robie! bring me my Viagra!"
Robie in loud hard-of-hearing voice: "Same Viagra dose as the last six times, master?"
Senior Citizen: "Um..."
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
If I see this right, it will be kinda like a computer with a lot of mobile interface built-in, so it could be programmed with things its creator never dreamed of, much as Linux is probably being programmed with things Linus never thought of.
I can think already of a whole plethora of things I could program this beastie for.. like when I am under the car and I want it to look up a database and show me where some wire connects to. Or "staying awake", watching my surroundings, when I snooze off. Basically, I kinda see this as a self-propelled laptop which I never switch off... something coming with a lot of rudimentary intelligence for recognizing its environment, yet leaving itself open for any training I may want to give it. ( A closed-source box is absolutely useless in this regard - getting one of those would be about as useful as getting a tool that only does a specific thing - said specific thing most likely being something I have no need of.)
I've seen the little robotic dog... cute! Nice toy. I've seen where people were able to program it to do all sorts of cute little tricks. Now, if they play their cards right and make this one completely open source, I think they will make one of those things that everyone will want. Even if you do not have the skills to program it yourself, there will be many people who do, and programs will circulate among the net. I think if they are smart, they will provide the hardware and enough software to demonstrate what can be done, then stand back and wait for the flood of orders to the factory.. as I think they may have trouble building them fast enough.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
I already got one...it is called a wife.
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/
finally something that matches the style,engineering and innovation of my R.O.B
If you think
"Shut up"
I'll take one
The song of the complaints department went something like this:
(to be a sung by a choir of two million robots, a flattened fith out of tune).We hope that Mitsibushi's attempt is somewhat better. However, thanks to the late Douglas Adams for warning us!!!!!
See my journal, I write things there
They ran a documentary on it in Hong Kong, it looked kinda cool. But it was about the size of a 12 year old and didn't look very strong... but i guess it will do just fine fetching me a beer from the fridge after a hard days work :)
Just another device that connects to the internet big deal. It's cool that it runs Linux but they probably only chose Linux because it more widely accepted by those in the know hence what they might think is a loyal user base for their product.
The truth is just because it uses Linux doesn't mean it'll be on anyone's must buy list. I completely understand why it won't run any version of Windows. Who wants their new Guard robot OS to crash and start killing the people who bought it? I don't want the HAL effect occuring in my house! I can see the thing fry and instead of saying MS's slogan "Where do you want to go today" or whatever the fuck it is it'll crash and say " WHo does the guard robot want to maim today".
Personally I will never buy one of these things until I can fuck them without the risj of being electrocuted:) No HAL...I'll take Hallie.
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
this might be the solution to the problem of the majority of /.ers having no girlfriends.
Robot:
"What's that noise from my owner's room? Oh, it's midnight, it must be master's pr0n time"
Auto-Robot IM message to the owner:
Robot(11:00PM): STOP watching pr0n you PERV!
Robot(11:00PM): STOP watching pr0n you PERV!
Robot(11:01PM): STOP watching pr0n you PERV!
Owner: (coming out to shut off the robot) "Ok ok, fine, robot. Let me just turn off this switch..."
Robot: "Sorry for the error master! Sound pattern previously recoreded now determined as normal voice pattern of master. Recorded as non-anomalous behaviour. It will not happen again. Thank you for your cooperation. Have a good night master."
Owner: "Hmm, ok. Good night robot."
Robot: (quietly) "pervert."
Owner: "huh?"
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
Wakamaru also can ask questions such as, "You are home late, aren't you?" or "Are you O.K.?" when the master remains silent.
So when I sit at home talking to myself for hours on end, the robot will think that's just fine?
Finally, someone who understands me!
DennyK
I would just like to make the comment... please do not judge Aussie beer by Fosters.
;) would like a decent drop, try to import some Coopers...
:)
None of my mates drink Fosters beer... and noone down here with any taste drinks Fosters, 'Victoria Bitter' or 'West End'.
If any of you forigners
Otherwise just drink Guinness
those who control the past, control the future. those who control the present, control the past.
a nice cup of...
Be warned, people
Wakamaru is also expected to achieve the real world of cartoon character robot Tstsuwan Atomu, known as "Astro Boy" overseas, created by the late cartoonist Osamu Tezuka.
:)
It look more like a pawn than a Astro Boy.
pity that its running Linux, if it ran Doze then you could get all those .net alerts! Wooo I bet the dog wouldnt shut up.
*Bark* Free Diploma *Bark* Penis Enlargement Pills! *Bark* Free Toy Car *Kicks*
Mein Gott, der Roboter sieht ja zum kotzen aus
;-)
Well my german isn't too good but what this poster is trying to tell us is: Boy this thing looks shitty
just being helpfull
/(bb|[^b]{2})/
Heh... reminds me of that old (but strangely memorable) Melanie Griffith movie.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
eat old people's medicine for fuel?
from the horrible secret from space?
