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

What?

[seaniqua]

Posted by Zonk on Sunday January 01, @03:24AM

Just in time for Christmas? This may be one of the few times where it would actually be appropriate for the article to be a dupe.

Won't SOMEBODY think of the humans?!

[Qwell]

Doesn't this kinda violate Asimov's first law of robotics?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotic s

Might want to rethink some actions

[Belseth]

The groin kick feature may limit sales.

Speaking of...

[jadin]

I want mine with a Chuck Norris personality chip...

Doubtful

[kai.chan]

There is a few reasons why I doubt the usefulness of this robot.

1) To develop an "android" with "human-like" combative movements is unlikely at this point in time. The Actroid shown in the videos here is quite advanced in mimicing human motions, but the movements are very jerky and the motor control is very obvious.

2) The previous point leads to another problem. Training with a mechnical dummy is detrimental to gaining actual combat experience. The "android" will , no doubt, move in a series of jerky movements predefined by state machines. A human fighter flows from one move to another. The android can't help replicate real combat unless it has physics and advanced algorithms programmed into it. Also, the android shown in the picture seems to be stationary. Boxing and martial arts is very dynamic, so the android serves more like a game than a serious combat trainer.

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.

4) Cost. A stepping side-kick has tremedous amount of force. If a kick can knock a human 10 feet back, I doubt that the android can sustain its working condition after numerous attacks. When it breaks down, how much would it cost to get it serviced?

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.

WTF

[Le Marteau]

What is this, a joke or something? No videos of the 'android'. Just two dopey pictures. You go to the website (http://sdtandroids.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabind ex=2&tabid=2) and here are the specifications of their product:

Specifications
Height:
Weight:
Power Supply:
Materials:

My apologies if I'm missing something, but this looks like more of a proposal than a viable product.