Slashdot Mirror
Robots!
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."
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.
On a related note, Honda's Asimo is touring the US. Asimo groupies you know who you are.
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.
For fighting off those evil ninja pirates! This thing does have laser eyes and gatling guns mounted on each arm, right? With an option for the shoulder-mounted rocket launcher? Or am I thinking of a different robot?
Don't forget to buy robot insurance! "To protect us from the metal ones".
My ultimate dream toy was this big room that had a balcony, in the room would be a scaled down fort, jungle, river, etc... Then, we'd have these little guys that had guns and we could remote control them to fight and have wars and all kinds of cool stuff. Kind of like Rainbow Six, minus the computer part, and scaled down.
::sigh::
Anyway, these new thing got my hopes up, until I realized that it doesn't even look like it can fire a gun.
Why the hell would you make a robot that can't fire a gun?
Let me take that one step further, if you are designing a robot, why the hell would you not just give it guns as hands.
It better know karate.
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
The new speech processor supports continuous speech recognition with about 20,000 words.
Yeah, I'll show it 20,000 continuous words... I usually fade away after around 17,835 continuous words or less. Say A-men, brothers!
Seriously, it's a good listener. I think I'll get one for the girlfriend, and I can have a nice break.
Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, how I love it. - Gen. George Patton
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?
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?
During such 'actions' as the war in Iraq, your fancy home robot, with GPS, will be reduced to having a spatial accuracy of 100 meters, not one. You might want to buy a unit that uses sonar and domestic region mapping, in addition to any GPS capability.
hmm. peachy
until you want to express "the faster the better" (does not translate literally, at ALL), "I bumped my head while entering the bath" (as far as i know there is no expressing for "while entering," as any japanese equivalent to english versions mean "while bathing"), or interpret "yorushiku" or "sumimasen" in their million and half meanings.
and I havn't even begun to count the thousands of "sound the exact same" words. a simple example might be "kanji," which, depending on the "kanji - chinese characters" can mean "kanji - feeling," or "kanji - work." try differentiating them.
I cannot imagine anybody who knows japanese well to even have a thought that japanese is easy to parse. AFAIK french is easy to parse - but I am sorry Japanese is far from it.
oh, and I counted 9 different "requesting somebody to do stuff" politeness levels the other day, not counting multiple politeness level combinations (verb + politeness suffix + request / command + politeness suffix for the request). Japanese people themselves hardly can differentiate which one is more polite than the other.
lastly, since all kanji characters have different meanings - you can more-or less guess the entire language if you have a sense of what every kanji means (this is why chinese people can usually understand what's going on in a japanese newspaper). so 20k words vs 20k kanji is very much different.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Me so horny, me love you long time... Prease to insert credit card.
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.
It can sing and dance... hopefully soon it will be able to play baseball, bike ride, and go for hikes so I will have more time to slave away at my meanial labor.
If I had one, I'd program it to recognize my friends. Then if one of them said something mean about my girlfriend, I'd tell my robot, "Say hello to [name].
The robot would then proceed to the violating friend, begin humping his leg, shouting, "I LOVE YOU ORGANIC MASTER!"
But that's just me...
It sounds like a new PDA.
So, how many contacts can it hold?
have a look at Open Pino for anyone interested in a Free Software implementation of a Robot - as well as Free (as in speech) design.
Who would buy a "stop them at the router, stop them at the blah blah" (remember that quote?) product from Sony?
When will Slashdot editors learn to spell "its"?
What like:
Or do they mean no sharp edges for when kids try to lick it?sic transit gloria mundi
"But like most politicians, he promised more than he could deliver."
Still, considering all the fuel-cell articles that have been on /. recently, maybe we really *will* have robots that run on alcohol!
"Yes! In your face, Gandhi!"
You must think in Russian.