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Hitachi Unveils Humanoid Robot
HunahpuMonkey writes "BBC reports that Hitachi has unveiled a humanoid robot, named Emiew, to compete with Honda's Asimo and Sony's Qrio robots. The robot has a vocabulary of about 100 words and could be trained for practical office and factory use. In addition, it is the fastest robot to date, moving 3.7 miles per hour on wheel feet which resemble the bottom half of a Segway scooter."
OK, here is the challenge:
:-)
Hitachi's new wheeled robot versus Honda's Asimo and Sony's Qrio in BATTLE STAIRS! First one down a flight of 100 steps intact wins.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
Totota and Hitachi got nuthin' on MIT's Cog and Kismet
I foresee a fight scene ala Anchorman; Cog wielding a switch-blade.
"Como estas, bitches!"
I Want To Believe
They should have called it Project Einstein.
"The robot has a vocabulary of about 100 words and could be trained for practical office and factory use"
I don't know about you, but a 100 word vocabulary is already vastly superior to some of the factory workers I've worked with.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
Does anyone else get the mental image of a large feathered robot with a tendency to hump sunbathing women? Or is it just me?
Why did we hear no hyperbole from Steve Jobs prior to this?
I know we have robotics research etc, but shouldnt we has a "technologoical" economy be revealing our own robots?
Ah, and rape a fine writers' memory in the process!
It bears a likeness to R2-D2...
Now all they need to do is affix a gin & tonic brewer...
Would that be the wheel part?
Is that the only companies willing to do any practical research in robotics is car companies because they use robotics on such a daily basis (the building of cars, of course).
Not only that, robotics is one of the most fun branches of modern computing and engineering, and yet so few engineers actually go into it. It's a shame we aren't meeting up with more robots in real life (Fast foods should be relegated to robotics by now, as the food quality tends to resemble it)...
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Obviously much effort has been put into making this as closely resemble us wheeled humanoids as possible. Hitachi, I applaud you!
Very little stock was on hand, but you would select the music you wanted on one of the robots. It'd burn the audio CD, print up the liner, and assemble a shrink-wrapped product for a couple of yen more than one you'd get off the shelf, then dance around the room playing the biggest hit off the album.
The experience would only have been cooler if it could talk with you, although the sushi-dispensing robots did have a few stock phrases and voice recognition (you had to shout for them to hear you however).
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Depends on whether you have stairs in your house.
The cyberthalamus is coming soon.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
I like the idea, but does it fall over and break when the batteries die? Are they going to add a third wheel for safety reasons. (LOL)
"I will protect you from the terrible secrets of space. ...do you have stairs in your house?!"
*Pusher and Shover robot*
Life is not for the lazy.
Most industrial robots I've seen don't need a humanoid form at all, and I can imagine several cases were the humanoid form is actually an impairment to getting work done. Why not go with more structurally efficient designs, like a spider, instead of focusing on bipedal bots for uses requiring ambulation?
Software piracy is victimless theft.
Can it do my laundry? Can it Walk the dog? Can it cook my meals? Hrmm... Guess its not a replacement for Wife 1.0, I never shoulda upgraded in the first place.
string sig = llGetSig("dimentox"); llSay(0,sig);
Gizmo Duck has a cousin! ;)
Find out about the Lexus Rx400h Hybrid!
could be "trained" for practical office and factory use in as little as five to six years. Or is this how long it normally takes.....
Semper ubi sub ubi
ok the bots are cool. very cool. .
but when will carmakers use all this tech they are apparently researching into actual cars
fact is, we've been driving (almost) the same old pieces of junk.
cars should improve much faster than they have been.
we are waiting.
yes yes, the robots are cool.
Since when did humanoids have wheels?
Damn I'm behind, I gotta get rid of these stupid legs.
UPGRADE
I, for one, welcome our new office work performing over-
Awe, crap, who am I kidding? I'm going to be freakin' outsourced to one of these little @#$@#$ers...
DIE, YOU LITTLE ROTTER! R2D2 WAS TWICE THE BOT YOU WILL EVER BE!
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Japan is pouring billions into robotic software research in part because they don't allow much immigration and migrant workers, and thus want to develop robots to fill those niches instead.
However, rather than build an artificial brain, it appears more cost effective and closer to improve the bandwidth costs so that such bots can be controlled from low-wage nations. We don't need artificial intelligence because there are billions of idle human brains around the planet.
I suppose one could argue that remote-control servants could end up causing malice, but artificial alternives may do the same either because AI might go bizerk, or more likely because it is not good enough yet and will make stupid mistakes.
In short, remote-controll appears the more reachable goal at this stage. Bandwidth cost reduction does not appear to need the giant breakthrus that AI does.
