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Martial Arts Robots
curmudgeous writes "Japanese tech firms are making waves with robots trained to perform martial arts moves." On one hand, this is largely just a novelty, but on the other, robots capable of doing these moves are many steps closer to being able to move around in real world environments. But mostly, sumo stomping robots look cool.
I for one welcome our new kung-fu robotic overlords!
An unjust law is no law at all. - St. Augustine
The answer is, "Because they can."
/syle
robots capable of doing these moves are many steps closer to being able to move around in real world environments.
I absolutely agree. I've said for ages that a robot just can't usefully navigate a house without being able to do a good roundhouse-kick, preferably to a height of 5.5 feet. Even then, without a good iron-palm strike, it's not going to have problems.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
This is the kind of thing you read about after it's too late.
I've seen this in a lot of bad movies. Instead of making nice robots that get your coffee, or make your bed, someone makes a killer robot. But they never intended for it to kill. They just wanted to prove the critics wrong... plus the little fella is cute.
Then they multiply and the world is laid waste. Who hasn't seen that scenario played out?
Seriously, who makes robots that know karate? Oh well, most lessons are learned after its too late.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
I know that it really scares the hell out of me, those robots are creepy, and ninjas. Of course the advantage of that is that they can only do so much, I mean that's why there aren't any ninja robots (well good ones) I mean, robocop can beat up ninja robots, if they were real ninjas on the other hand, robocop wouldn't have stood a chance.
I think Ninjas need to unionize to keep robots out of the stealth assassin business.
Come on! They're robots! They're ninjas! All they need to do now is turn into fighter planes and it'd be like Saturday morning c. 1986 all over again.
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Not so fast... Remember that these robots are still operating in highly controlled environments, performing a small number of carefully scripted and highly constrained maneuvers. Granted, these are no small feat, but they are still a long way from navigating complex and unpredictable environments -- something humans and other "biologicals" do all the time without even thinking.
Again, these robots have made huge strides (pun intended), but they have a long way to go before they can go out and take a stroll through a field or walk down a busy city sidewalk in traffic.
Your Servant, B. Baggins
Elsewhere a conversation with the robot AI has been posted.
Interviewer: Robot, how would you approach the task of displacing a large obstacle?
Robot: ROBOT KICK.
Interviewer: I see, and how about helping an old lady across the road?
Robot: ROBOT KICK.
Interviewer: Tending to a sick puppy?
Interviewer: ROBOT KICK. THEN ROBOT KILL SOME BABIES.
Interviewer: Riiiiiiight.
Robot: I JUST WANT TO BE PRETTY. MONKEY BANANA FIRE.
This is why you don't mix AI and kicking. Duh.
I see the article says "HOAP-2 is designed as an aid to robotics research and therefore runs on open source, Linux-based software."
"therefore runs" is an interesting choice of words by the writer. Does it imply that Linux now has a reputation as a scientifically-orientated OS?
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
Facts:
1. Ninja robots are mammals (robot mammals, duh).
2. Ninja robots fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja robot is to flip out and kill people.
Weapons and gear:
Ninja robot Sword
Ninja robot Stars
Ninja robot Outfit and Chrome Polish
Testimonial:
Ninja robots can kill anyone they want! Ninja robots cut off heads ALL the time and don't even think twice about it. These robots are so crazy and awesome that they flip out ALL the time. I heard that there was this ninja robot who was eating at a diner. And when some dude dropped a spoon the ninja robot killed the whole town. My friend Mark said that he saw a ninja robot totally uppercut some kid just because the kid opened a window.
And that's what I call REAL Ultimate Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you don't believe that ninja robots have REAL Ultimate Power you better get a life right now or they will chop your head off!!! It's an easy choice, if you ask me.
Ninja robots are sooooooooooo sweet that I want to crap my pants. I can't believe it sometimes, but I feel it inside my heart. These guys are totally awesome and that's a fact. Ninja robots are fast, smooth, cool, strong, powerful, and sweet. I can't wait to start yoga next year. I love ninja robots with all of my body (including my pee pee).
Q and A:.
Q: Why is everyone so obsessed about ninja robots?
A: Ninja robots are the ultimate paradox. On the one hand they don't give a crap, but on the other hand, ninja robots are very careful and precise.
Q: I heard that ninja robots are always cruel or mean. What's their problem?
A: Whoever told you that is a total liar. Just like other robot mammals, ninja robots can be mean OR totally awesome.
Q: What do ninja robots do when they're not cutting off heads or flipping out?
A: Most of their free time is spent flying, but sometime they stab. (Ask Mark if you don't believe me.)
Hey Slashdot wimps!
Here's your chance to get back at all the bullies who harassed and mocked you!
With a bodyguard that runs linux!
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I was just reading about these robots in Popular Science - (febuary 2003) where they were talking about this robot in the pic (HOAP) and others like the Honda Asimo...
They were talking about the differing perspectives between japanese robots and US ones - where the japanese are going after the humanoid approach and the US robots tend to be designed around a specific task.
There was a quote from Joe Engelberger "The Father of Industrial Robotics": "Robots dont need a mind of their own" and he states that Robots don't need to have human-like ambulatory abilities (legs) that "wheels are fine for most applications"
The first though that jumped into my head was, seriously, "Ya, but how are they going to do martial arts!"
