Survivor Buddy, a Friendly Robot Rescuer

Roland Piquepaille writes "The St. Petersburg Times, Florida, reports that a well-known robot designer, Robin Murphy, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Florida (USF), 'plans to add a heart to robot rescuers.' As says USF, the goal is to develop 'a robot that will be a companion to a person who may be trapped after a car crash or in building ruins following an earthquake, or someone pinned down by sniper fire.' As said Murphy, 'robots can provide not only a sense of being a 'buddy' by playing soothing music or providing other entertainment, the robot also can be the audio and video link between survivor and family.' Murphy will develop this robot with some money coming from Microsoft. But read more for additional references and a picture of Murphy with her robot rescuers."

Comments

This robot almost saved my life

[Drinking Bleach]

But it BSOD'd at the wrong time!

Re:This robot almost saved my life

[mongoose(!no)]

Or worse, you might get one of those user access control things that Vista has. "Sorry, I cannot perform that life-saving operation, as I need permission to access your internals first."

Nice Concept, Small Audience

[joocemann]

While this is an interesting concept it will most definitely fail at this time. Situations that would necessitate this kind of robot are so uncommon. Furthermoroe, the chance that any rescuing authority would purchase such a robot AHEAD of time is so unlikely. Great idea, but if this buys bread and butter, consider a night job.

Re:Nice Concept, Small Audience

[dotancohen]

I don't want a link to my family while I'm dying, thank you. It will be hard enough for them to cope with the knowledge that I died. Imagine them trying to cope with the fact that I am dying and there is nothing they can do about it but hear me scream. No, thanks.

Re:Nice Concept, Small Audience

[mdfst13]

I don't want a link to my family while I'm dying I think that this is intended for the times when your survival is in doubt, not when your death is sure. Part of the problem in these situations is that the people can give up and die, whereas if they struggled to live they would. It's about giving people reasons to continue to fight to survive at a time when they might decide that it is impossible.

Example: a person falls into a well and has to kick her or his feet to stay above water and breathe. After some time of this, the person is tired and may decide to stop kicking, sink, and drown. This kind of robot would act to find ways to encourage the person to continue kicking.

The sniper fire example also indicates this. Assume that you are in a location where the sniper can't reach you. So long as you stay there, you are safe. One danger is that you might get frustrated with waiting and leave safety. A robot like this could make the waiting more bearable by providing things that you can do other than stare at the walls.

Oooh, soothing music!

[peccary]

Just what I want when I'm pinned down by sniper fire. How about some lemon-scented napkins?

Re:Oooh, soothing music!

[Leuf]

Do not taunt Survivor Buddy.

Re:Oooh, soothing music!

[Hojima]

The Natalie Portman bot is much more fun to have around in a hopeless situation.

Re:Oooh, soothing music!

[mrbluze]

or providing other entertainment, Robots providing 'other' entertainment might find themselves a hot item in more than just rescue operations!

Re:Oooh, soothing music!

[jamesh]

Pinned down by sniper fire? You need the 'Cannon Fodder Bot' or 'Decoy Bot' model.

Robot: Sir, I can't help but notice that this sniper fire is making you miserable. Is there anything I can do to cheer you up? I can hum a few soothing songs for you?

Me: You know what would really cheer me up? Put this shirt on and walk out into the middle of that street, turn around, pull down your pants, and point your bum in the direction of that window up there.

Predicts the future.

[www.sorehands.com]

Yes, when it displays the BSOD, it tells you your future.

And as a Testament to the Fla University system...

[jsupersample]

... Dr. Murphy has announced she is leaving USF. The brain drain continues. Our new state slogan: "Florida: spend your tax dollars on not education!"

Of course...

[Darkness404]

It looks like are screaming for your mom, would you like some help?

Get help screaming for your mom

Just scream like a little girl without help

Please hold, your life is important to us ...

[geophile]

"robots can provide not only a sense of being a 'buddy' by playing soothing music or providing other entertainment."

Yes, if I'm pinned in a car wreck and bleeding to death, I would like nothing more than to listen to muzak and hear a recorded voice urging me to be patient.

Re:Please hold, your life is important to us ...

[JoeCommodore]

"I'm sorry, I cannot play music or entertain you at this time... my 'Plays for Sure' media files require re-validation with the with the authentication server. Would you like to play minesweep, or listen to me read the Microsoft EULA instead?"

Re:Please hold, your life is important to us ...

[Donniedarkness]

I think we both know that a "friendly" robot would run Ubuntu.

GPP

[Anonymous Coward]

Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and I'm trapped inside an upside-down car in a ditch with someone who wants to hear soothing music...

Uncanny vally

[mdmkolbe]

I think this robot could easily be a victim of the uncanny valley. If it were too friendly, it would come across as making light of a serious situation and would potentially feel patronizing.

I mean seriously, if I'm trapped under a building, I'm really not going to be in the mood for emotionally bonding with a robot.

To avoid the uncanny valley, the robot needs to be be friendly but not like a dog or person. Instead it should be like a friendly car or other reliable tool that we feel safe using.

