NAO Humanoid Robot Set To Hit the Market

KentuckyFC writes "Earlier this year, Paris-based Aldebaran-Robotics picked up $8 million in venture capital funding to help commercialize its NAO humanoid robot. The target market for this device is research labs working on the next generation of robotic hardware and software. Today, the company has posted a detailed spec of NAO on the arXiv saying that it expects the robot to cost about $15,000 each. That's cheap compared to other humanoids. Fuitsu's HOAP humanoids cost $50,000 each and various estimates price Honda's Asimo at $1 million per bot, although they are not for sale. Aldebaran-Robotics says that NAO's cost should come down to about $6,000 as production ramps up."

Comments

Science Fiction to Science

[Van Cutter Romney]

Somewhere in the back of my mind I have this strange feeling that we are slowly heading into Asimov's world. And all the problems (and benefits) that come along with it ...

Re:Science Fiction to Science

[TheSync]

where is my flying car?

Try a Powered Parachute - no license to fly a single-seater, and they can be had for a little over $5000. With an airspeed of 30 MPH, you will easily outpace most rush hour LA freeways :)

Re:Science Fiction to Science

[DragonWriter]

Is that statement really true? It contradicts my knowledge. One example I could think off was ths short novel "Little Lost Robot" where the first law is modified.

Apparently, we're both right; Asimov's portrayal of the laws is inconsistent -- they are at times (particularly in later works) portrayed as fundamental and inherent in the nature of the positronic brain, and at times (particularly in earlier works) portrayed as alterable, engineered safeguard's. Wikipedia gives a rationalization of this (without citation, perhaps OR) that, given that the earlier-later distinction follows both the history of when they were written and the place the stories have in the continuum, its arguable that the laws were original engineered but later so basic to the extraordinarily complex designs that you'd have to throw out centuries of the mathematics of positronic brain design and start over to build robots without them, so they were in effect set in stone. Given the historical inconsistencies in the series, though, I don't know that this rationalization is particularly necessary or convincing, but its out there.

Why humanoid?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see the appeal to having a humanoid robot. The robots in Wall*e for example were all designed for a function.

I think of any robot as a machine. They are there to serve a purpose. Even the IVR systems make me angry when they imply "I'm sorry. I didn't get that". No, the computer didn't recognize what I said. And "you" aren't sorry.

Anthropomorphizing robots, cute as they are in Wall*e, is insulting to the beauty of that which is life.

Re:Why humanoid?

[Wiarumas]

Just to bring up an interesting point, in the Animatrix's story about the rise of power of machines, they start out as humanoid (as we designed them that way) and evolve into insect-like creatures by the end as they continue to improve upon their robotic designs.

Re:Why humanoid?

[Brigadier]

Somewhere in my head I'm picturing you in some basement building some contraption and talking to it as if Dr Einstein.

Your zealousness is disconcerting. somewhere, in another time there is a small boy, and a machine and an angry mom pointing a rifle straight at your head.......

Re:Why humanoid?

[Red Flayer]

And by a complement, I mean that I want two of them. One to complement each arm.

FWIW, I'm not sure using them as arm-candy would be the best use. You wouldn't be utilizing the "anatomically correct" portion of the design, which means they'd be over-engineered for your intended purpose. :)

Personally, I'd like anatomically incorrect female robots. I don't want something that feels like the real thing, I want something that feels *better* than the real thing. But maybe that's just me.

Re:Wow... $6,000

[PoliTech]

A partnership is more likely next.

Roboticized "Real Dolls" for the lonly slashdotter in your life.

There are already a number of USB cybersex devices on the market right now.

Actually I think that a Roboticized "Real Doll" device would be of great benifit to those suffering from dementia, mental retardation, the infirm, and even for old or ugly people who may not have any other form of companionship.

Wasn't there some announced pilot study on the use of dolls for people with dementia a couple of years back?

The Roboticized "Real Doll" idea is not as crazy as some might first think.

