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Robots!

Posted by chrisd on from the balance-of-power-subtlely-altered dept.

i4u writes "Sony introduces at the Robodex 2003 it's new version of the humanoid Robot SDR-4X. The Sony SDR-4X was introduced last year. The new version SDR-4X II has improved movement functions, safety functions and conversation capabilities. The new speech processor supports continuous speech recognition with about 20,000 words. The Sony SDR-4X II is about 580x190x270mm in size and weighs about 7kg. Sony Japanse Press-Release. See also the new robot Toshiba announced - the ApriAlpha."

12 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Fluid motion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How long before these robots are given fluid motion and balancing? I wouldn't so much care if the robot could walk if it could balance itself in a shifting environ.

    Seems much more humanly adaptable that way.

    1. Re:Fluid motion by dogbox · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That would be cool if it could have fluid motion and balancing. On the other hand, this is probably not really an option at the moment or even the near future. The market must be very small for so expensive an item (the article says it will cost as much as a luxury car), and if they added something like fluid motion etc. the robot would leave the price-range of a car and enter the price-range of something like a house or possibly even more. The idea is cool, but its not really a possibility for a long time.

    2. Re:Fluid motion by JPM+NICK · · Score: 3, Interesting

      At MIT they are doing experiments with robots to mimic the movements of fish. Scientists studying and building fish robots would like to solve "Gray's paradox," named for James Gray, a British zoologist and specialist in animal locomotion, who theorized that fish are more efficient swimmers than they should be. The "Pike Project" http://web.mit.edu/towtank/www/pike/

  2. 20k words by lingqi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    in Japanese, right? in which case (if we count kanji characters) is a LOT.

    btw japanese is a pain in the butt compared to english - I think if the robot really manages conversation in japanese, english is cake. Why I say that? most spoken japanese has no subject, object, and ususally can be interpreted in multiple ways based on context.

    lastly, notice all the humanoid robots go around with slightly bent knees. whassup with that? anybody know? I go around with a bent knee because I am bow-legged, but I hardly think the sony robot has that problem.

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

    1. Re:20k words by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Interesting

      >lastly, notice all the humanoid robots go around with slightly bent knees

      This has to do with balance. A lot of robots have a "backpack" where designers put most of the electronics. By bending at the knee they're less likely to topple.

    2. Re:20k words by Archon-X · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Are you joking?
      20,000 words is 20,000 words, english, french or swahili. Kanji is just the script that the words are written in.

      Japanese is one of the most rigourous languages out there. No other language that I know of has ~5 levels of politeness.

      Failproof Japanese sentence syntax:
      Time [de] subject [wa] object [particle] verb [desu]

      And yes, that's very basic, but compared to english, pah!

      Context? You can't muck up - you have particles that you places after words that determine the context. [ie, wo makes the object, wa makes the subject etc] ..and that's on a basic level.

  3. Anime culture... by Op911 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting that from a nation that loves its giant battling robots (as seen in every other anime series from Japan) there is enough desire on the part of the manufacturers to create such robots in real life. And that there is enough demand there to make it worthwhile. They wouldn't be able to make these things if they couldn't sell them; You wouldn't be able to get the vast majority of North Americans to shell out a couple thousand on these things or an AIBO for instance. I'm a geek and I think these are cool but you won't catch me buying one until it's smart enough to get a job and make money to pay for itself. So why do the Japanese love these things so much? Any thoughts?

    1. Re:Anime culture... by DroppedPacket · · Score: 2, Interesting
      You make some very interesting points, but there is so much unsaid. If you poke below the surface of what you descibe as vision, I think you might hit some of the underpinnings of the actual culture. Just to elucidate on the three cultures you mentioned:

      Japanese: Hi-tech, but also hi-tech dependant. They have a very high population density and need the hi-tech for continued survival. (Food, power, infrastructure.) In some ways they run to stay in place.

      Finland: Lots of communication. Internet, cell phones, etc. Don't they get rather cold and isolated during the winter? Could this be part of it?

      United State: Exploration and moving onwards. The country has been doing that since founding, but there is not much land left to explore.

      --
      I am not a resource! I am a free man!
  4. Will a SDK be avaiable? by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I hope they offer a SDK to developers, and that it would be free, or at least low cost. I meen the more apps that use their robots the more they sell right?

  5. Re:When I was kid... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Interesting

    >Why the hell would you make a robot that can't fire a gun?

    The predator drone fires Hellfire missiles? Hows that grab ya?

    It shouldn't be that tough to build a small stout robot that can shoot a small handgun at a decent sized target using some basic computer vision on a hobbyist's budget.

    I probably shouldn't have said anything. Its going to be scary seeing this on slashdot next week: "Legobot fires .22 pistol. Three geeks injured."

  6. Real World Robots by rpiquepa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sony is introducing a new robot, but this is only part of the story. Sony is betting its future on robots. Sony believes robotics will be bigger than the computer industry in 30 years. And there are many other robots coming, in hospitals, in New York steam pipes or on the battlefield. Look for example at Elvis, designed by Pyxis, which carries medications, or the future Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Wakamaru, a home caretaker for the elderly. Check this column for more details or read this Newsweekarticle.

  7. ok, let's get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Ok, let's get straight to the facts.

    We have the technology to make a robot think, computers. We have the technology to create the *way* a robot thinks, programming. We have the technology to dress it, and paint it and make it look cute.

    We even have the technology to make it move.

    BUT, we don't have the technology to make it look *natural* both in the looks and the touch.

    You may think I'm making a lough, but I'm god damn serious.

    We need more technology in the venue of robotic movements and materials it is constructed from, than programming, 20000 word ravings and such.

    True, programming of such things may be pain, but at least we *can* do it. Make it look extremely natural and feel natural at a touch, it's not something we can do yet.

    (yes, I know this brings thoughts about female robots and rest bs, but to make something usefull that has to move around your house it must look natural, I don't want a fridge going aroung my room)