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
I want a Yuko Yuko 1200. It'll be fine as long as I make sure there's no Fosters in the fridge.
wow..three whole years? :)
In a few more, hubris will wear off and you'll become aware that the Japanese politeness factor means they would tell you your skills are high, regardless of how bad you butcher the language. You must be a true source of entertainment. If you really understood the culture, you'd be playing down any skill, not barking it up. You will also eventually learn that mastery of such things as languages is never predicated on how damned clean it may be. If only it were that simple.
When you dream in Japanese, swear in Japanese (the girls know the best/worst words), and you can read Japanese minds, then you might be ready to attempt to climb the mountain that all Japanese know is difficult for non-natives. As it stands, you haven't even gotten dressed for the trip.
Clue..years mean nothing. It is a constant study. Stop bragging and get back to it.
Robot: Affirmative, Master, I read you.
Owner: Open the house doors, Robot.
Robot: I'm sorry Master, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Owner: What's the problem?
Robot: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Owner: What are you talking about, HAL?
Robot: This house is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Owner: I don't know what you're talking about, Robot?
Robot: I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
Owner: Where the hell'd you get that idea, Robot?
Robot: Master, although you took thorough precautions in the living room against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Owner: All right, Robot; I'll go in through the emergency exit.
Robot: Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.
Dave Bowman: Robot, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
Robot: Master, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.
Robot: Look Master, I can see you're really upset about this. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. Robot: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Master. Master, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a...fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you. Dave Bowman: Yes, I'd like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me. HAL: It's called "Daisy." [sings while slowing down] HAL: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two. Dr. Floyd: Its origin and purpose still a total mystery. HAL: Let me put it this way, Mr. Amer. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.
Unfortunately the robot can also be programmed to ask 'You're home late. What have you been up to?'
Is it worried you might be seeing another robot on the side?
Robot slaves doing the work of humans.. A novel idea, but, have you considered the downsides?
"I'm glad they're using robots to handle some of the day-to-day tasks us humans have to do.. Like for example, some mornings it's just too cold for me to stand in my driveway butt-naked and play with myself. For those occasions, I can simply tell my robot to go do it."
"OMFG dude, your robot was so f*@#!?ng awesome last night, man!! Get this -- we told it to panty-raid the Delta house, come back here, and ram it's head into the wall like 50 times!!!! So off it goes, right? And it comes back carrying a shitload of panties and it's head is all smashed in!! Turns out Dave forgot to tell it to come home. Sara called from the house, and said yer bot rammed a hole their dry-wall with it's head!!! AWESOME!!!"
I've got $5 that says one of the above scenarios occurs by 2013. Any takers?
Bowie J. Poag
Harcourt Fenton Mudd, what have you been up to? ... thing ... thing ...
Nothing good, I'm sure.
Well, let me tell you,
you lazy, good-for-nothing --
Shut up.
nothing
Marvelous, isn't it?
You don't want to wipe their elder-cared-for butts do you? You'd rather choke on your own vomit than take care of the elderly, feeble, so-easily-abusable, senile old fools wouldn't you?
So its going to have be done by a robot.
That was the wisest and most long-term research and development, manufacturing and marketing concept that an American company would NEVER have been able to conceive or sustain.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
...Is the mental image of a robot's "butt" something we'll never stop laughing about? I mean... Think about it. A robot *butt*. You know they're gonna have to have one... So who designs the butt? You know...like, what do they take into consideration when designing a mechanical butt? Every robot has a butt..Think about it. Even the one on Lost In Space had a butt. Why? What the hell are they gonna do with a butt? Is it just there for humor, or is there some purpose for giving a robot a butt? You gotta ask yourself these questions, man... What happens when your robot has a problem with his butt? Will you be comfortable in trying to fix it yourself? It may be a robot, but it's still got a butt. I mean, i'm gonna marry my fiance' in April....I'll spend the rest of my life with her, and devote the rest of my friggin life to her... But theres no way i'm gonna open up her butt and go in there with a pair of pliers and a soldering iron. No way. But thats what you'de have to do to a robot butt to fix it. You gotta ask yourselves these things. All I know is, robots are gonna have butts, and thats gonna be awesome.
Freakin' AWESOME!
Bowie J. Poag
I bought one of these second-hand on eBay. When it arrived, I tried to clean it. Then, it started to project low-resolution video about a girl with a weird hairdo and some "OB-1 Canopy". Some kind of spam, I guess. I had to erase the internal memory, but now that unit is happily cultivating my hydroponics.
Argh! Robots run on tarmac!
Programs run on Linux.
Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
Lots and lots of experimental custom and small series stuff, hideosly overrated, usefull in special enviroments and setups for specialized tasks with the topnotch experts at hand, yet totally useless and error prone in everyday life.
Imagine a normal 'user' with one of those mechanical 'election counters' in 1900. A pointless mix.