Table-ized A.I.
I first misread the summary as, "...has a vocabulary of about 100 words and could be trained for political office use..."
(Of course, my first thought was that that's vastly overqualified for what it apparently takes to be elected President these days.)
>
> So what do the rules of this competition say about winning? Would that be "to move down the steps fastest", or would they allow "to fall down in the shortest possible time, and built strong enough to survive the impact?"
One hundred stairs de-scended!
We are the su-perior being!
We have e-merged victorious!
EX-TERM-I-aaw, FUCK..
(Not my photoshop. Original at bottom of http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1419. And as my desktop wallpaper.)
Any 2000AD reader would recognise that as an ancestor of foul-mouthed sanitation droid Ro-Jaws! Hammerstein surely can't be far off...
You must think in Russian.
That's why there's politics.slashdot.org, science.slashdot.org, and it.slashdot.org.
If the bottom half goes 3.7MPH, how fast does the top half go?
To me, the saddest part about all this is that the only companies willing to do any practical research in robotics are Japanese car companies because they look farther into the future than the next quarterly earnings report. The Japanese car companies are pumping R&D dollars into developing new technologies that will help them in the long run. The American car companies are taking that money and pumping it into bonuses for CEOs so they can buy a new ivory backscracther every year.
Face it, we just don't have the drive to improve that companies in other countries do.
GMD
watch this
This will end the hiring of new employees at Microsoft. Just the fact that it moves AT ALL, much less 3.6 MPH will render the entire program management, middle management and test groups obsolete.
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
Two wheels, side-by-side and self-balancing is pretty much Dean's turf. I wonder if he licensed it to Hitachi. If so, go Dean. If not, Hitachi might have some 'splaining to do.
The problem with these robots is how fragile they are. I havent physically seen the other two robots, but Honda's Asimo stays in a little closet when in the lab. Not your typical closet of course, but you get the idea. When in the lab, all you see are other cheaper parts of robots similar or duplicated from Asimo. All the work and main testing is done on these pieces (which makes sense). The thing that I don't like though, and many people don't realize, is that before Asimo is ever unveiled to the public, he undergoes at least 8 hours of configuration. This is each and every time, and then he can only run for maybe an hour and a half iirc. These robots certainly have a lot of potential, and one day possibly could do factory work, but right now the public is being mislead thinking we are further along then we really are. People see this robot and think it probably just walks around all day and they'd like one. There are certainly some huge milestones being made, but the most publically known robots are imho overhyped. I'm not being a pessimist, I would just like to see even more reasearch in humanoid robotics so we can have the future sooner rather then later. Even just a self configuring Asimo would be a huge step in the right direction.
Regards,
Steve
RUR is a german play whos script was published as a book. Its about how a company sold robots for work in factories and offices and as secretaries. It ended up destroying the earth.
This just made me think of it, Great read!
Hmm...I can still outrun that so I guess I don't have to welcome our new robotic overlords for a couple more months. We'll only have to start worrying if the robots can actually move fast enough to catch and enslave us.
--
Free iPod? Try a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox
Wired article as proof
"Hey there have you heard about my robot friend? /vince
He's metal and small and doesn't judge me at all
He's a cyber-wire bundle of joy
My Robot Friend
I like to tip and battle with my robot friend
(just a guess, i couldnt tell what he said)
BUTTERS: He's as smart as can be, and emotion free
And he's computed his way to my heart
My Robot Friend
My Robot Friend
My Robot Friend
My Robot....friend."
Bugger me I must be deformed if thats what a humanoid looks like!
"humanoid robot...which resemble the bottom half of a Segway scooter"
Those Hitachi engineers must not meet many real humans.
The bottom looks a bit different, so it's not directly what they show on the Segway RMP page. The robot also looks to have a left/right tilt feature which would be independant of the base... though it doesn't lean too much, so it might not be a significant difference.
Are there any other english-language references to this thing? It must actually be news for a change, there appear to be only a handful of references to this thing in Google's cache, all on news websites.
...welcome our segway-like overlords.
A robot helper that doesn't have to be operated by a team of a dozen or so scientist! I remember seeing an Asimo presentation at some museum, and they had asserted that it was autonomous(actually said it was "capable" of autonomous activity, with no proof) but required a team of learned individuals to perform menial tasks. not very efficient if you ask me
This sig is o Unfunny o Funny
Because not doing research in order to give idle humans busy-work is retarded.
BTW, it was a bit surreal to read the BBC quoting the robots in the article...
