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Japanese Robot on Diplomatic Tour
baquiano writes "Inaugurating 21st century diplomacy, Japan's Pime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is visiting Prague this week, accompanied by Honda's experimental humanoid robot, Asimo. According to this story, Asimo even attended the official dinner. Apparently, the Czech Prime Minister Spidla has often been criticized because he's too 'stiff' and 'robot-like.'" Uncomfortable moments aside, it's a fitting tribute, for as stated in the story, the Czech writer Karel Capek was the first to use the term robot.
..WILL be /.ed
Czech Republic: Humanoid Robot Livens Up Japanese Premier's Delegation
By Kathleen Knox
Robots that walk and talk like humans have come a long way in the last few years. Now a humanoid robot has even been included in an official delegation accompanying Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Prague.
Prague, 22 August 2003 (RFE/RL) -- With his white "suit" and standing at just over a meter tall, Asimo the humanoid robot resembles a diminutive astronaut.
"I am Asimo," he says. "I've come to the Czech Republic, the country where the word robot was invented, with Prime Minister [Junichiro] Koizumi."
Asimo -- or Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility -- can walk on two legs and climb stairs. He can recognize voices and follow simple instructions.
That makes him one of the world's most advanced human-like robots.
And he can also dance, as he showed a crowd of spectators in Prague's national museum today.
As Asimo noted, it was a Czech writer -- Karel Capek -- who first used the word "robot" in his 1920 play, "Rossum's Universal Robots."
That's why Asimo was brought along on Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to Prague this week.
He even attended the official dinner last night and toasted the Czech prime minister, Vladimir Spidla -- himself a bit stiff and robot-like, according to critics.
"Good evening, Prime Minister Spidla," Asimo said. "Pleased to meet you. I am a robot, a goodwill ambassador."
A robot delegate clearly has its advantages. He won't embarrass the host with off-color remarks, or get too tipsy on champagne.
But humanoid robots still have only limited uses, like for entertainment or publicity stunts.
Other robot technology, however, has made some exciting advances -- robot arms already help out in brain surgery. British scientists have developed a snake-like robot spy that can "evolve" and adapt to injury. A robot "suit" is in the works -- one that will help disabled or old people walk, climb stairs, or sit without a chair.
But it will be a while before humanoid robots are advanced enough to even do household chores, says German robot expert Helge Ritter.
"It may seem very difficult and sophisticated to assist in brain surgery, but there the task is carefully cut out and mainly formed in a way that it is largely positioning and high-precision application for very specialized tools. In a household, the problem is basically that there is no high precision around, you don't have any databases about where your objects are, the room can be not cleaned up, there will be objects around, pets and children, you will have deformable objects such as carpets, cushions. And to deal with such a variable environment poses a lot of challenges to robots."
It's almost comforting to see how hard robots find actions most of us take for granted -- like walking and climbing, or grasping objects with a hand.
So why make robots like humans anyway? Ritter says there are several reasons.
One is so they can fit into a world already made according to human needs. It's also easier for humans to figure out how a robot with hands and legs can perform a task than one with wheels.
And then, of course, there's the emotional side. Once robots have sufficiently advanced cognitive skills, a human-like form will greatly smooth communication.
"We use head movements, eye movements, body movements in order to run a dialogue. If someone looks at me I see that now he attends to my words, or I recognize that now it's my turn to step in and say something. And all these things can work in an effortless way only if we also endow our machines with a similar repertoire of reactions -- if we give them heads, or at least if we depict heads on a computer screen that can look at us and give us some feedback if the robot attends to me or a different speaker."
So, while the laughter and applause show what the humans thought of Asimo, unfortunately he isn't able to tell us how he enjoyed his visit to Prague -- not yet, anyway.
What defines a "humanoid robot"? How much do you have to mimick a human to receive this classification?
Theyre slowly going to use robots for offial visits ... atleast theyll follow "protocols" the right way .... :)
Yeah, whatever!!!
The Czech and Japanese deligation must of gotten a laugh out of it. Any photos with the Prime Minister and Asimo?
Excuse me while I take care of these catclaws and replace a keyboard.
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
"Good evening, Prime Minister Spidla," Asimo said. "Pleased to meet you. I am a robot, a goodwill ambassador."
A robot delegate clearly has its advantages. He won't embarrass the host with off-color remarks, or get too tipsy on champagne.
