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Linux-powered Robots From France? Oui!
An anonymous reader writes "A French start-up created to build autonomous, easily programmable, affordable humanoid robots expects to ship its first product — a humanoid household service robot running Linux — in early 2007. The walking, talking, WiFi-enabled Nao household robot will stand 21.6 inches tall, and will feature 23 "degrees of freedom" of motion — three more than the 14-inch tall Choromet android announced earlier this week by four Japanese companies. Nao's extra degrees of freedom appear to come in the form of gripping hands."
I for one welcome our new blah blah blah overlords. Please, let your first act be banning this joke.
This robot runs on free beer.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
My 4 year old son is obsessed with making his own "Mario angel" (aka - from "Angelic Layer"), and I've started looking for small, programmable robots he can putter with - anything bigger, and I fear for the safety of my household when he tries to program it with a Butt Stomp or some such.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
So many jokes, so little time...
...our new rude smelly overlords...
...robot army surrenders...
...collabrative software...
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Aldebaran Robotics was founded in early 2005 by Bruno Maisonnier. The company employs about a dozen, is 5 percent employee-owned, and has 17 investors, led by Maisonnier, who holds a 58 percent stake.
Wait a minute, wasn't Alderaan Robotics completely destroyed by Grand Moff Tarkin a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Yeah know, this French "rifle dropping" stuff just isn't right. Now if you want to see first class rifle dropping read about the Anschluss Österreichs. It was bad engineering (frontline guns couldn't rotate enough) that allowed the Nazis to get into France, not the lack of courage. The French Resistance had serious testicle fortitude, the Austrians just rolled over and "thank you sir, may I have another".
Will they head-butt their opponents?
When will someone take the sensors, gyros and other items used to make this work and upscale it so we can finally have Mech wars?
I see it coming already: "I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
Reaches for remote...
"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time."
I'm not so sure this is a good idea.
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
Let's see if the open source philosophy works with hardware too. For instance, Italian hackers could teach this robot to play soccer, French hackers to do proper headbutts, German ones to make unfunny jokes about other nations, and so on.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
Laissé soyez soit le premier à dire...
I pour un, font bon accueil à nos nouveaux suzerains Linux-actionnés de robot de France !
Daft Punk fans have known this since the 90s. Witness their latest non-musical project Electroma. It's a beautiful movie that follows two brave robots who want to find out what it means to be human.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I, for one, look forward to our new French robotic overlords' surrender.
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since it runs Linux, it can do no harm.
That's because the user will be spending 99% of their time updating to the latest versions of the software packages and being told to RTFM by tech support when it won't turn on.
But at least it isn't running windows, that would scare me.
Sig withheld to protect the innocent.
Nope. The American contingent is too busy propping up its low self-esteem with pallid jokes about the French. The irony is the jokes are based on France's refusal to acquiesce to American pressure, but that level of subtlety is well beyond the grasp of the majority of simians posting so far.
Atleast we know Isaac Asimov's Laws of not harming anyone will be followed.
The use of humanoid robots will be limited to pointless tasks (greeters at Walmart)in the future. They are difficult to make, difficult to maintain (mechanically) and won't ever match the abilities of humans as long as we keep them "humanoid". The cost will never be less than the minimal benefits. You'd be better off with holograms for greeters once the technology is ironed out. In fact, for virtually any human/sentient machine interaction you're better off with holograms or VR. The only need for robotics is when you're dealing with physical interaction with objects (assembly or dangerous tasks) or people (surgery, sex bots built like spiders with sexy female human legs in black hosiery and the head of Amanda Donohoe, and let's face it... combat). And in every instance, the humanoid form is not that great. I want my robotic surgeon to have lasers built into his multiple tendrils (hopefully a few million of them) and nanoscale filaments that can perform cellular level cuts and sutures. No humanoid android will ever have that ability. Humanoid robots are overrated. Now if you want some applications for humanoid androids, I hear Disney has some openings in the "It's a Small World" display...
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
...doesnt sound quite the same
mordre mon âne brillant en métal.
mordre:bite
mon:my
brilliant:shiny
(you get the picture)
As an italian, I am offended that you'd say french people smell of garlic. That's strictly our domain. And olive oil.
The french smell more of BO.
And Paris (literally) smells of dog poo in the summer.
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Please link to the actual site, not the blog. We don't need to read all the blogodreck and ads.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/13/zidane_hea dbutt_outrage/
factor 966971: 966971
On one hand, I would love a robot. On the other hand, I'll bet they are expensive. On the gripping hand, Moties aren't available for purchase.