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
It's like Moore's law; every few years these robots will double in intelligence and capabilities until they exceed that of ordinary humans. They can already outplay us in chess. How much longer before they can replace your average bank teller or telemarketer or front line tech support? What about a restaurant table busser or dishwasher? Soon there will be nothing but robots in the workplace, plus a few human management types.
In fact I can foresee a time when robots will be the managers. Unlike (some) humans they will have no compunctions about firing people who are inefficient, and they will not be compromised by, for example, sexual favors.
I'm afraid.
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
I'm reminded of the serious design flaw the original Daleks posessed.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
What they should have done is to give the robot non-functioning legs and put it in an electric wheelchair. If it ever runs out of power someone can push it around. Then when the robots become powerful they'll remember what we did for them.
Lift out of order. Bubble sort in progress.
This is what I love about the japanese firms like this, that they do things mentioned in the article such as "They will try to out-do eachother with robots"
These forward thinking and risk taking companies will make the world more what we see in Anime, and possibly end in the Great War.
Realistically though, american companies did not recruit and employ young creative talent *AND* give them visible projects/influence over products as much as japanese companies have. While US firms would hire young engineers, they kept them chained to the roles of lowly interns, and by doing so have not allowed leaps in product creations.
** Disclaimer - based on my opinion.
but what about the rest of the candy swilling population of Slashdot? We're screwed!
"We aimed to create a robot that could live and co-exist with people."
If people can't live and co-exist with other people, what makes him think robots and people can live and co-exist?
...robotics now. Here's a recent example.
The robot has a vocabulary of about 100 words and could be trained for practical office and factory use
Wow, it's just like a chav.
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
I for one welcome our new extra mobile overlords...
...the robot used its limited vocabulary to ask who came up with the name "Emiew," followed by the words, "prepare to die."
I think it's very important that all robots be made with wheels.
This way, no matter how badly things go with the laws of robotics we can just go up a flight of stairs to be safe.
I'm glad to see they agree with me.
i am an evil overlord, where can i pick up a fleet of these things?
Looks like Emiew can nod its head...I'd love to stick GAC into this bot...1.4 million binary human propositions...Emiew would be very entertaining in a quiet Turing Test kind of way...
Their robot looks a little primitive compared to the other ones. But I'm glad there is a little competition. I saw Honda's ASIMO at the University of Minnesota. It's pretty impressive but they have a lot of work to do. Looking at Sony's website, their robot is equally impressive. Hopefully Honda, Sony, and now Hitachi keep pushing eachother to come out with new and better robots. Shouldn't be too long now until robots are common in homes and offices.
"You have been replaced by a small Perl script..."
It's getting closer to reality. I can feel it.
668: Neighbour of the Beast
It is a WHEELED robot and it can only go 3.7mph? I wouldn't be bragging about speed just yet.
I just want one that looks like R2-D2, that will follow me around to keep my Cold One's handy and chilled and within reach. If it can make sandwiches, all the better. That's all I need. No, I don't want it to play me Chess either.
MadOgre.com
I wonder if they will implement a "Senior Transport" function for this robot. If so, then it would be an awesome feature, because I would get to see George Bush fall off of this one as well.
I have some friends that are terrified of robots after seeing movies like "I, Robot", where robots turn on their owners. It will be interesting to see if there will be a problem with robot spyware/malware/etc. Let's hope Microsoft is dead and gone by then.
It's exactly what we're talking about here; it starts of with a fastfood chain that adopts a robotic manager, and ends up with most of humanity enslaved by robots. Pretty entertaining actually... http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
Automation - The Car Company Tycoon Game
Nice ... but can it run Linux?
probably because he's not a segway enthousiast, whereas the Woz is. http://www.woz.org/seg/
(may read 'IMHO' wherever omitted from above text)
Hitachi Unveils Humanoid Robot ::looks down at hips::
I don't have wheels!!!!
Run for the hills! Okay, they don't have pulsing red eye bands, but I'm not taking any chances!
First wheels, then chrome, and soon they'll look like us with many copies! Run! RUN! RUUUUUUUNNNN...!!!!
Until it can get my groceries and do my laundry, I'm not buying! I already have a Rumba - it doesn't talk, but does a good job vacuuming.
Simpy
But does it run linux?
They either mispelled "wheels" in a very contrived way or they are attempting to distract people from the fact that they can't do legs.
You can't take the sky from me...
I spent quite a bit of time working in a university intelligent robotics lab... and while yes, its interesting work, it takes a special breed of person to really stick with it. Most work is very intensive and slow - implementing theories found in papers, performing simulations and what not. And at the moment, much of it is still focused on such basic tasks like having a robot know where it is given its sensory input (which is still extremely crude given the tools we have... the future is machine vision, and its going to take years to make it work).
