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Humanoid Robot KHR-1 SDK Released
ls129 writes "KHR-1, the Japanese Robo-One humanoid robot kit from Kondo (previously mentioned here), is finally open for creative software development. The first unofficial implementation of the PC-controller API has just been posted. Using the SDK, the 17 servos that give the robot its mobility can be remote controlled by the PC via WiFi or bluetooth, and their current position can be retrieved several times per second. This unique feature will allow robot fans to go beyond simple performance of motion sequences or low-level gyro-based motion correction and develop algorithms that involve feedback control and AI." Update: 04/05 16:59 GMT by T : As originally posted, I erroneously changed the robot's nationality from Japanese to Korean; that was a boo-boo; the linked site with an English translation is Korean, but the robot itself is Japanese. Apologies to the submitter, who had it right.
Stand by for 300 "I for one welcome our new robot overlords" comments, 250 comments about terminator, 4 "Robot, Kill Flanders!" and 3 "FIRST POST".
Thank you. This was just a drill. You may now resume to your regular work.
Underholdning.info
So as to avoid missing FP by a split second?
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Dammit, I got all excited for nothing. Wake me up when somebody actually starts a Chobits line of robots.
"can be remote controlled by the PC via WiFi or bluetooth"
So can this feature be combined with a previously posted Slashdot story? Can users use bluetooth to make the robot approach a nice young woman in a train station and ask if they're "Toothing?"
Sugapablo
yeah, but can it do the robot?
Is this going to produce AI as in "I am bender, please insert girder"? Or as in, "Maybe the blue fairy will make me into a real boy so my mommy will love me". I eagerly await the former, and I dread the latter, since it will take us two seconds to pervert it into "Im gigolo Joe, Waddaya know?" Artificial intelligence for menial tasks is great. Artifical humanity will be perverted so fast it will make your head spin.
"Sic Semper Path of Least Resistance"
Do my eyes deceive or did I just read that the unique wireless control mechanisms of this robot will allow developers to implement AI? If that's all we needed, we've been focusing on the wrong areas!
i just want to play go
You lazy bastard...
Wait, you mean we don't have to leave the basement anymore?
Is it legal for these things to sign credit card reciepts, drive etc.?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
"Servo" - as in 17 servos, used in the article - is short for Servomechanism. Remote actuation. Service, on the other hand... and you can bet that they've already thought of more than 17 ways to use it. I have, and I haven't even had coffee.
Browsing with +2 to insightful posts and a higher threshold makes the average post seen seem a lot more ingenious
Does anyone know if this is orderable/importable/for sale generally in the US? Both sites are craawling to a halt today and I REALLY want one. Course I haven't seen the price yet...
try to google : feedback control robot
for example:3 .htm
m
http://mundobot.com/projects/melanie/v3/enmelanie
http://www.ynl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~fabio/bipedloc.ht
Sony Quorio, Honda Asimo etc.
The 17 servos in this robot use a LOT of battery. Add a wireless card to that and the joy of *using* this robot will only last a few minutes. Especially if that battery has to also power the remote video link. Its not big enough to carry lots of batteries. The act of remotely controlling a robot is not new, nor is it proprietary. There are dozens of servo controllers on the market that can be controlled using simple serial commands. The clever home robotics hobbyist can buy all they need to replicate this robot in the good old US of A. There are some that are building their own. http://www.sorobotics.org/dgates/samm.html It may be cute, or cool to watch, but the gizmos inside it are ordinary, and can be replicated almost anywhere. There is nothing to get excited about until robots are doing something useful for mankind in general. For example: yard work, harvesting crops, mining on other planets etc.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
When I saw this I'd just finished reading an article in Science (18 Feb 05) entitled
Efficient Bipedal Robots Based on Passive-Dynamic Walkers (subscription required). Contrary to the "mainstream" approach of actuating every joint with a complex control system, the authors describe three robots that achieve very natural human-like gaits using far fewer actuators and much simpler control principles (one of them using adaptive learning). Not only are these robots far simpler to control, but they typically require only about a tenth of the energy of designs that attempt to actuate every joint (e.g., knees). I'll speculate that this passive/dynamic approach is going to dominate in the future.
Unmodified hobby servos do not expose the position data without cracking them open and reading the internal pot. Looking at the API, I'm guessing it's simply remembering the last positions you told it to move to and regurgitating them.
I'm working on a project that sort of does what this is claiming to do by providing this feedback by way of current sensing.
http://satiety.com/robot