Boston Dynamics Big Dog is the best

[MrSteveSD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

Why can't someone make a bipedal robot as impressive as bigdog?

Re:The technical specs (yes, it runs linux)

[Thelasko]

I think the WiFi is the best part of the specs. You can have the robot run around with all of the complex computing done by a cluster of high end computers in another room.

Am I missing the point here?

[Duncan Blackthorne]

So.. let me get this straight: It costs $15,000USD, is approximately the size of a six-month old baby, and looks like some plastic toy? Sure, I read another of the comments here describing what hardware and software it's running, and that's all cool and everything, but seriously: what is it good for other than it's value as a very expensive high-tech toy? It's too short, and I'm sure, too weak and/or clumsy, to do anything really useful for you in your day-to-day life? Seriously, I may be missing an important point here, but I don't see where someone would want to pay so much money for what seems to amount to a very expensive hackers toy.

Re:Am I missing the point here?

[e2d2]

It's mainly for researchers to devise the best techniques for a humanoid, and then apply them to the real world using "real" robots that are yet to come. Think about it, all of the flaws you mentioned are the same engineering challenges they need to meet in future robots. This robot is simply a cornerstone to get started thinking about those problem sets. The solutions start in research labs and makes their way to commercial applications slowly but surely. But this is almost always the first step. Robotics is a new field after all, regardless of what the movies tell us.

The value of the humanoid robot

[Terwin]

Even in Sci-fi, the value of the humanoid robot is cost-savings.
If the brain of a general purpose robot is significantly more expensive than any body it will be put into, then you want that body to be able to handle as many tasks as possible, thus you make it to use all the tools that already exist for humans to use.

Until the brain is capable of handling all the tasks needed for operating as a semi-autonomous manual laborer, then a humanoid robot is just a nifty gadget with no real place in industry or other areas of production where we use specialized industrial robots today.

Re:Posterity will condemn us...

[swarsron]

not yet. But since one can use bodyfat to create biodiesel and with the rising cost of oil, an unbalanced budget ...

Re:Posterity will condemn us...

[Anonymous Coward]

5.1 million dollars if I remember right, according to the US government.

It Depends.

If you're being poisoned by air pollution, it's $6.1 million dollars (down from $8 million in 2000) but if a company is dumping poison in your water supply, it's $8.8 million dollars. If you need to know how much more to pay for little rubber caps to make your Pinto not explode, the DoT suggests $5.8 million, but starting this year wants everyone to analyze their work at $3.2 and $8.4 million, just to be sure. $5.8 million is also used by the FAA.

Laura Taylor of North Carolina State University, said her figure was lower because it emphasized differences in pay for various risky jobs, not just risky industries as a whole.[emphasis mine]

Anyone have a link to the actual study? I've found all sorts of people pontificating on whether it's done right or even the right thing to do, but not the study itself. I'm interested in knowing whether these "various" risky jobs included illegal immigrants in jobs like meatpacking or whether certain very dangerous and well-paying jobs were left out (surely an accidental oversight), similar to how energy and food costs are too "volatile" (read: embarrassing) to consider in inflation.

Re:The technical specs (yes, it runs linux)

[Anonymous Coward]

So theoretically, you could build a beowulf cluster of these?

Re:But the HOAP units

[e2d2]

I thought the same thing, relating it to patlabor. The main character's name is Nao also.

In the robot world this isn't really news so much as a press release. There are a lot of humanoid robots that one can purchase with similar feature sets. It's not going to change the landscape of robotics, but it is a cool tool/toy.

Cool it is LINUX BASED !!!

[posys]

Awesome, one step closer to the "ROBOTIC WAGELESS ECONOMY" !! http://roboeco.com/oan

Telepresence

[dfcamara]

I rather use a robot like this for telepresence. Wish it have stereoscopic vision and not be too slow walking (if it is). AI only needed to assist moving around.