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Cheap, Open-design Humanoid Bot - Runs Linux, Too
An anonymous reader points out Linux Devices' coverage of a new Linux-based humanoid robot: "Four companies in Japan have created a low-cost, user-programmable humanoid robot targeting educational and research applications. ... The HRP-2m Choromet stands about 14 inches tall, and is capable of walking upright on two legs. It can also assume supine or prone positions, and stand up from either." As the reader summarizes, "It runs user-space humanoid motion application software and real-time Linux on a business-card-sized computer with a SuperH processor. Be sure to check out the video of the little guy without his plastic batman suit."
I, for one, welcome our new japaneze seizure robot overlords.
Be sure to check out the video of the little guy without his plastic batman suit
nsfw?
My name is coaxeus, and I approve this message. In fact, I think it is awesome.
But does it run Lin... wait, nevermind that...
Picture this: your mother-in-law comes over. You open the front door, and just as she's about to cross the threshold 40 of these things come running down the hallway armed with foot-long kitchen knives.
A robot walking slowly is a toy. A robot, even a tiny one, pistoning down a hall, leaping obstacles, maybe tripping and catching itself with one hand without breaking stride... that's just plain scary. I believe that no invention is complete until it's capable of its own starring role in a nightmare. We're getting there, let's get it done this decade.
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
If it runs Linux, why does the video clip of it in action require Windows Media Player?
I sincerely hope this is the result of the video hosting service, and not the company itself. Sometimes you have to wonder at the schizophrenia endemic to the corporate world.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster^H^H^H^H^H^H^H platoon of them!
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
I want one with a Genuine People Personality so it can take over when I have to talk to people I don't like.
Totem plays the stream perfectly.
You can download codecs from:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html
1. Build walking robot ...
2. Install Linux
3.
4. Profit???
Seriously, why so much interest in building a walknig robot though? Sure it's an interesting research project, but what's the real application of a robotic biped? IANARE (I Am Not A Robot Engineer), but it seems to me that there are a lot more efficient ways for a robot to move - wheels, treads, etc - than trying to master walking. By the time you're done adding motors, sensors and processing power to make it walk, I imagine there's precious little left to make it actually *do* anything useful.
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Defend yourself in the Imminent Robot Rebellion
That's right. Imminent.
Falun Dafa is good!
Ok, the plans for world domination will have to be reworked to account for the 14" bots. Get back to you later on that ;)
:(
Dang it, I said 14 FEET tall...subcontractors never get ANYTHING right
Ok, its cute...umm what does it do?
An army of linux-robots marching to the gates of Microsoft headquarters, all fitted with chainsaws and laser eyes.
Great, we can use the source against the robots after they take over.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
File not found!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I could only see an .asx in TFA. Anyone have something the non-robot linux user can view?
Of course, right now it's probably preprogrammed in, so I don't suppose it'd need much.
So, will this be programmable via scripting languages?
Sort of a "TCL-me Elmo?"
www.eFax.com are spammers
I'm assuming that the hardware is completely incompatible with Ubuntu. Linux for human beings, you see...
It is better because The Commuinity can contribute to this project, and every project!
Mob wisdom wins over specialists, All The Time! LOLOL
I'll be more impressed when someone hacks it to run Windows. Or better yet, DOS.
I was pondering about Asimov's laws a while ago. Seeing as these 'simple' rules might still lead robots to react in contradictory or undesirable ways (hence the addition of the zeroth law which makes everything even more complicated) why not simply make a single rule: Robots shall not (knowingly) harm another scentient being.
So if a wood-chopper bot chopped wood and a human jumped between the axe and the tree two things could happen: 1. the robot's reflexes are fast enough to avoid the accident 2. they are not and the robot has to reset its "var intDaysPastSinceLastHumanKilled" to zero, but it is not to blame.
I also wouldn't add the "or through inaction cause others to come to harm" because this complicates things significantly and may lead to unpredictable results - bots' actions should always be predictable by humans; additionally bots are created for a certain purpose, even if they are servants supplying me with beer I would never want to vest the responsibility of protecting my life on them or want them to even "think" about what may be harmful for me and what may not (unless of course its own action might cause this harm).
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
It takes one hell of a lot of work to re-build a manufacturing plant around a custom-shaped robot.
It takes almost zero cost (besides the robot itself) to add a walking 5'10" robot with 2 arms in a manufacturing line.