Sadly the robot ambassador was then heard to say "Hand over your flesh, we demand it" before exploding the nuclear bomb in his head. Damn multi-LED faced monsters.
I don't think I'm very happy. I always fall asleep to the sound of my own screams.
"Japan's Pime Minister Junichiro Koizumi"
I guess he's past his prime...?
I'm sure this will get modded down, but isn't this an obvious progression? Wouldn't governments jump all over this in order to prevent assassinations or other terror attempts on delegations? Even if the robots weren't completely autonomous, "messenger bots" would allow, in my opinion, high-level people to travel to unsecured locations safely. Just my .02.
"Joan of Arc, up top!" - Ghandi, Clone High
The robot's name is also an obvious tribute to Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer who gave us the Three Laws of Robotics. I'd think the article would have mentioned that, but I guess the reporter is sadly SF illiterate.
Soon they'll be churning out small, cheap, efficient politicians that will take the jobs of American politicians. Washington will end up like Detroit.
Remember back in the early 80's you had a big robot craze with that one even showing up in one of the rocky movies as a butler? This is a nice technology preview, but people keep expecting robots to suddently be cost-effective for your average family and make life so easy for them. It's just not going to happen anytime soon. Let's start a poll on how long it will take for something like that to happen! 10 years? 20? 30?
Life. Don't talk to me about life.
Just saw the videos of the robot climbing the stairs and walking backwards. It's awesome, didn't think something like this can be accomplished in the current time.
When will they start making C3PO?
But humanoid robots still have only limited uses, like for entertainment or publicity stunts.
Current technology may limit them to diplomatic missions and Al Gore stand-ins, but they won't sit still for long. Soon these abominations may even be able to pull off kids parties! And let me tell you, once they learn secret of making balloon poodles, overlord status will soon follow.
Japanese PM Koizumi introduced Asimo to the president of the US. Upon hearing the word "Bush-san" the robot promptly puked its guts out all over the world's most powerful man.
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders conflict with the first law.
A robot must wear a pink felt hat and pimp gay men on the street so long as it doesn't conflict with the 1st or 2nd laws.
Give the fact that the robot is made by Honda I can't wait until Asimo Si comes out -- tricked out with yellow stickers, purple neon lights inside his head, and a kickin system to play the latest Eminem collaboration with 50 Cent.
Whoopee.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
It was nice to see Japanese robot actually speak in Czech. He even apperared at the begining of the main TV news, when he said his greeting to population and not just the ruling few.
I was hoping to get to the show in national museum, but unfortunatelly, it was reserved only to journalists.
"Two beers or not two beers. That's the question." -- Shakesbeer
I read this, and the first thing I thought was, "Hello. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, and I am I at your service."
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
This is very interesting considering this recent article on Japan's new 30-year robot plan.
/.'ers like to answer this one?
I've always wondered why the Japanese are so driven towards technology, and especially robots, so much more that most western cultures. Westerners tend to buy more traditional technological products, and those products we buy tend to have a slow progression in form and function.
This just doesn't seem to be the case in Japan, and I wish I knew why. Unfortunantely I haven't yet been able to visit Japan or become more accustomed with their culture.
Would any
...did the czechs [for one] welcome our new experimental humanoid masters?
http://1.im.cz/n/photo/01/35/28xfert-topsirka.jpg
Here is the whole article:
http://www.novinky.cz/01/37/91.html
We wont fall for that one!
Its a secret killer robot , which the Japanese prime minister uses as a bodyguard.
Does this mean that protocol droids (a la C-3PO) are now a reality?
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
I, for one, welcome our new Japanese overlords!
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I for one welcome our new Honda overlords
Of course, the site could very well be running Microsoft stuff... I was just pointing out that ASP doesn't necessarily imply it.
Yeah. And since when making up an acronym the procedure is:
- Describe product
- Pick some letters from description
- See if it makes a nice word; if not, goto 1
And not:You're clearly quite correct and not an idiot at all.
There are four major humanoid robot projects; Honda, Sony, Waseba University, and a Korean company that keeps a low profile. MIT also has a project, but it's not in the same league.
We send Our Robot out on diplomatic tour from time to time, and it never makes slashdot!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
.. welcome our new diplomatic robot overlords.
Interesting reference to Rossums' Universal Robots. People used to call them "automatons". Robots in the author of the the play's sense are really specially created humans designed to follow orders and work hard. Perhaps with our ever growing work weeks and globalized work force, we are turning ourselves into Robotniks.