Re:Uncanny vally

[MichaelSmith]

I mean seriously, if I'm trapped under a building, I'm really not going to be in the mood for emotionally bonding with a robot. Perhaps a child would.

Re:Uncanny vally

[cavePrisoner]

You always hear about people in life and death situations finding the sound of approaching helicopters (or whatever is rescuing them) to be the most pleasing sound they ever heard. Having it sound like r2 would be perfect. I don't think being patronized is your biggest worry if you're trapped under a building. Any sound at all that could mean that more help is on the way will be best thing they ever heard given that people sometimes spend days trapped under rubble after natural disasters.

I am not a child

[Junior J. Junior III]

I think about the last thing I'd need if I were trapped in a situation where I needed rescue would be some fucking robot to come along and try to cheer me up.

The idea of this seems like MS Office's Clippy, only a hundred times worse. "Looks like you're fucked! Would you like help? I can sing you a song!"

Fuck off and die, Clippy. I don't need a robot to act as a homing beacon or communications device when a simple cell phone or radio is capable of performing the same role. So, unless you can dig me out of here, or actually do something to provide life support, I'm kinda busy right now.

Re:I am not a child

[stuffeh]

Well, I don't see a cellphone being very reliable under much rubble, and radios usually don't get up and walk to where you call them.

If you're trapped in a cave where the entrance is blocked off by a 5 ton boulder, I don't see much for you to do, so talking/playing with a robot doesn't seem so bad to me. Especially since I would be hoping that the entire rescue crew is too busy to be digging me out of the situation rather than talking to my lonely self.

Seems like the parent poster just wants to snipe at Clippy.

Roomba. iPod. Duct tape.

[jpellino]

We're done here.

Erm, they *do* have Mantovani on iTMS, right?

Just one question.....

[chinaguy]

Is it self-inflating or do we have to blow it up ourself?

Re:And as a Testament to the Fla University system

[ResidntGeek]

If you've talked to many Floridians, you'll know there's not enough money in the world to teach most of them anything at all.

Re:bad scenarios

[Darkness404]

No, you are forgetting that some of the money comes from MS, so the conversation would go like this...

Human: I'm bleeding from my arm!
Robot: Someone is beating you with harm? Deploying pepper spray now!
Human: My eyes!
Robot: You want fries? Now calling McDonalds.

More than just an iPod

[ezratrumpet]

What's coming will be much, much more important than the article indicates. A robot could take structural measurements that would help rescuers tunnel to the victims, possibly conduct remote engineering (e.g. deploy an airbag as a temporary shoring device), deliver food/water to the hungry/thirsty, monitor vital signs, and even act as a remote defibrulator (sp?).

This intervention will be bigger and bigger as nanotechnology improves and evolves into self-constructing robots that can crawl through virtually any crevice.

Privacy issues related to this are a whole other story.

Sirius Cybernetics marketing department at work?

[Steve1952]

From wikipedia:

"Other examples of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's record with sentient technology include an armada of neurotic elevators, hyperactive ships' computers and perhaps most famously of all, Marvin the Paranoid Android. Marvin is a prototype for the GPP feature, and his depression and "terrible pain in all the diodes down his left side" are due to unresolved flaws in his programming. Ironically, the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as "your plastic pal who's fun to be with".

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy electronic guidebook defined the Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes" with "a footnote to the effect that the editors would welcome applications from anyone interested in taking over the part of robotics correspondent." The story notes that a version of the Encyclopaedia Galactica that "had the good fortune to fall through a time warp from a thousand years in the future" defined the Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came."

A more useful robot

[Simonetta]

A more useful robot would be one that kills the sniper, or snakes its way out of the rubble (who said that the robot must be humanoid?) in order to lead rescuers to your exact location.

  But (duh) people who live in places where snipers are a problem, or places where buildings don't have to be constructed to 100-year earthquake codes, tend not to have the disposable income to spend on personal robots.

  Is a vibrator a 'personal robot'? Maybe, if it tells you that it loves you.

  Is this Slashdot story a joke? Did I miss April First again? I thought that it was May, maybe I'm just ahead of my time.

2 words

[the brown guy]

plans to add a heart to robot rescuers IRON MAN

Top five Survivor Buddy songs for your sniper fire

[Cappy Red]

1: "Shoot High, Aim Low" by Yes
2: "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran
3: "Shoot Me Again" by Metallica
4: "Here I Am" by Emmylou Harris
5: "Contrecoup" by They Might Be Giants

Make it able to RECORD a message

[ofcourseyouare]

Don't have the robot SAY a message (which will of course almost certainly be absurdly inappropriate) let it RECORD a message. There are many examples of situations where people who knew they were trapped and going to die have left a message for their family. Such messages are of course disturbing for the loved ones, but also treasured. And by reminding a severely wounded person of the world outside, and of what they have to live for, making the recording might perhaps boost the person's will to remain conscious and survive. And even if they don't survive, making the message and feeling it would get to your family might help make the end less bitter.