The thing is that if we are going to build a super army of TX-thousands - then we need to begin work on bipedal humanoid robots and get them advanced enough to the point where they can accomplish fantastic feats of human movement like Gymnastics.
It may sound troll-ish but I am serious. I think that through the teaching of Robots to be able to move in the full range of motion that the human body is capable of - that we will learn a great deal about ourselves.
For instance there is something that I am really interested to know - how much your mind has control over your ability to accomplish certain moves. Take martial arts as a perfect example - as a machine - the human body is capable of a great many things - we can move in fantastic ways. But there are times when you see humans moveing in "Super-human" ways. How much of the "Super-human" is mind - and how much is actual application of physics.
I would love to see a robot that was physically designed to be as complex as a human in movement - meaning being able to be as soft, hard supple and dexteritous as someone like say, jackie chan. Then get jackie chan to wear sensors that would translate and transmit all movements to a robot which would mirror his every single move.
Would the robot be able to have as fine control over its balance as Mr Chan would? would the robot be able to actually do some of the moves without falling over - or would they be indentical?
I beleive that we will find out that there is a lot more to our movements than jsut pure mechanics and straightforward physics.
Same goes if someone ask you for your clothes, boots, and motorcycle.
we're really asking for it now, aren't we?
Here's another post, you need to fix the extra space in the link.
1 363
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=82123&cid=720
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Mr. Miyagi: Weld the car.
Robot: Weld the car.
Mr. Miyagi: Power sand the deck furniture.
Robot: Power sand the deck furniture.
Mr. Miyagi: For the crane kick, you must become a crane.
Robot: I already AM a crane.
Mr. Miyagi: Then you are ready.
Common misconception. Geishas are not whores, far from it.
Now wash your hands.
Hey! Bullies! Fear the robot that comes up to your kneecap!
First off, the early race-flame posts are ridiculous, so Why bother?
One of the key virtues to the internet is that no one knows you're an idiot until you open your mouth, so why the urge to walk up to an enemy with a rifle and say, 'hey, I think you dropped these bullets?'
Second, holy spit! Robots posessing that degree of physical dexterity are really frightening.
Before that article, it was easy to imagine that the writer from How Stuff Works.com was writing a distant, pie-in-the-sky scenario when he talked about anthropomorphic robots capable of replacing people in jobs. Seeing a robot, smaller than a midget human, and so dextrous that it can approximate sumo or Tai-Ji moves makes you think of applications for the near-term.
Can a team of them spot-weld hard-to-reach places in automobile assembly with the power problem of individual units solved by a 'chaining' or 'tag-team' system that replaces each one that runs down with others given the same instructions that are charging in nearby racks?
Could industrial versions be used for remote visual inspection tasks in ships, planes and architectural crawl-spaces and will future designs incorporate spaces that can only accomodate them saving space in each?
Is the technology behind this degree of articulation adaptable to use in pre-existing technologies like hard-shell diving suits?
Currently, approximately three million Americans are employed in agriculture with an efficiency so great that government subsidies are needed to make comodity production a viable industry. What happens to world markets when all the labor of farming in the United States is done by a million robots, working day and night, serviced by ten-thousand technicians?
With first-world price protections in commodities strangling third-world agriculture today, full mechanization would make the situation much worse in the future.
The possibilities boggle the mind and as more and more technological glitches are solved and as some designs turn away from anthropomorphic models, it is pretty easy to imagine many technologies which simply cut the human out of the manufacturing equation altogether.
Capitalism worships efficiency and with a sufficient capital outlay it its disposal, it is easy to see a massive influx of robots changing the picture of how the world works, either by completely destroying much of labor's value, or by freeing up huge numbers of people to dream and build and organize and create higher things.
Considering the lust for power and dominance that seems built in to the organism, it is very hard to imagine machines decreasing the bargaining power of labor leading to increased freedom.
In other words, 'uh oh.'
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"Yeah. It smells, too..."
The real issue with controls is that Humans [whom we're trying to emmulate] balance things that are out-of-control. Most martial arts are about control before, and after an out-of-control attack. Attacks are controlled at the beginning and end, but the middle can only be controlled thru great practice of the motions. It can't be "canned" because there are too many variables. Most robot control systems cannot handle "free" motion actions. That's why walking is so hard. The Asimo doesn't really "walk", it "creeps" similar to a toddler. But like a toddler learning to walk, it must "free" motion to succede. A toddler doesn't learn to walk until it learns to fall just a bit first!
That said, it's not about CPU's or MHz. It's a fundamental understanding that needs to be reached. It's an understanding like atomic physics...Until the early 30's it was purly dreams, but as several people mastered it, they were able then to explain it to the rest of us.
Not to be anal, just for posterity and to give credit where it's due: the original site.
Everything that was once directly lived has receded into a representation. -debord
I think Ninjas need to unionize to keep robots out of the stealth assassin business.
Shhhhh, are you trying to get us all killed, man? If Ninjas unionized, do you realize what would happen? The union would make demands and we would have no choice to give in to those demands or die in our sleep. They wouldn't just strike, they'd palm-heel strike. That would break your neck, or at least crack your rib cage, sending splinters of bone into your heart. Don't give them ideas.
And if Ninja Robots come, just don't let them settle in the Tigris Euphrates valley. So long as we hold true to that, we'll all be fine.
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,