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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?"
It pisses me off that no American company today would ever do something like this. Our leaders have sold our technological infrastructure out for quick $$$. The boobs may have T-shirts -- made in China, no doubt -- that say "America is #1", but it hasn't been for a long time. Japan and the other Asian countries do all the cool stuff now. Come on, could you see Ford or GM doing this?
...it's called R&D. What won't make money today, will be "necessity" tomorrow, and then that's when you get people to pay.
Furthermore, even if the technology itself doesn't automatically pan out (ie, humanoid robots), it may still have profitable applications in other areas (ie, prosthetics).
libertarianswag.com
http://cooltech.iafrica.com/technews/309033.htm
When are the goddamn SexBots going to be released?! My lifeless real doll ain't cutting it!
"How many companies these days are willing to drop money into some technology that may not turn a profit for many years?"
The kind that is already doing very well financially and wants to solidify a reputation of innovation. Similar to Microsoft's $1 billion donation to Africa.
Presenters of the music-playing machine found themselves being unmercifully heckled by a man calling himself Mssr. Jacques de Vaucanson, who proclaimed loudly that he had accomplished robotic music more than two hundred years prior to this demonstration.
When the presenters pointed out that Mssr. Vaucanson would have to be long dead as of this late date, the suddenly horrified heckler collapsed into a pile of dust, and the remainder of the presentation was conducted without further interruption.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
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I wish article authors would at least put up some effort to find and use reg-free links when possible.
How about most drug companies.
...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.
Good News! Toyota announces a robot that can play the trumpet!
Still working on the cure for the common cold, world peace, and an end to poverty.
--Guns don't kill people, abortion clinics kill people.
Heres a link to the BBC article.
Hi there
I am a trumpet player and I really want to hear this thing!
Imagine if typing was so challenging that you spent 90% of your computer time refining and keeping your typing skills adequate, so you could spend 10% of the time programming...
Anyone have any sound clips?
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
"How many companies these days are willing to drop money into some technology that may not turn a profit for many years?" Check out the MIT Media Lab's list of sponsors: http://www.media.mit.edu/sponsors/sponsors.html Many of these companies have been giving money for years. All so crazy grad students (and profs) can go out and try the "what-ifs" without the companies worrying about reputations being on the line. ;)
Welcome our new, jazzier, robot overlords....
(sorry someone had to)
Please send all UCE to scally@devolution.com so I can f
It would behoove many companies to invest more in R&D and less in padding executives pocketbooks with $100's. HP, for example, has gutted their engineering ranks while simultaneously buying jets for the higher-ups. Closer to my region of the country, Caterpillar has outsourced waves of R&D people...and their executives are getting ever-higher bonuses.
> How many companies these days are willing to drop money into some technology that may not turn a profit for many years?"
Aerospace, for one. Working at one of the companies that makes commercial (and military) aircraft engines, it is jokingly quoted that: "A decision to launch a new engine program is a calculated risk to go into the hole for about 20 years" (Meaning it takes about that long to "turn profit" off all the years of design, development, testing, and certication processes.) Imagine how many times the market flops around responding to other market pressures in that length of time.
As an interesting aside for many of you, aircraft engines have historically been sold on the razor/blades business model, so its an interesting business balance between a quality engine that airline customers will buy and the need to sell spares to eventually make money on FAR down the road.
"This one time, at band camp... I got a BJ from a trumpet playing robot!"
sorry...
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IBM is a US company, who has invested billions into technology that is not in use. They were the 1rst company to arrange individual atoms (spelling IBM). They made a processor that uses atoms as transistors. They don't use any of it in production, but probably will some day. I think that you underestimate many US companies with your statement.
As I recall, the US Army was suffering from a shortage of bugle players to play taps for the passing generation of soldiers. They developed a digital bugle that can play taps even if the bugler is incompetent, drunk, or both.
Since Toyota has now developed a vastly more complicated technology that can be used to solve the same problem as the slightly complicated one above, I look forward to future Pentagon procurement hearings.
Note to self: Sarcasm in this post often results in massive retribution.
Each robot uses a Pentium III processor as the main CPU along with a Real Time Linux OS. NEC supplied a customized lithium ion battery, which powers the biped robot for about 30 minutes.
And now we have a trumpet playing robot...
Oh, I see, I get it - here's the secret evil Japanese plan to take over the world - they're going to create a robotic marching band!
The prestige that comes from this sort of accomplishment is important for marketing - especially in Japan. As a bonus, they get advances that may make their way into production vehicles. They also attract better caliber engineers by maintaining a reputation as an industry leader.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
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.