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Weebots: Driveable Robots For Babies Who Need Them
toygeek writes "Babies, as you may have noticed if you own one, like to get into all sorts of mischief, and studies show that exploring and interacting with the world is important for cognitive development. Babies who can't move around as well may not develop at the same rate as babies who can, which is why researchers from Ithaca College in New York are working on a way to fuse babies with robots to give mobility to all babies, even those with conditions that may delay independent mobility, like Down syndrome, spina bifida, or cerebral palsy."
Well, I for one welcome our new cyborg-baby overlords.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
fuse babies with robots ? er, ahem ?
Looking forward to version 2.0. Now with wings!
Cherubs!
Here's hoping that if the babies find themselves wobbling, they won't fall down.
Cyborg baby.
I have always said how terrifying it would be if a giant baby, maybe 20 stories tall, were let loose in a city. It would cause untold amounts of destruction all while being oblivious to its own malice (babies are not evil). Now we are one step closer, although it will be in some kind of a mech suit and not just physically large.
-Xoltri
He sounds like a psychopath. This is the "geek positive" show people are raving about? Seriously?
Oh, and "telepresence" goes back decades, little boy. Term coined in 1980. Depicted in fiction in 1942 by Heinlein ("Waldo")
If the baby is really going to learn, they need something to run that robot in to. The key feature of the robot, if it an extension of the physical self, is to provide proper (not too harsh, not too soft) feedback when the baby runs into something that wants to block its attempts at doing something... like overprotective parents.
Kidding aside, the earliest learning that takes place is the simplest form of "this works, that doesn't" which is why kids spend so much time hitting things against other things just to see what happens. Recreating that experience in a mobility-limited child is not easy, but also very important.
Am I the only one who read the title and thought "Okay, there's no need to get personal..."
Before the rest of us are using these a la Wall-E...
Wee bots to help babies, nice. Can never start potty training too early.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Davros!!!!
One step closer to sentient spacecraft? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ship_Who_Sang
Saw a play a few months ago called "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" that played with the same theme (though in this case it wasn't crippling fear of accidents, but just bog-standard agoraphobia). Interesting play, though I felt it suffered a bit from mood whiplash (there were a number of hilarious comedy scenes, and a number of soul-crushingly depressing scenes, all stuck together randomly ;)).
You don't own a baby, they own you.
Darbaby
DARBABY
DARBABY
I love robots. I work in robotics. This is not an anti-robot rant. This is a rant about using technolgy inappropriately.
I know the develpers mean well, but it is clear the developers know nothing about neurology and child development. Kids with mobility problems don't need a machine that removes the need for them to develop. Kids with mobility development issues need 10X to 100X or maybe 1000X the mobility inputs. It needs to be broken down into smaller constituent components and trained intensively. Kids that can't creep, need to crawl. Kids that can't crawl, need to be patterned. Kids with mobility issues need 10X-1000X *MORE* movement inputs, not less movement input. If they can't do it themselves, then pattern them. A kid that can't creep by the normal age needs to spend nearly every waking hour crawling, wriggling, being patterned. When they can creep, they need to creep miles every day until the mid-brain comes together in good, cross-body coordinated creeping. Knee-walking needs to be eliminated so that they are forced to creep. That is the only way to fix the mid-brain injuries and other neurological injuries that these kids have. The brain grows by use. The brain shrinks by dis-use. Got that?
A robot that removes the need for them to move their legs is almost criminally stupid. It would be much better to build a robot that helps pattern the kids by putting the muscles through the correct natural movements.
This project is the poster child for why engineers need to gets their noses out of technology once in a while and understand some other part of the world's knowledge base. Anyone who knows anything about neurological development can see this is a well-meaning but naive disaster that is equivalent to injecting poison into these kids' nervous systems.
Who needs to train them to ever get up and walk? Just let them sit in larger and larger, more responsive chairs. They'll fly our jets with better reaction time than our top guns. Oh, but make sure there aren't any TABLES IN THE ROOM [Video @2:20]
Or of how exactly fit these kinds of robot aids need to be?
I know lots of cases where parents end up never using clothing bought for their kid because the kid outgrew them.
I'm betting that these medical aids are a tad more expensive than children's clothing.
Are we supposed to rent them?
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
This cyborg baby article reminds me of another that I saw recently: a child with a muscle condition can move her arms with the help of some exoskeleton support whose parts were printed out with a 3D printer:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/08/3d-printed-magic-arms-give-a-little-girl-use-of-her-limbs/
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
While the intention of the researchers is no doubt a kind one, this is actually a terrible idea. Infants with mobility delays should be using physical therapy at every possible opportunity to overcome the mobility issues, not be given a crutch that decreases their chances and desire to move on their own. If the child ultimately proves unable to overcome the issues, then so be it. Providing a detour at such an early age is a huge disadvantage, even if it sounds noble to the layperson.
Shut the fuck up and read the article before commenting.
"It's turning out to be difficult for some babies to sit up enough to control the WeebBot by leaning, but in at least one case, a fifteen month old boy with cerebral palsy was able to learn to control a WeeBot, after which he started to develop crawling skills on his own."
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Capcom thought about this a while ago http://capcom.wikia.com/wiki/Baby_Head
Are there still babies being born with Down syndrome and Spina Bifida ? I though tests of those (and others) were performed on all pregnant women, resulting in abortion in those cases.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
And thus, this well intentioned invention will lead to the future envisioned in Disney's "Wall-E".
Frankly, I've never seen a more depressing movie in my life. I hope they save these Weebots for only the kids that really need them. Anything else is a lazy, slippery slope.
Necron69
Mod parent up; I hate sitcoms more than ANYONE (I don't own even own a TV) but the dialogue in that show contains some truly brilliant lines (just try and seclude yourself from the mediocrity of the world; it'll follow you right down into your hole). :)
What about the rest of us?!
As Canada is the only nation on the planet insane enough to ban walkers (with possession carrying a harsher penalty than negligent driving), these would likely fall under the ban of infant mobility devices.
> a way to fuse babies with robots
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT put frickin' lasers on their heads!! :-o