Fighting Android Sparring Partner

GeneOff writes "Just in time for Christmas, comes FA1, the fighting android from SDT (Self Defence Technologys.) I loved my Rock-Em, Sock-Em robots I got one year from Santa. But it was tough getting opponents. Well, no more. Here is a hackable real robot that won't whimp out on you." From the article: "... a robot that can jab, hook, and cross, but still keep the violence to a minimum with adjustable difficulty levels. The FA1 can also dodge your punches with "human-like" movements and he should be hanging out on the show floor at CES -- so we'll be sure to challenge him to a round of verbal barbs from a distance."

Comments

Tricks

[Anonymous Coward]

"3) The article claims that the android can dodge punches. I say that it can't. It takes a fist less than a quarter of a second to travel from the ready position to the opponent's face. The microprocessor needs to do image processing to realize that the fist is moving towards a specific area, which will require many image frames before it can actually determine the fist movements. And even if the microprocessor was able to act fast enough, I haven't seen any motors that can rotate fast enough."

-Image processing
      Who says it has to do image processing? Trying to emulate the human visual system is inefficient in a robot that only has to know what's moving towards it. Sonar would do fine for dodging, and the processing would provide some information about which way to move almost instantly.

-Motors
      Human muscles also don't move quickly enough to dodge a quarter-second punch. You sound like you've athletic, so surely you know that in tennis, volleyball, boxing or any other blocking/hitting sport, simply sticking your arm out in the direction you want it to go is too slow. Most of the movement is achieved by shifting weight. You don't want your arm way out with a tennis racket when you have to make a final adjustment of its position. You want it tight to the body where you have better leverage.
    A robot that dodges to the side by first releasing a solenoid that has been holding one leg straight and the activating a solenoid that flexes that leg will move much faster than any motor could turn its limbs. It will also move much more like a human would.

There are demonstrably machines which react to an input by moving a large mass in under a quarter of a second. They may need to be counterweighted, but the humanoid frame is already admirably counterweighted. As long as this robot is well-designed there should be no reason at all that it can't move fifteen centimetres to the side in under a quarter second and dodge one punch. Whether it could dodge a series of punches is another matter, but then it's another matter for people too.

Re:Doubtful

[Somegeek]

I think you misunderstand the purpose of the robot. (Not surprising given the article summary.) Check out the company's webpage at:

http://sdtandroids.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabinde x=0&tabid=1

It is not something to dynamically interact with you during an entire round of fighting, but apparently something that you will program to practice a specific move or punch on. It was designed to give you more realistic interaction and target than a punching bag and to be safer than practicing on a sparing partner.