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Evolution Robotics' ER1 Reviewed

Posted by michael on from the caution-may-void-warranty dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "A useful review of Evolution Robotics' ER-1 by the boys at Techfocus. It covers: construction, customization, hardware requirements, best features, programming, durability of equipment -- and all that good stuff. One interesting factoid is that the robot can recognize objects until the object is blocked - up to 40% - by something (like a piece of furniture). Techfocus aptly points out the Orwellian implications... Another thing that rocked my world is the notion that the robot is not as much of a drag on CPU as one might suspect. TF ran the unit on an NEC Versa VXi running Windows 2000, with a 900mhz CPU and 128mb of RAM, and encountered absolutely no problems. Encouragingly, if you want to further customize your robot, why not just write a script in C or Perl -- the manual even points users toward an app primarily based in Linux. What's not surprising: it's pricey. Also some nice pictures of how the robot really looks right out of the box."

23 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Another robot by PD · · Score: 4, Informative

    This one also has a commercial off-the-shelf computer in the heart of the design:

    It uses a Palm Pilot

    --
    If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  2. I think I'll hold off... by TopShelf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Until Azimov's 3 Rules come standard.

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    1. Re:I think I'll hold off... by el-spectre · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but when the 0th law takes effect, we're in trouble again...

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    2. Re:I think I'll hold off... by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A Robot may not harm Humanity, or through inaction allow Humanity to come to harm.

      The others are modified to place that one in front.

      --
      'Sensible' is a curse word.
  3. They had a demo at Fry's Electronics! by ajiva · · Score: 2, Informative

    I saw a demo of this at Fry's Electronics! Very
    impressive, the robot itself isn't terrible fast, and you do have to have the laptop there, but the person demoing said they were working on something for PocketPCs, and other PDA's!

  4. Real world robots by Lakers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've seen so many robot articles. Robots to mow your lawn, vacuum your carpet, walk your dog...

    Where are they though? I have yet to walk down my street and see a mowing robot or visit a friends house and see a robot cleaning the windows. Most of these articles will say that they will be available to consumers in the next year or so.

    Funny, I've been reading articles about robots for what seems like forever

    1. Re:Real world robots by immanis · · Score: 5, Funny

      "I have yet to walk down my street and see a mowing robot or visit a friends house and see a robot cleaning the windows."

      That's because I'm walking down the street a block ahead of you and kidnapping them to add to my evil army of homicidal housecleaning gardening robots.

      --

      best web host ever

    2. Re:Real world robots by Apreche · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They are available to consumers. You can buy Asimo if you want. It just costs rediculous amounts of money. Right now robots are only toys for geeks. Robots aren't good enough to customize themselves yet, so only a geek who can code can have a useful one. And geeks who can code usualy make neat things more often than useful things. Rich geeks who can code and will make useful things are few and far between. And if you were one, or are one, and you had say, a lawn-mowing robot. Would you let it go outside on its own? No! Someone would definitely steal it.

      Robots will remain uncommon until much improved AI and sensory input is developed.

      --
      The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
    3. Re:Real world robots by gwernol · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've seen so many robot articles....Where are they though? ... Most of these articles will say that they will be available to consumers in the next year or so.

      Bed, Bath and Beyond (and you can't get a lot more consumer than that store) has the Roomba for sale. I saw them at the San Francisco store a couple of weeks ago. With over 450 stores across the US, I'd say they are widely available, at least in the States.

      --
      Sailing over the event horizon
    4. Re:Real world robots by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 2, Informative

      I saw the Roomba on the Home Shopping Network a couple of nites ago when I was flipping channels, so yeah, I'd say it's widely available.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    5. Re:Real world robots by GooberToo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My neighbor has one for mowing his yard. He stopped using it because it has to mow pretty much every day. This is because it's electric and can only mow low grass. Once the grass gets too high, it's can't move well or mow (bogs down too much). Plus, you have to constantly recharge it every day.

      In other words, this time saving marvel required more time spread out every day of the week than it took to mow it once per week on a single day. Then, you always had the concern about someone stealing it, breaking it, or running a toy over, if you were not there to watch it.

      Now then, when they make the cold fusion model, with self defense laser turret, I'm there! ;)

  5. Sensors? by Hayzeus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any sensors available other than the camera? For long term useage, I'd expect at least rudimentary obstacle sensing; a robot that runs around an unstructured environment for too long will generally not do to well without decent obstacle sensors. Anybody else have one of these that would care to comment?

    --

    Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
  6. Orwellian Implications? by EnVisiCrypt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Techfocus aptly points out the Orwellian implications...

    robot: TARGET RECOGNIZED. PINCHERS ENGAGED

    me: OH NO! IT'S DELICATELY PINCHING MY ANKLES. DAMN THIS POLICE STATE I LIVE IN!