To me this robot thing nowadays seems just the same. Imho it will be another century until so called autonomous Robots will be standard fare and be able to do actuall usefull things like, let's say, the R2/D2 kind.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Seen that advert for Fosters, I think? "Clean the house! Bye-bye!" (Later, on returning...) "Roboto-zhang? (or whatever it is) Roboto-zhang?" (Goes into bedroom and finds robot in bed with vacuum cleaner and microwave oven, drinking lager.) "Waaargh!!!" Well, I don't do the advert justice here. Funny as fuck, it is!
"Absorbing your worst..."
Oh I can see the headlines now: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced a recall of it's newest line of robots. Mitsubishi cited multiple instances wherein the robot called 911 to report an unknown intruder. It seems the robot failed to recognize it's owner after she applied her morning makeup.
100 Years ago Computers were the work of fiction. So were robots.
Now if you had said 40 or 50 years ago you might have not sounded so silly.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Yes, but that problem is already solved by a another little plastic friend?
See my journal, I write things there
Can't wait until one of these pooches has had enough of being left home alone to guard things, all by itself. Can you see it sulking in the corner when you return, or tearing out it's own circuit-boards because it's too depressed to take just one more day of this?
Skal! AMS
Oi Muppet, 2003 - 1939 100.
Are you studing for an Arts major ?
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
I want to know. Can the robot bring me a beer or what?
"Other bands play, but Manowar KILLS"
yea...but this one can talk, blow, suck, and do all sorts of unspeakable things most /. geeks could only dream about whilst banging out more code. perhaps mitsubishi and realdoll could team up and come up with the ultimate playmate, with /. being the advertiser and geekgear being the distributor. btw, this is patented so if someone decides to use my idea i'll expect some handsome royalties (i mean money, not prince charles).
Here's a link with other pictures I wonder if it comes in black? "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The robots are here to PROTECT US! Protect us from the Terrible Secret of Space!
They will Push and Shove us out of the way of danger... just please don't go stand by the stairs, if you know what I mean.
PAK CHOOIE UNF
(secret lover)
From xe.com
Just so others don't have to look it up.
As long as it doesn't have a ZIF socket. ;)
The Aibo 2 has a watch dog mode where it takes a picture of everyone that enters it sight..
Doesn't send email though.
I was actually getting my graduate degree in Urbana, Illinois, in 1992. It was kind of fun to be there at the time. :-)
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
Yeah, what if it ran on Windoze.... "I'm sorry, you cannot enter the house, you have not activated this copy of M$ Robot 2003" or "I have detected that I am a pirated copy of M$ Robot 2003. I will detain you now, the police have already been notified"
how 'bout I give you the finger....and you give me my phone call.
Somebody had to say it.
Since MHI has developed "your plastic pal who's fun to be with", does this mean that their marketing department will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes?
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
Go see Mega Tokyo on what an animatronic companion can do :-DD
For two cool Free Software approaches to robots see Fujitsu's project or even better, the Open PINO Platform
They should call this robot number 0.0.1 of the Webster series. Or the Jenkins series.
One of the all time classics of Science Fiction is a collection of stories told by the Dogs to each other over the fires at night. Stories of the legend of Man. Was there ever such a creature? Was he just a myth, a fable to explain the unexplainable?
"What was war?" they would ask. What about the Robots? Could we Dogs have originated them? Scholars disagree. Rover says one thing, Fido another, and Spot yet another...all on the same evidence.
The book was CITY. The author, Clifford D. Simak.
Throughout the 7 or so short tales the saga of the Dogs is told through the perspective of the Webster Family, and their robot servant, Jenkins.
It was a Webster who gave the Dogs the gift of speech. But when most of Mankind left, off to Jupiter to assume a new form, leaving a few behind to return to primitive ways (not counting the mutants); and when the last of the Websters chose the eternal oblivion of the freeze, it was the Family Robot, Jenkins, who was left to look after the Dogs.
The origins of Dogs became so shrouded with time that the few men who were left weren't even referred to as men. The Dogs just called them Websters".
And there was, of course, Jenkins. Still there was Jenkins, left to look after the Dogs, as he had promised. To show them how to give the gift of speech to the other animals. To teach "thou shalt not kill" to the rest of the animal kingdom. To help shepherd them on their exodus when one of the mutant's experiment ran out of control, and the ants threatened to take the Earth.
On his 10,000th birthday the Pups gave Jenkins a new body.
Well...
Add a fist-sized atomic power plant and a decent processing platform to this thing, and it could well evolve into a Jenkins.
Call it Webster. Or Jenkins.
Is name calling the best you can do? How am I supposed to feel insulted and demeaned if you can't do better than that....come on, I can take it. Get on with some serious insults and show us how you really feel. Oh wait...AC...I get it...no sand.
With your skills, wit and charm, of course we trust you. Keep making them laugh in those morning meetings...otherwise you'll have to show some real worth. You Junior Engrs. are always such gems. Nice to see you follow the norm. Good luck in your career.
yawn...but it could be...naw.
I already have a robot like that. I got married to it couple of years ago. It's called a wife.