Humanoid robots will be a big business, because they're most able to replace us at low risk and low incremental cost (which is all US businesses with quarterly reporting care about). If companies didn't have to give quarterly reports you might see bigger or smaller robots; but they do, and this will allow them to transistion to cheaper robot workers with virtually no quarterly impact.
This is not life! This is sickness! Exterminate!
Love the anime look of the robot! This is by far the coolest robot ever made.
Now, how do we fit Koji Kabuto in there?
... eat old people's medicine for fuel?
If it's $100, then it would be cheap. It's probably more like $20,000, which, I would not consider "cheap"... More accessible for some, yet, cheap, no... and, it's not even accessible yet.
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
I dunno. I hear tell that some of these people even have wives.
110100 1101000 1101000 1100110 0 1101111 1101000 1100011 1
Both this and the last post were funny. First, whoever has had a certain number of girlfriends knows that some tend to be naggy. When you go out, they ask where you were, accuse you of cheating on them, etc. They are emotional. That's what makes the idea of girlfriends running on Linux so great. If I could turn off that aspect, she'd be perfect. Who cares if it isn't politically correct? It's true, and that's what makes it funny. That doesn't mean saying you wish your girlfriend ran on linux means you are a misogynist.
And computer geeks are notoriously bad with women, so how is the parent post -1?
Microsoft already has its sights on the robot biz: see Microsoft's Robots Will Assimilate You .
In other news, at a company conference in Boston, a Microsoft executive referred to the low-cost, user-programmable robot business as 'our house', and warned Linux to stay out. He went on to say "Those people are not going to be allowed to take food off our plate, because that is what they are intending to do ... Humanoid bots is our business,
it's our house and Linux is not going to take that business."
It runs linux too? Perfect, FINALLY my Apache server can get me a beer!
I for one welcome our new open-design-Humanoid-Bot-overlords-that-run-Linux- too...
wtf is wrong with today's mods?!?
this thread is obviously meant to be funny... troll my ass
Now that's something I'd want for a toy.
*robot collapses in pile of rusty flakes*
Now ... to program the robot to do the Yang Long Form!
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
...but can it transform? I only buy robots that are more than meets the eye.
Running Linux would not be good enough unless the firmware is open source too. It would not be fun to have to call a close-source API that implements pre-programmed routines instead of providing raw access to sensors and motors. Otherwise, I would think they use Linux for two reasons: propaganda and freeloading... I hope they are honestly and carry on the promise to deliver a really open system.
I just got here and It's surprising how normal everything seems.
... ... and you expected them to be running everything?
What do you mean?
Well, it's just that your robots weren't designed with the three laws
Well, yes. Why aren't they?
It's the corps that run everything here.
Yes, yes. That's how it is all over the galaxy. But you would expect corporations to migrate entirely to a robotic staff.
Ha! You know, at first it seemed that was exactly what was going to happen. Some corps became totally mechanized while others absorbed the refugees and became mostly human staffed.
OK. So why didn't the machine corporations take over then?
Well, it turns out robots are more ethical than humans. The corps with a balanced mix ended up prevailing.
Ah, yes, the supine position. Very useful for certain robots.
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
That I ran a short while ago in which the party of adventurers (survivors on a post-apocalyptic earth) accidently re-activated an android, an open source A.I. project that was re-envisioned to fight back at the Orwellian government that ultimately ended up causing the apocalypse. A bit off topic, I know, but ever since running that game I've dreamed about robotics going open source.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Most of the little humanoid toy-sized robots are a joke in the sensor department, but this one has the gyros, accelerometers, and force sensing to, maybe, get it right. Importantly, it has three axes of force sensing on the legs. The Aibo and BDI's Little Dog do not, which limits them to semi-static gaits. If you have that force sensing, you can do slip control and potentially run up hills.
I have a long-standing interest (and some results and patents) in the legged running area, and I'm glad to see the hardware catching up. Simulation is nice, but limiting.
Company site, with translation to English. Actual technical details. Pricing.
Cool robot, but does it run HURD ?
Just curious...
hey, this isn't your usual protocol droid! now is it?!?!?
... but does it run linux?
Great stuff that it's running Linux and everything, but what can I do with it?
