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Linux-powered Robots From France? Oui!

Posted by timothy on Thu Jul 20, 2006 09:01 AM
from the hobart-college-dept-of-egnineering dept.
Robotics Software Linux
An anonymous reader writes "A French start-up created to build autonomous, easily programmable, affordable humanoid robots expects to ship its first product — a humanoid household service robot running Linux — in early 2007. The walking, talking, WiFi-enabled Nao household robot will stand 21.6 inches tall, and will feature 23 "degrees of freedom" of motion — three more than the 14-inch tall Choromet android announced earlier this week by four Japanese companies. Nao's extra degrees of freedom appear to come in the form of gripping hands."
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Linux-powered Robots From France? Oui! 50 Comments More /

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  • 3...2...1... (Score:3, Funny)

    by lbrandy (923907) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:03AM (#15749562)
    I for one welcome our new blah blah blah overlords. Please, let your first act be banning this joke.

    • Non, non, non !!! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:19AM (#15749680)
      Laissé soyez soit le premier à dire...

      I pour un, font bon accueil à nos nouveaux suzerains Linux-actionnés de robot de France !

      • Re:Non, non, non !!! (Score:4, Informative)

        by Yvanhoe (564877) on Thursday July 20 2006, @10:37AM (#15750209) Journal
        I as one am, want merry welcome our overlorded linuxed French robot.

        That should hurt your brain like it did mine :-)

        Je suis fier d'être le premier à déclarer (correctement):
        Bienvenue à nos nouveaux suzerains robotiques tournant sous linux !

  • Oddly... (Score:3, Funny)

    by The-Bus (138060) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:07AM (#15749595) Homepage
    This robot runs on free beer.
  • My 4 year old son is obsessed with making his own "Mario angel" (aka - from "Angelic Layer"), and I've started looking for small, programmable robots he can putter with - anything bigger, and I fear for the safety of my household when he tries to program it with a Butt Stomp or some such.

  • AIEEEE!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by $RANDOMLUSER (804576) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:09AM (#15749602)
    So many jokes, so little time...
    ...our new rude smelly overlords...
    ...robot army surrenders...
    ...collabrative software...

  • These are not the droids your looking for. (Score:5, Funny)

    by digitaldc (879047) * on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:09AM (#15749610)
    Aldebaran Robotics was founded in early 2005 by Bruno Maisonnier. The company employs about a dozen, is 5 percent employee-owned, and has 17 investors, led by Maisonnier, who holds a 58 percent stake.

    Wait a minute, wasn't Alderaan Robotics completely destroyed by Grand Moff Tarkin a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?

  • Yes, but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by carnellm (256788) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:14AM (#15749643) Homepage
    Will they head-butt their opponents?
  • I mean, this is great - but will they get anything done in July or August? And, during those months, will they be supporting open-source Speedos?
    • I mean, this is great - but will they get anything done in July or August? And, during those months, will they be supporting open-source Speedos?

      Worse yet, will you be able to fire them when they become lazy and incompetent?

  • When will someone take the sensors, gyros and other items used to make this work and upscale it so we can finally have Mech wars?

  • Do we really want a talking French robot? (Score:5, Funny)

    by DieByWire (744043) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:19AM (#15749674)
    The software will also enable users to program their android's behavior, emotional expressions, speech synthesizer...


    I see it coming already: "I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."

    Reaches for remote...

    "Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time."

    I'm not so sure this is a good idea.

  • Jolie! (Score:3, Funny)

    by marcello_dl (667940) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:19AM (#15749678) Homepage Journal
    Let's see if the open source philosophy works with hardware too. For instance, Italian hackers could teach this robot to play soccer, French hackers to do proper headbutts, German ones to make unfunny jokes about other nations, and so on.
  • will we have a Nao robot head-butting its opponents?
  • Daft Punk fans have known this since the 90s. Witness their latest non-musical project Electroma [youtube.com]. It's a beautiful movie that follows two brave robots who want to find out what it means to be human.

  • I, for one, (Score:4, Funny)

    by greenegg77 (718749) on Thursday July 20 2006, @09:23AM (#15749703) Homepage Journal
    I, for one, look forward to our new French robotic overlords' surrender.
    • "Maisonnier believes the field of robotics to be "perfectly adapted" to the French culture, thanks to demands that include conceptual thinking, theoretical knowledge, practical capabilities, and resourcefulness."

      Good thing they aren't trying to make warbots.

      (Sorry, but the parent post started...)

    • Re:I, for one, (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      These jokes don't translate well outside of the U.S.. Quite the opposite, it gives the impression Americans are typically imbecilic. 'Yuk it up.'
  • ah, nevermind. The horse is putrescent. Is there a hose nearby? I need to wash off my boots.

  • A surly, chain-smoking robot, to not do the work you need to get done around the home, which you cannot fire. Sign me up!

    Disclaimer: Been to France a couple of times and actually the above would more properly be typical of Parisian behavior; the French people outside Paris have always been quite nice.

