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New Robot Can Help You Find Your Way

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the ceiling-bot-watches-you-navigate dept.

BoingBoing is reporting that a new robotic assistant may soon be able to help you find your way the next time you are lost in a mall or a supermarket. The latest demonstration from the Osaka-based Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) showcased "Robovie", a semi-humanoid robot designed to monitor up to 20 people at a time and classify each person's behavior into one of 10 categories (waiting, wandering, walking fast, etc). Whenever it was able to classify someone as disoriented it would approach them and ask "are you lost", if the answer was yes it provided directions, otherwise it just recommended nearby shops and restaurants.

2 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. To quote JRRT: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    "Not all those who wander are lost."

    Also, that robot is creepy as hell, I mean, the head looks like a human skull! Is ATR by any chance a division of Cyberdyne?

  2. Re:I for one... by ushering05401 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "...welcome our well-meaning, friendly robotic overlords, and greatly appreciate their help."

    Hmm.. I can see this help you speak of getting old very fast. Will these robots have the ability to identify individuals who have already been asked if they need assistance?

    When I end up in places like malls it is usually because someone I know needs something, and I just end up meandering around aimlessly. I could see these things - even the same robot - asking me over and over again if I need assistance.

    And what about people uncomfortable with the technology (many seniors perhaps). These people would decline the assistance and then be confronted with the bots endlessly throughout their trip to the mall?

    Unless they can ID people who have already declined assistance these bots will fail.