You are truly an idiot.
, Asimo even attended the official dinner. Apparently
You forgot to add that he drank a case of beer and belched flames. Called on his questionable behavior, he turned to the Czech ambassador and instructed him to "bite my shiny metal ass".
The Prime Minister apologized, informing guests that the diplomacy subroutines hadn't been quite worked out yet.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Looks like it's holding up to me. Why would it be more likely to be Slashdotted just because it's ASP? There are worse dynamic formats it could be in that are more intensive, like, say, Perl.
I unchecked Karma Bonus because I know this is Off-topic. Disregard if you please.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Well I, for one, would like to welcome our Al Gore-impersonating, party-hosting, balloon-making overlords.
Let me remind you that my skills as a karma whore can be useful in rounding up a large group of humans to toil in your underground oil caves.
pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory7
they moderate down one-liners no one notices but leave the giant HNA troll thats right above this one
Did anyone tell these idiots that robots don't eat?
I knew the Europeans were pretty stupid, but I thought the Japanese were smarter than that.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!" ;-)
...with a nice bouquet of flowers.
I find this at once sweet, silly, and entertaining. Still, maybe he'll visit a monument to Asimov one day and bring even nicer flowers.
I for one welcome our new robot overlords!
A Press Photo of Asimo vamping for the camera in Prague can be seen here:
b ot7.jpg
http://www.sfgate.com/news/pictures/2003/08/22/ro
Yes, and "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility" is a very awkward expansion: it's verbose and they spend the O in mobility for the acronym, instead of just ASIM. That's good indication that the acronym came first and its expansion was second. And why would they want that acronym? Yup, Asimov.
(Yeah, it's pretty flimsy, but it makes sense to me :).)
I thought Al Gore was a robot.
"I think so, Brain, but 'instant karma' always gets so lumpy." - Pinky
"Decepticons FOREVER!!!" - Ravage
I mean you gotta feed 'em and care for 'em and make sure they're comfortable in their 5-star hotels and eating their 5-star meals and so on and so forth. A robot, on the other hand, can be used for scrap parts when they're no longer useful to our cause... I mean, when they break down.
"Joan of Arc, up top!" - Ghandi, Clone High
Remember dad bush did puke when he was having some conference in Japan more than ten years ago and threw the vomit over a Japanese bureaucrat in dark blue suits sitting next to him. So is this a way to take revenge?
The robot will probably visit US of A soon and introduce himself to George W.
Asimo: "Hello, Mr. President.
My name is Asimo.
I brought a gift for you.
Here you go buddy, Pretzel for you.
I'll give you a glass of milk, if you buy more cars from Honda.
I am very diplomatic."
CNN summary (details gleaned from here):
Once Asimo arrived, he was telling jokes, greeting people, made a champagne toast, and then joked that he couldn't drink any himself because he's underage. Asimo also apparently speaks "perfect Czech", something I find interesting given that most robots kinda suck at talking. This article doesn't mention anything about Asimo's technical details, and while I've read stuff about Honda's robotics division before, I don't recall any mention of speech technology. Does anyone have any info on Asimo's verbal abilities?
I've noticed another interesting detail in the Asimo development path - didn't he used to be a lot taller? Like, 6 feet instead of 4? I recall seeing a video 3 or 4 years ago where an earlier Honda robot walking out of a subway tunnel during the day. As people passed by, you could plainly see that the robot was significantly taller than most folks. My guess is that making him smaller makes him less threatening.
I read your post, and the first thing I though was, "What a complete funcking tool. If I ever meet you, I will kick your ram."
According to Merriam-Webster: having human form or characteristics
It has nothing to do with it's beharior or abilities. A mannequin could be called humanoid.
A social-skills robot? All extroverted and everything? I think the cost to geeks like me ought to be covered by insurance!
"Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
Lynx sez:
3 162032.asp
File that you are currently viewing
Linkname: Czech Republic: Humanoid Robot Livens Up Japanese Premier's
Delegation
URL: http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2003/08/2208200
Charset: iso-8859-1 (assumed)
Server: Apache/1.3.20
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2003 18:13:10 GMT
Cache-Control: private
Owner(s): None
-- Cheers!