  • The HKR-1 [sozbots.com] has been out for a while now. At a ballpark of $1,500, affordability is debatable.

    Seems like a very similar platform, minus the wifi (which could be added).

    I would be interested to see the price point at which these new linux+wifi bots would be sold. I would be surprised to see a sub $500 pricetag, and probably happy to see a sub $1,000 price point.

    I wonder what this company feels is affordable?
  • Aren't there only six?
  • At first I thought, "Cool! Some innovative /.'er will mod this to do cool stuff like wash dishes or vacuum". Then I remembered how nafareous some of you guys are. Please keep in mind. This robot is too short to be a sex toy!
  • Nao's extra degrees of freedom appear to come in the form of gripping hands. Coochi-coochi coo!

  • The French and Robots (Score:3, Funny)

    by refriedchicken (961967) on Thursday July 20 2006, @10:13AM (#15750017)
    Atleast we know Isaac Asimov's Laws of not harming anyone will be followed.
  • The use of humanoid robots will be limited to pointless tasks (greeters at Walmart)in the future. They are difficult to make, difficult to maintain (mechanically) and won't ever match the abilities of humans as long as we keep them "humanoid". The cost will never be less than the minimal benefits. You'd be better off with holograms for greeters once the technology is ironed out. In fact, for virtually any human/sentient machine interaction you're better off with holograms or VR. The only need for robot
  • ...doesnt sound quite the same

    mordre mon âne brillant en métal.

    mordre:bite
    mon:my
    brilliant:shiny
    (you get the picture)
  • > and will feature 23 "degrees of freedom" of motion

    you mean as in "freedom fries"?

    Also, do french robots only move backwards? (hey wait, weren't those italian robots? my bad...)

  • Link to the site, not to the blog (Score:4, Informative)

    by Animats (122034) on Thursday July 20 2006, @11:56AM (#15750883) Homepage
    Please link to the actual site [aldebaran-robotics.com], not the blog. We don't need to read all the blogodreck and ads.
    • These will be the first robots trained to say "I SURRENDER!" in 27 languages! I also think that the 23 degrees of motion and gripping hands will be used to hold a white flag.

      We may jest, but the French do have a long history of engineering. From the Eiffel Tower to Airbus, they have a good track record. I believe that the first ever hot air baloon flight was also there in the 18th century.

      I am not usually a fan of the French, but I have to admit that they do a pretty good job of building stuff. Of cou

    • Re:obligatory (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah know, this French "rifle dropping" stuff just isn't right. Now if you want to see first class rifle dropping read about the Anschluss Österreichs. It was bad engineering (frontline guns couldn't rotate enough) that allowed the Nazis to get into France, not the lack of courage. The French Resistance had serious testicle fortitude, the Austrians just rolled over and "thank you sir, may I have another".
      • It was bad engineering (frontline guns couldn't rotate enough) that allowed the Nazis to get into France,

        Two responses.
        First: I blame the software guys who wrote the frontlineGuns() routine.
        Second: "The Germans wouldn't dare go through those woods to the north, would they?"
      • since it runs Linux, it can do no harm.

        That's because the user will be spending 99% of their time updating to the latest versions of the software packages and being told to RTFM by tech support when it won't turn on.

        But at least it isn't running windows, that would scare me.
    • Well, "French" fries are actually Beligan. Although I have yet to see "Freedom Fries" on a menu anywhere, I suspect the whole thing was rather more an occasion for Gallic bemusement rather than anger.

      A lot can be explained by the probability that American farm-boy GIs had a bit of difficulty with the distinction between somebody who happens to speak French and somebody who is of the French nationality. One wonders how many of them refused to stay "down on the farm" after visiting Brussels.
    • > Seriously, A french robot? Come on. Its for sale as a submissive sex partner isn't it? I mean, thats all the french seem to be good for anyways...the submissive part.

      At least the French seem to appreciate sex. Americans, sex - nah, does not compute.

    • Re:Anything useful to add? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Nope. The American contingent is too busy propping up its low self-esteem with pallid jokes about the French. The irony is the jokes are based on France's refusal to acquiesce to American pressure, but that level of subtlety is well beyond the grasp of the majority of simians posting so far.

      • Oh please. From Wikipedia:

        Battle of Dien Bien Phu (Vietnamese: Chin dch in Biên Ph) was the final battle in the First Indochina War between France and Vietnamese revolutionary forces called the Viet Minh (short for Vit Nam Ðc Lp Ðng Minh Hi or the League for the Independence of Vietnam). These forces were part of what is referred to as the People's Army of Vietnam. The battle occurred between March and May, 1954, and ended in a massive French defeat that effectively ended the war.

        The res

    • I wouldn't call it easy, but yeah a robot-soldier is technically in the realm of possibility. South-Korea has such a research program. It should produce something (a land-drone with machine-gun) by 2010.

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