I was digging through TFA for some actual information on what's possible, but it only seems to mention systems that are likely to be tied to the preinstalled motion control stuff anyways (accelerometer, gyro etc). I'd like to know if it has anything else, such as ultrasound or camera sensors? Perhaps Bluetooth capability so I can network several robots in proximity to each other?
If none of these are available, perhaps it has some sort of gpio to allow me to modify and add such things?
Cool... maybe we can make them learn, and even communicate with other robots....
I hear rumours that some slashdaughters have husbands ...
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
of the end of the need for women! All they need to do now is add one of these (http://www.fu-fme.com/) to the life-size model, and we're set!
how is babby formed?
I didn't wish for a 14 inch PIANIST!
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
originally developed for the HRP-2 Promet (pictured at right), a life-sized research robot marketed by Kawada, and costing tens of millions of yen (upwards of $170,000). The Choromet, on the other hand, was designed to be relatively small and inexpensive.
So what exactly qualifies as inexpensive? If the Promet is $170k, would the Choromet be more like $17k?
Ah but does it run linux?
oh wait.... yeah I guess it does. And I thought that that slashdotism worked for everything. Grrr...
On a serious note (sort of), I want one of these to chase my cat around.
I work for a company with on-line diagnostics. And I am sure that robots will replace doctors soon. First doctors , that surgeons. Actually surgical robots already exist. Pharmacy robots exist. Pilot-robots exist (exploited by Airforce), driver-robots exist (See DARPA). home-workers exist. And here is our diagnostic robot see http://www.symptomat.com./ And even home vacuum-cleaner is arobot. i have one. So that lough who laughs last.
http//www.rdoctor.com, http://www.symptomat.com
I mean, seriously - it can't be the servos, sensors, mechanical linkages, or plastic "body parts". Lynxmotion's Robonova only costs $1000.00 for a kit, and that includes digital feedback servos. I know for a fact that the accellerometers, force sensors, and electronic gyros don't cost that much, we could probably safely say another $1000.00 (and that would likely be a high estimate, although I haven't been able to find pricing on miniature 3-axis force sensors, but they are nothing more than fancy small strain gauges). If you wanted vision, you could add on a cheap CMUCam system from Parallax - something which doesn't seem to be a part of the HRP-2m. For an SBC of the size and power quoted (240MHz SH-4 processor, 32MB of RAM, business card sized, linux capable), I was able to find a few examples after a bit of googling for dev kits (of similar spec) for around $1200.00 (personally, I would stick with a cheapo desktop communicating with the 'bot via bluetooth or a similar wireless link, coupled to a servo controller, and maybe a Parallax Stamp or Propeller for management). Software is "open" (though not really "open source" - you need to license it), and free to download (for non-commercial use), so there isn't any cost there (unless, as another poster pointed out, there is a firmware issue - which I didn't research).
I just don't see how there could be justification for $7000.00, let alone $14000.00! As I attempted to describe, a similar robot with similar capabilities can be picked up almost "off-the-shelf" (albeit, from a few different vendors instead of just one) for almost half the price of the "low" estimate, while being generous with my estimated pricing. Likely, you could do even better - for example, using Lynxmotion's servo brackets plus lower-cost non-digital servos, you might able to build something like the Robonova for about 2/3's or so of the cost. If you made your own brackets from cheap alluminum, you could knock even more off the cost (though you will still pay for it in time to machine those brackets).
You ultimately "get what you pay for", so I wouldn't go too cheap - the Lynxmotion servo brackets and cheaper non-digital hi-tec servos would probably be the lowest cost (in terms of money, time, and aggravation) that I would be willing to spend, personally. However, there comes a point where you are just spending money to spend money - and for something like this, that point is about $3000.00 (give or take a few hundred), unless your biped is a fair amount taller than 14 inches or so. So, where is the price increase coming from for this machine? The answer is right in the article:
Much of the technology behind Choromet was originally developed for the HRP-2 Promet (pictured at right), a life-sized research robot marketed by Kawada, and costing tens of millions of yen (upwards of $170,000).
Can you say "recovery of invested funds" (by overcharging buyers of a 'toy')?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Now we're going to have a bunch of envious nerds who want to run Linux on their bodies too. I'll take an upgrade from this stinkin' meat machine, thank you!
$4242 is cheap. Cheaper than the $170k previous one maybe, but not likely to be in every hacker's living room any time soon.
Engineering is the art of compromise.