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Toyota's Trumpet Playing Robot Showcased
fsharp writes "The New York Times has an article discussing the first public showing of Toyota's new humanoid robot. During a demonstration, the biped robot played trumpet together with a rolling robot. Most telling about the article was the whole philosophy towards R&D: 'Toyota acknowledges that it is unlikely to turn a profit building robots anytime soon, but the program highlights its engineering-oriented culture and willingness to invest in projects that may not pay off for decades.' How many companies these days are willing to drop money into some technology that may not turn a profit for many years?"
When are the goddamn SexBots going to be released?! My lifeless real doll ain't cutting it!
...dear god, think of the possibilities. A robot with the ability to play a trumpet constantly...endlessly. The annoyance will be legendary.
Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
I for one can see several applications that might directly appeal to this crowd.
There is something seriously wrong with your sense of 'cool'.
Robots aren't cool?! What are you, an American CEO?
I can see GM doing a robotic nose flute or kazoo.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
"Artificial lips as subtle as human lips
The 35kg as yet unnamed robot has artificial lips which can alter their position as subtly as human lips as air is forced through them, enabling it to play a trumpet as it presses the stops with its hands."
Am I the only one wondering...
Friend of the Wise, Brother of the Brave.
"This one time, at band camp... I got a BJ from a trumpet playing robot!"
sorry...
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Sure, if you wanted the robot to play a half-tone flat for half an hour and then fall on its face...
Ben"There are no such things as mutual fantasies. Yours bore us and ours offend you."
- Bill Maher
Don't you know? In Japan all cars transform into fighting robots! Being able to pilot a fighting robot is required of everyone who gets a drivers licence. My friend Mark once saw this giant moth just think about attacking his town and Fighting Robots chopped it head off just like that! I mean, with the restrictions on their official military, it's either that or have you country taken over giant monsters. It's an easy choice in my opinion.