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Team Aims To Build Robot Toddler In Nine Months

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-a-robot dept.

Zothecula writes "If robots are going to be part of our everyday lives, they'll need to fit into our homes rather than the factory floor. Few people would be comfortable living with a metal spider on tank treads, so the University of Zurich's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is building a robot toddler called 'Roboy.' Using 'soft robotics' technology that mimics the human body, the 1.2 meter (3 ft, 11 in) tall humanoid robot is part of an effort to make robots that people are more comfortable with in day-to-day situations."

19 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. 9 Months? No way. by ashshy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Give me nine female robotic engineers -- I need that baby in a month!

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    #o#
    O Moo.
    1. Re:9 Months? No way. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't forget the robot diapers! That oil discharge has to go somewhere.

  2. toddler? by C0R1D4N · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or a Robbit?

  3. Failing by HaZardman27 · · Score: 2

    That thing looks far more terrifying than a metal spider on tank treads.

    --
    Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    1. Re:Failing by rubycodez · · Score: 2

      but you can punt it! that's way better than some intimidating 6 foot android

  4. Robot invaders by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Making robots that look like humans do not make people more comfortable... It freaks them out.

    1. Re:Robot invaders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Sir, the Uncanny Valley isn't deep enough!"
      "Then start digging!"

    2. Re:Robot invaders by AwesomeMcgee · · Score: 2

      Seriously, where did these guys get this idea in their head? Do they honestly believe what they're saying or are they just fooling with people saying these things with the eventual goal of really screwing with people when they actually create the thing. I mean, if I could do it, I would too, just to mess with people. But I would have no allusions that it would be beneficial in the least towards the ends they're talking about.

    3. Re:Robot invaders by AwesomeMcgee · · Score: 2

      As someone with one child who wishes he could have another, that whole "My dog is my child" thing effing creeps me out. Seriously, that is jacked. Perhaps you're right, the type of folks who are emotionally lost enough to attribute their dog as their child would also be happy to attribute it to a robot... Though for the rest of us, the uncanny valley is a trainwreck.

  5. More what? by TheCarp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In what way excactly do we need to become MORE comfortable with machines than we are now?

    Has driving a car, warming food in a microwave, and allowing a roomba to vacuume my floors not enough? None of these make me uncomfortable, despite their lack of human interface. Why should other forms of purpose built machines, or even general purpose, suddenly need to be humanoid?

    Don't get me wrong, its cool research, and it could yield some interesting results but... as something required to make us more comfortable with machines? Nah, not unless you mean having sex with machines or something.... even that we already have people quite comfortable with some rather non-human form mimicing products.

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    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    1. Re:More what? by KevReedUK · · Score: 2

      ...unless you mean having sex with machines or something....

      In which case, the suggestion of modelling robots on toddlers is even more discomforting!

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      Just my $0.03 (At current exchange rates, my £0.02 is worth more than your $0.02)
    2. Re:More what? by aicrules · · Score: 2

      there are a lot of people who will continue to react towards technology in general with a skeptical and very negative attitude. There are still people today who think a microwave is scary. However, as the devices become more prevalent, and as more of them assume more autonomous capabilities, each new generation will be less and less likely to hold prejudice against robotic humanoids. Prejudice as has been explored in such science fictional characters as Data and iRobot also helps society understand that potential before it actually happens. There are likely still numbers of people in the billions who would be extremely uncomfortable, many to the point of violent action, with the creation of a very human-like artificial lifeform that for many purposes replaces a human.

    3. Re:More what? by icebike · · Score: 2

      In general, I agree, but robots don't have to "conceive" of decommissioning people in order to be dangerous.

      The default state in robots is that they have no concept of saving human life. You virtually never see humans working near robots in industry, its just too dangerous.

      So we have the opposite of "conception" as the default, and nobody seems to worry about mandating safety of life as the starting point, or even recognizing it as a need, except when reading science fiction, where is is merely hand-waved into existence. Industrial systems today rely on humans shutting off the robots when there is a need to approach them, not the other way around.

      The military is actually ahead of industry in this regard. The US Defense department is worried that autonomous weapons might be developed with no human decisions in the loop, and has preemptively banned such.

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    4. Re:More what? by bmo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      >The default state in robots is that they have no concept of saving human life. You virtually never see humans working near robots [hyperwrite.com] in industry, its just too dangerous.

      Bullshit.

      Not everything is an industrial welding cell.

      People use robots all the time, but we don't call them robots. We call them CNC machine tools, which is just semantics. They are as robotic as anything colloquially called a "robot." Turret presses are robots too. Nearly every industrial tool is a robot these days, That's not to say that there aren't interlocks and guards, but we don't give machinery the wide berth that you imply. You just have to keep hands out of the work envelope and this is typically done with light curtains.

      In the old days of using single stage manually operated punch presses, before my time, there would be literally leashes on one's wrists that took your hands out the of the work envelope once the switch was pressed. Indeed, I will certainly say that today's robotics are a lot safer than the cam-driven stuff of yester-year. In the old days, light curtains were science fiction, and you couldn't just instantly halt a machine tool like you can today.

      But not only that, I saw a program last week about a Frito Lay plant (I believe it was in KC), and the warehouse floor was full of robotic pallet transports mingling among humans (that did surprise me)

      If everything needed a "This shall not hurt humans" directive, we wouldn't even have automobiles or even bicycles.

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      BMO

  6. Uncanny Valley by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If the point is to make people more comfortable, I think they may have forgotten the uncanny valley effect.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

    Honestly.. would you rather have a robot that looks like a robot, or a robot that looks like a CREEPY pseudo-child?

  7. 4 foot tall toddler? by danlip · · Score: 3, Insightful

    that's scary in and of itself

  8. Clank by Esion+Modnar · · Score: 2

    Where's Ratchet? And will there be an option for a heli-lifter or jetpack?

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    They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
  9. Re:Sounds Simple by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    Don't forget about playing with that spring door stopper in 10-15 minute intervals. When I use to live in apartment, I was home sick with a pounding headache, and I was tortured with Rumble Rumble Rumble from my right ear to my left back to my right. Then a Sproing ratatatata...Sproing ratatatata...Sproing ratatatata...

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    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  10. They should take a cue from film animators by poity · · Score: 3, Insightful

    make it like Wall-E. with expressive hands.

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    your thin skin doesn't make me a troll