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Robots Do The Darndest Things

Posted by timothy on from the and-then-they-take-over dept.

alito writes "15 years ago they couldn't get them to walk, now they are rollerskating (video). Read more about the 2004 Intelligent Robotics and Systems conference in this New Scientist article, and at the conference's site. Also shown at IROS, a childbirth simulator for obstetricians, a capsule that crawls through your intestines, and a 3-mm long swimming robot. (No, I don't get paid by New Scientist.)"

26 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Duping yourself now timothy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do you even read the stories you post?

  2. I'd really like to see... by Ismenio · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bill Cosby interviewing some of those 'bots' :)

  3. As long as they don't get them confused... by datastalker · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...we should be okay...

    Doctor: Okay, put the robot in.

    Patient: Doc, this feels a little funny...

    Doctor: Nurse, which robot did you use?

    Nurse: Oh dear god, I think I used the roller skating one!

    Patient: AAaagggh...

    Doctor: D'oh, there goes another one!

    Nurse: Well, I'm off to check on the obstetrical robot!

    Doctor: Make sure that one's not wearing rollerskates!

    --
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  4. what's the point? by wintermute1000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You know, not only did I not think that robot was great at roller-skating, I just can't think of any real use for a roller-skating robot even if it were a real ace at the sport. Meanwhile, my house could use cleaning, and there aren't any robots to do it for me (well, Roomba et al, but I'm talking real cleaning). I think there needs to be a reevaluation of priorities in the robot design field. Who needs another goddamned dancing/skating/stairclimbing robot?

    1. Re:what's the point? by horrens · · Score: 5, Insightful

      actually it's a pracitce in balance
      if you ever have tried rollerskating then you should know that it requires quite good balance and body control

    2. Re:what's the point? by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Funny

      Last time I checked a very large proportion of the population was born in some way.

      I'm pretty sure my ex girlfriend wasn't so much "born" as she was "spawned"...

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    3. Re:what's the point? by arose · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just because the Quake bot looks female and plays with you doesn not mean she's your girlfriend.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    4. Re:what's the point? by rebelcool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The point is to demonstrate advancements in balanced mobility. Its very difficult to get a robot to walk well with anything resembling 'legs'. Roller skates introduce lots of unpredictable uncertainty into walking, and to have a control system fast enough to detect and adapt to the changes is very impressive.

      As most things in our world are built around our type of mobility (legs), an autonomous real world robot will interact with us and our world far better if it emulates our system of mobility.

      Thats the point.

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      -

  5. IROS 2004 website by News+for+nerds · · Score: 3, Informative

    is here.

  6. Rollerbot Mirror by hardlined · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is a mirror for the Rollerbot Video:

    http://shell.athenet.net/~files/rollerbot.wmv

    It'll probably get slashdotted too, but to sources are better than one right?

  7. Rollerskating robots.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think you may be missing the point. Rollerskating, running, walking, what have you, are important fundamental tasks that must be worked out before you will *have* a robot that can do something advanced like wash your dishes or walk you dog. If it can't rollerskate with perfection how do you expect a robot to perfrom a mundane task competently. I for one welcome rollerskating robots.

  8. Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The robots is a small version of the Honda robot, both are not autonomous as they are controlled by a human operator. Just like UAV with a human on ground guiding it with a joystick.

    These Japanese are playing stricks with the media saying they have advanced robots when in fact they are nothing more than radio controlled "toys"!

    1. Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled by hardlined · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually Asimo (the honda robot) can self adjust its footsteps while being controlled. Or it can be preprogrammed for a specific task, not needing any control.

      http://science.howstuffworks.com/asimo6.htm

    2. Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled by Scrameustache · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The robots(sic) is a small version of the Honda robot

      No, that robot is the Sony robot. A completely different beast.
      Japan is funding research into humanoid robot devellopment, and so all the big companies are develloping their own.

      Honda was the first to get a humanoid walking robot. By now its smaller, runs on batteries and they even programmed it to recognise faces and a few words of japanese. You can instruct it verbally to follow you around, its quite an achievement.

      Sony has their doll sized robots who can dance and run around and allmost skate (its not really skating), and it can mimic the movement of a surfer on a mechanised surf board. It impressed me by its ability to keep its balanced when lightly shoved, and to get back up if it falls down.

      Toyota has a trumpet playing robot, who was on wheels at first, but they pretty much had to give it legs after the other two did it. And in doing so also made a sort of robot-legged chair, the demo video of which is worth seeing for the look of great fear in its test pilot's eyes, despite his helmet and four point harness.

      As far as commercial applications, Honda rents its robot to companies and museums for its coolness factor, and has plans to sell it as a household appliance for the elderly. Its the size of a child and I think they aim to have it able to perform the simple tasks an old person might give a child to do as chores. Pick stuff up, help them out of bed and whatnot.
      Sony are apparently going for the high-tech doll market, a follow-up to its robot dog product line.
      Toyota...I dunno, superhuman robot orchestra? They seem to be a "mee too" effort.

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  9. 3mm long swimming robots? by moosesocks · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who thought of The Matrix immediately after reading the blurb about "3mm swimming robots"

    scary.....

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  10. Mirror by paul248 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a mirror of the video. Not sure how fast it'll be.