The other thing is that what you've been working on for the past 5 years may simply not work. Or a better theory might come along and render yours pointless.
Only some of the research actually involves physical robots performing tasks. That's of course the final step in implementing a theory, and usually where you realize your theory isn't complete.
I see this as a substantial difference between the US and japanese take on robotics. In the US, its very much research oriented at mostly universities and involves making robots more *intelligent*. In japan, much of the research is more focused on the physical controls. So what you get is, in the US labs we have lots of wheeled robots that are getting better at driving around intelligently, and in japan alot of robots are moving (even walking or running) with dexterity, but not very intelligently - by this i mean, they don't have much for sensory processing or localization. So while they might be building you a robot in japan that can wave hello and bring you breakfast, its not going to be much good if it doesnt realize how to get to the kitchen to make it and then get it back to you.
This could be a simple business vs. academia thing - in business, a result is expected at some point. Deadlines and all. Building a physical machine is possible with that. But doing something that nobody really knows the right way to do (localization) has been under research for nearly 4 decades now and still has a long way to go.
-
German, German?!
Well, congratulations, you have just made simplistic gyroscope out of Karel Chapeck in the grave...
What do you call a machine with the body of a man, but the legs of a tank? i think everyone's tired of 'chimera' fever that swept through hollywood recently.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
I know how to write the program for artificial intelligence, but I'd like to keep the damn bots out of my pocket so I'm keeping it to myself. No one would want it anyway. They're programmed for peacetime.
Can a beowulf cluster of these run Linux in Soviet Russia?
Kinda like the XBot from Ctrl-Alt-Del
Remember folks, slashdot doesn't have a -1 "disagree" moderation!
German, Czech - what's the difference for most of the world? :)
R.U.R. is book written by czech author Karel Capek (lived in former Czechoslovakia before WWII). The word "robot" was invented and first used by him in that book. The word is based on term used for bond-service, so that the "robot" should mean something like non-human bond-slave.
So much for the history
but with 4.1 million robots projected to be doing work in peoples homes in the next year.... I for one welcome our new robot lords and pray that they are leniant in their treatment of their new human slaves. Pretty soon their brains will run on cell processors and then the all powerful skynet will go online and wipe out the bulk of humanity in one fowl swoop and usher in a post apocolyptic age where small communities of humans band together and try to rebuild the US by creating a system of post offices, the postmaster general known as "Snake" Plisken is on a mission to save the new president's daughter before 24 hours is up and he's fooled into thinking he has a deadly virus when he REALLY only has the flu for the second time.....I think I just wrote the next National Lampoon Apocolypse movie...did I leave out anything?
Balancing takes a lot of computer power while a multi legged construction can take all the time it needs to calculate the next move. However in the mean time computing power has improved so much that the problem has gone away.
Hell, people even got lego to balance. Such a system is so much simpler you drastically increase reliabilty. That is the reason you see this robot with two wheels. It works and is simple.
It is simply not true that multiple legs are easier to control. Balance is easier but moving is harder because you got to move more elements.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
That is intelligence. The capabilty to react to a constantly changing world.
Humans can react to changing circumstances that are outside their current experiences. Basically they can react outside of their programming/training. Computers still cannot. If you really want to see how true this is go to a car plant. Plenty of robots AND plenty of people with the job of making sure the robots don't get confused. Or doing small tasks that require human intelligence.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
All your base are belong to us.
Then...
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
printf($randomline(sigs.txt) \n "-- "$randomline(authors.txt));
-- myself
A few years back I saw a segment on PBS which showed two-legged robots running at decent speeds. But they were connected to an AC power outlet, and weren't navigating obstacles.
It's Rosie, the Jetson's robot maid!
Man, why don't these scientists dudes stop concentrating on worthless stuff like increased vocabulary and mobility!?! The real money to be made is making these robots look like hot chicks. Intelligence means nothing when your robot has soft lucious ta-tas.
R.U.R is not a German play, its Czech."Robot" is actually the Czech word for slave.
that although Hitachi may be able to make robots they can't make hard disks that last longer than a week...
for sale: one deskstar disk, some slight axe marks to casing
What makes you think you have one or that robots don't? What do you mean by soul?
...right now the public is being mislead thinking we are further along then we really are.
Can't you knuckleheads go one day without confusing then and than? They don't even sound the same!
Enough with the remote control toys. This pushes the tecnological envelope. Autonomuous drones:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/research/X45A/
While Googling for robotic applications for the gumstix sbc, I came across this guy's page. (actually, his new page is here.) Pretty cool. He's been designing and building a small 2-wheeled bot called the Belligerator that looks like a fun little project.