Humanoid Robot HR-2

Denix writes "The HR-2 humanoid robot was constructed during a period of three months at Chalmers University in Sweden. It has 22 degrees of freedom which enables it to easily move around imitating human motions. The robot is also equipped with stereovision giving it possibilities to perform hand-eye coordination. For that task an artificial neural network is evolved. Furthermore, the artificial brain is capable of tracking faces as well as recognising them. The HR-2 is also able to speak. The website also contains a movie (35.5 MB) of the HR-2 in action."

Comments

Awesome!

[MindNumbingOblivion]

Now I know where to go to get my armies of mechanical death.

::CACKLE CACKLE LIGHTNING CACKLE BRRZZT COUGH COUGH::

In seriousness, is there a reason for trying to build a bipedal, humanoid, robot? I mean, this looks cool and all, but what are the advantages (or conversely, disadvantages) to such a design (IANSC [I Am Not Susan Calvin])?

Re:Awesome!

[JanneM]

In seriousness, is there a reason for trying to build a bipedal, humanoid, robot? I mean, this looks cool and all, but what are the advantages (or conversely, disadvantages) to such a design (IANSC [I Am Not Susan Calvin])?

We have buit our entire environment for bipedal movement. Just ask anybody with a walker or wheelchair just how inconvenient (and, without help, occasionally impossible) it is to get around when you're no longer bipedal.

Also, the question of just how we manage to walk, run, climb and so on is interesting in itself. And there's no better way to test ideas than to try them out in reality.

Re:Awesome!

[JanneM]

Real progress will be made only after people stop trying to build a human from machine parts and focus more on usefull applications.

Hard to build useful applications before you know how to make it walk safely, consistently and energy efficiently on at least a reasonable subset of human-constructed terrain types.

I'm always astounded by all the backseat drivers of the world who always know so much better what people should do, without ever feeling the need to do it themselves. Since you want useful applications, go to it. Nothing is stopping you. If you're right that applications is the best focus, you'll undoubtedly eclipse these pitiful, wasteful efforts.