A Robot Carries Humans, Another One Plays Flute

Roland Piquepaille writes "The New Scientist says that a robot able to carry humans was demonstrated in Tokyo. The robot, developed at Waseda University in Tokyo and the Japanese robotics company tmsuk, 'uses 12 actuators to move forwards, backwards and sideways while carrying an adult weighing up to 60 kilograms (130 pounds).' It will be used 'in the fields of welfare, as an alternative to wheelchairs, which can go up and down stairs.' The Takanishi Laboratory carries other projects, including a flutist robot. More details and references are contained in this overview, which also includes a picture of the flutist robot in concert."

Comments

Get in and out of bed

[hermango]

What is needed is a robot that will help disabled people get in and out of bed. My aunt has a disabled child who is wheelchair bound and needs help getting in and out of bed. So when they get an all-purpose walking/moving/assisting robot that will do those tasks, then they'll have something with a BIG market!

A very important step forward

[cdn-programmer]

The comments I read were really lame. This is an important step forward folks.

A practical walking machine should probably have 6 legs and be able to trott like a horse. Imagine how useful such a machine would be for mineral exploration. When such a machine can scale a scree slope then this means that mankind will not have to hike in 20 miles in order to check out a claim.

A machine that can walk over windfalls would be more fun than a bike.

I think the OpenSource community can program one. But I've not heard of any takers. If we could even simulate a walking machine we'd be well on the way because actually building the actuators is not going to be very difficult... what is difficult is writing the code to control them.

The fluitist is a fake...

[KiDas]

I think they have everyone fooled. Note the speakers and subwoofer at the bottom of the pic. ;) Why whould a flute playing robot need speakers?

Seriously though, this is very impressive. From the lung to the lips and mouth like piece that makes the air come out is if from a normal mouth, it's amazing. I'd like to hear how it sounds and I'd be interested in the software that was made to convert the midi notes into breath strength/time and the finger movements.