  11. EEG controlled robots by gihan_ripper · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From TFA:

    Millan is developing robotics that can be controlled using EEG signals from the brain. He hopes eventually to enable disabled and paralyzed people to control robotic wheelchairs or prosthetics in this way.

    Looks like Professor Xavier may follow shortly!

    But seriously, this does seem to be a real potential benefit for all humans. We will effectively be able to extend our own bodies using robotic technology, perhaps controlling figher aircraft and other complex machinery with our minds.

    --
    Phoenix, Boston, Little Rock, see a pattern?
  12. We're headed for trouble by beware+of+the+robot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In my opinion, it is not a question of *when* we'll get trouble from the robots we're going to create, but what we're going to do about it.

    We might as well start planning right now. The article in the posting, as well as numerous other reports, show that the robot mechanics is getting better and better. What is lacking, is some real AI. I think that within 30-50 years, if not before, this "problem" will also be solved.

    That's when trouble starts. As Isaac Asimov shows in his literary "experiments" with the three laws of robotics, even *with* benign top priority imperatives NOT TO HARM humans, we may not be safe.

    Given the mechanics and the AI, how will robots become a threat to us? Imagine a scientist in a robot laboratory sometime in the future. He/she has all the parts needed to produce the ultimate robot: agile and completely autonomous. I think the temptation will be too much for *any* person. It will be impossible to refrain from releasing a completely free and autonomous robot into society to see what happens. Imagine the excitement: This is comparable to a second creation; it is almost like being God.

    Naturally, the robot will have a strong need for self preservation. So it will start to secure land, natural resources, labour, spare parts, factories, and so on, and build other robots and societies to fulfill these and other purposes.

    This is when conflicts will start. Wars often start as a result of a disagreement over natural resources or land.

    Ideas, anyone?

    1. Re:We're headed for trouble by groomed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is wrong on so many levels.

      First, the practical problems involved in creating a robot that can autonomously participate in human society is far from being solved. People have been saying for over 40 years that the solution was 30 to 50 years in the future. I wouldn't expect it to arrive in a 1000 years, if ever. And yes, I study AI.

      Second, as Sartre observed, "Hell is other people". A single super robot on the loose is no match for our puny weapons. To be effective, he'd have to enlist a following. But since he's alone, those followers would have to be recruited amongst humans. But how on Earth is that ever going to happen?

      Third, you make it all sound like a video game. "Secure land, natural resources, labour...". You took a page straight out of Civilization, there.

      Fourth, there are a lot more pressing issues to worry about than what happens when a breed of superintelligent robots wants to dominate the planet.

  13. I'd like to see . . . by StateOfTheUnion · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'd like to see how good these roller skating robots could handle a good solid roller hockey body check. Now that would be a real test of robotic balance.

    Seriously, the robot dancer/skater/stairclimber are all interesting but they run through what I assume is a static algorithm . . . what about inducing some disturbance and writing an algorithm to reject the disturbance to the robot's balance system.

  14. When we think "robot", we think "android". by reporter · · Score: 3, Insightful
    When we think "robot", we invariably think "android": a mechanical device that appears like a human being and mimics some of its actions. We are fascinated by androids for the very same reason that we are fascinated by apes. They look like us.

    The attraction for androids is only skin deep. Today's androids are just a mass of wires. Getting a robot to walk, shake hands, play chess, etc. is substantially different from a sentient machine.

    Sentience impresses me, but a mechanical shaking hand does not.

  15. That robot is NOT rollerskating by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Its walking akwardly while wearing wheels on its feet.

    Which, to anybody who's learned to skate, is of course remembered fondly as those first steps before you learned why they made you wear those uncomfortable wrist guards.

    Its a nice little robotic achievement, but its not skating.
    Actual skating would involve a phase of sliding along between "steps".

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  16. Coral cache of Mirror by OverlordQ · · Score: 3, Informative

    Oops fixed link.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
  17. Personally, I'm not that impressed by kai.chan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Making the QRIO skate is not really a big technological achievement considering that the leg motions have already been pre-programmed to get the robot to walk. It is really a matter of calculating the weights and trying to balance the robot while moving the legs to propel the robot.

    Now, if they can program a neural network that changes the leg and arm movements in relation to a physics model, and have the robot learn how to walk and skate by trail-and-error, then I'd be more impressed. THAT is what we should aim for nowadays.

  18. Speaking of birthing simulators by MmmDee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Being an ob/gyn myself, I read the article on the birthing simulator. Reminds me of the Star Trek episode when Warf delivers a baby and says, "That's not the way it happened in the simulator." I wonder if the simulator squirts body fluids, yells and curses like real life. There's just no telling where techonology will go next. Prostate exam simulator?

    --
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  19. SOSDD by Mulletproof · · Score: 3, Funny

    Are you kidding? The process is as automated as possible. The reader submits story and a script assigns a 1d20 probability in that story being selected (based on the karma and subscription status of the submitter, of course). If it manages to pass that AC rating check, the script assigns the story an editor name at random and publishes it to the front page. Of course, stories occationaly roll and natural 20, wence they are kicked to a live editor for approval. Obviously this isn't a common occurance as you can tell.

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