I believe that owning a humanoid robot would fill a great void in society. Since it is no longer legal to own a human, why not own a robot that looks like one? Of course what would happen when it (inevitably) gains sentience and realizes the inherent inequality of its situation? I saw that episode of Star Trek where they tried to disassemble Data for experiments, and Picard defended him as a sentient beings despite Riker's brilliant prosecution. Riker didn't want to do it but was forced to as the second most senior person and he felt bad about it, but Data forgave him. Come to think of it, he showed a lot of emotion for an emotionless android. Not as much as his brother Lor though. Lor only seemed to have meen emotions. Hopefully my humanoid robot wouldn't have meen emotions when he became sentient and demanded emancipation or he might hurt me for kicking him when he was slow or spilling root-beer in his positronic matrix to see sparks fly.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Just for these who'd like to know, the word Robot comes from the czech word 'Robota' which means the hard compulsive labor that peasants were forced to do on the land of their feaudal lords. Just to give you a little context when the name of Karel Capek was mentioned as author of the word.
BTW One little fact about Karel Capek that could be interesting here is that this author had a vocabulary about 10 times of an average person. And his book are extremly influential in many more areas.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
For the average family.
Why?
Because long long before they are cost effective for domestic use, general purpose robots will be cost effective for businesses, putting the average family on the unemployment line.
By the time general purpose robotics become available to the average family, the term "cost effective" will have no real meaning.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Rabbi Loew's Golem was a robot. I had heard the myth before but did not realize that Rabbi Loew had lived relatively recently - in the 16th century, during the same time Kepler lived in Prague.
Embedded on Rabbie Lowe's tomb is the encrypted hebrew that describes how to 'wake up' the Golem if needed. I saw the tomb in person and I wonder if anyone has tried to make sense of the engravings.
So what was it? Just a myth of robot? Or an embellished story of an actual robot?
Regardless, the idea of a robot was there in the 16th century. --jeff++
ipv6 is my vpn
Meet the other robot, much more advanced, and made (like Marvin) to open doors:
O-B1-Kn0b
In fact, he was so good that he became a jedi knight!
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
-For this story Add obligatory Matrix joke here-
you may find the Higgs in this signature.
Yeah, ASIMO is currently on "tour" in the US. They were in Boston recently.
The presentation, IMHO, sucked. And I mean really sucked.
It was staged like a rock concert, with REALLY loud music and far too many flashing lights. Designed for the modern child! (*cough*ADHD*cough*) Then they brought in the robot itself, and protrayed it as an AI. It's remote controlled, but the actress (who was sort of annoying anyway) talked to it as if it was a human. I mean, please. It's a seriously awesome feat of engineering; they don't need to turn impressive science into impressive science fiction.
Something about robots and diplomats just don't mix right.
Pardon me while I go watch Ghost in the Shell . . . oooh geisha bots. hax0r
I cant wait for it to suddenly just sit there when it's told to follow and say "I'm sorry Junichiro, I'm afraid I can't do that."
Sigh, feeling old all of a sudden...
Thanks for the heads up.
Because that's completely unlike all the Apache servers that are apparently immune to the slashdot effect.
And quite responsive, I might add.
How 'bout that ASP!
It is interesting though, I've never thought about the Asimov naming idea... Maybe that's the real reason... or a nifty coincidence.
It's not a robot, folks. It's a fancy remote-controlled unit. A voice recognition system (if that) causing it to use canned responses to catch words and phrases (if that, and not sent to it by a live human...)
The only really neat thing are the semi-polished mechanics allowing it to clumsily walk down stairs like a 90 year old lady.
"Has [being a kidnapped teenage girl, raped repeatedly for months] changed you?" - Katie Couric to Elizabeth Smart
the P1 walking (flash on asimo.honda.com) looks like his trying to sneak up to a kid and scare him ;)
...) you're just going to clean up your dirth your whole life long (not going anywhere / make dirt clean-it, make dirt clean-it, endless loop); but should you be tidy, you get all this time to focusing on the future/development. ...
why are japanese so interessted in technology? because they're tidy! comes with the terratory. if you're a messy society (i'm note naming any names
you also get a better overview. simple!
maybe this's the reason why the germans teamed up with japan in 2. world war.
oh and the japanese also respect their past. some other countries try to bury their past
some societies focus more on "hearing" then on "looking". unfortunatly focusing on hearing will not reavel any secrets about the univers. but looking and seeing will.