    Puh-lease. The image recognition will only be Orwellian to my cat, and *everything* is Orwellian to cats.

    --


    *everything* is Orwellian to cats.
    1. Re:Orwellian Implications? by z84976 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If I were the type of person that liked to have a .sig, I think *everything* is Orwellian to cats would be one of the better ones.

  7. Nice... by newsdee · · Score: 3, Funny

    In the near future: a PDA that follows you around and carries all those electronics that doesn't fit in your pocket anymore. :-)

    You just will have to watch out for water, and thieves. :-)

    --
    The ENIAC Demo Competition
  8. "optional gripping arm" by burgburgburg · · Score: 3, Funny
    optional gripping arm retails for an additional $199

    If it's my robot, that's not exactly optional.

    This sad statement brought to you by the Internet. If this had been a real sad statement, you'd have been instructed to look away, murmuring in pity. Thank you.

  9. Grampa Simson Quote by freeze128 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The Laptop is getting away!"

  10. CPU usage depends on tasks by Ra5pu7in · · Score: 2, Informative
    is the notion that the robot is not as much of a drag on CPU as one might suspect

    The largest requirement for a robot able to recognize objects would be memory/storage. Kind of like those 20 questions programs, it is very simple processing to compare input with a matrix of possibilities. As the closest match in one matrix is found, it can now compare the input to the next matrix. The storage space for the matrices would be immense as the robot became more sophisticated, but higher processing power would simply speed up the time to "recognize" an object.

    --
    I was taking one day at a time, but then several days got together and ambushed me. (from a Rhymes with Orange comic)
    1. Re:CPU usage depends on tasks by gwernol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The largest requirement for a robot able to recognize objects would be memory/storage. Kind of like those 20 questions programs, it is very simple processing to compare input with a matrix of possibilities.

      I'm sorry but that's a gross simplification. Computer recognition of images, especially images of the real 3D world, is a very hard and computationally intense process. This problem is still at the cutting edge of research. Describing it as "simple processing to compare the input with a matrix of possibilities" is on the same level as describing Doom III as "adds a couple of numbers together and displays some colored dots on the screen". It may be at some level accurate but it misses out the hard parts entirely.

      To learn more, you could start at CMU's computer vision page. There's a whole world of interesting techniques out there, jump in and try some.

      --
      Sailing over the event horizon
  11. girlfriend? by siskbc · · Score: 4, Funny
    The day that slashdot announces that a tactile sensor can distinguish between my girlfriend's nipple and her elbow, then I will be sufficiently impressed!

    Considering all the body parts on a blow-up doll are made of plastic, that will be a good trick indeed.

    --

    -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

  12. Well, you see by Faust7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where are they though? I have yet to walk down my street and see a mowing robot or visit a friends house and see a robot cleaning the windows.

    That's because the first use that the sorts of people that fanatically follow robot news would have for a robot would be as a sex toy. They're all inside.

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
  13. Another bit of the puzzle? by Tailhook · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Voice identification, natural speech recognition, facial identification, autonomous navigation (land, sea and air,) character recognition and an enormous spectrum of heuristic algorithms used throughout the modern world from thermostats to missiles...

    I've been thinking for some time about awareness. After I read Creation: Life and How to Make it book by Steve Grand, I began thinking that perhaps awareness isn't the mystery it is sometime built up to be. What if we eventually discover that being "aware" doesn't require the phenomenal amount of computation that is often estimated? What if we discover that natures method of achieving it is actually highly inefficient (in terms of...physical complexity?) and easy to replicate using digital hardware?

    At this point it is feasible to build a machine that can find you in a crowd (you, specifically, from among many others) talk to you, understand your commands and then travel where you tell it. This is already beyond the means of most animals.

    If what I suspect is true, cognition is a relatively simple closed loop goal seeking (that seems to be a contradiction) parallel algorithm connected to a vast repository of highly lossy associative storage that ceaselessly works to achieve reproduction. Awareness is an emergent property of the process. You are a side effect, in the same way the useful work of a LISP function is often implemented as a side effect.

    I'm not a professional AI researcher and it probably shows. I'll take it from someone who is. Martha Pollack, a professor at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Michigan and executive editor of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research recently said, "It's a crazy position to be in. As soon as we solve a problem, instead of looking at the solution as AI, we come to view it as just another computer system."

    The significant progress made in AI to-date appears to be the result of reverse engineering nature until the core implementation of some basic function becomes clear. Just how many interconnected functions are necessary before you have a "who"?

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
  14. Erector Set by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Our expectation of this product was that it would be relatively similar to setting up an Erector set, except with more complex circuitry.

    I always considered erector sets to be better for robotics experiments than legos, but I don't see erector set stuff much anymore. Did they go bankrupt? If so, why hasn't a Chinese toy firm resurrected the concept?

    Maybe its the name :-P

    --
    Table-ized A.I.