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."

This robot almost saved my life

[Drinking Bleach (975757)]

But it BSOD'd at the wrong time!

Re:This robot almost saved my life

[mongoose(!no) (719125)]

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 (1273720)]

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 (1015143)]

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:

[mdfst13 (664665)]

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 d

Re:

[dotancohen (1015143)]

This kind of robot would act to find ways to encourage the person to continue kicking.

Why doesn't it, you know, give her a hand? The robot is either holding onto something, and can therefore help her support herself in the water, or attached to the woman in the well, in which case it's more weight and dragging her down.

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.

No joke, some soldiers carry gameboys and other things just to pass by the dull moments. There are lots of dull moments.

Re:

[dotancohen (1015143)]

Then you've never seen someone die. It's not all nice and calm, and they don't talk, like in the movies. Rather, they spill and squirt blood, and drag themselves around, and claw at their wounds, and either scream or try to. They shit and piss themselves. They are confused and do not usually accept what is happening to them, if they even understand at all. I've seen it enough times, thank you (or rather, thank Nasrallah), and trust me, you don't want your family to see you like that.

Oooh, soothing music!

[peccary (161168)]

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

Re:

[MichaelSmith (789609)]

He's your plastic pal who's fun to be with.

Re:Oooh, soothing music!

[Hojima (1228978)]

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

go stick your head in a pig

[CDMA_Demo (841347)]

Share and Enjoy....btw whats so funny about this anyway?

Re:

[Leuf (918654)]

Do not taunt Survivor Buddy.

Re:

[HexRei (515117)]

In this case he transforms into Decoy and Bullet Sponge Buddy.

Re:

[mrbluze (1034940)]

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 (87723)]

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.

Top five Survivor Buddy songs for your sniper fire

[Cappy Red (576737)]

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

Re:

[hey! (33014)]

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

Which turns out to be just the thing MyGyver needs; he shreds the napkins into fine paper dust, stuffs some steel tubing ripped from the robot's chassis with it, banging each end shut with debris. A pair of wires from the robot's power harness leads into the tubing.

He then touches the wires to the robot's battery, and the homemade bomb fizzles. Fortunately, the robot's Li-ion battery is constructed from Chinese made

Predicts the future.

[www.sorehands.com (142825)]

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

Re:

[CDMA_Demo (841347)]

how predictable!

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

[jsupersample (751850)]

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

Re:And as a Testament to the Fla University system

[ResidntGeek (772730)]

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.

Of course...

[Darkness404 (1287218)]

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 (16995)]

"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 (567479)]

"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:

[Donniedarkness (895066)]

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

Re:

[fastest fascist (1086001)]

"I detect more than one person in the immediate vicinity. Please enter your credit card details to enable Public Performance mode. Alternatively, you may wish to wait approximately 20 minutes, at which point I estimate the audience to be 1 or 0, and no payment will be necessary."

20 minutes later:
"It has been a pleasure serving you!"

Re:

[Jafafa Hots (580169)]

"Your welfare is very important to us... please continue to hold on to life and the next available EMT will be with you shortly."

GPP

[by 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 (944892)]

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 (789609)]

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:

[turtledawn (149719)]

a) I think you didn't look at the pictures. It's currently a breadbox on tank treads- no uncanny valley issues there.

b) Surely it could just beep and boop, if it wasn't directly transmitting human voices? Everyone's seen Star Wars- if you made it sound like R2 I don't think anyone would interpret it as patronizing.

Re:

[cavePrisoner (1184997)]

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.

Re:

[darkmeridian (119044)]

Definitely. Imagine being trapped under rubble and being stuck with Clippy to keep you company. "I see you are trapped under a pile of rubble. Do not worry; help is one the way."

Re:

[hey! (33014)]

The uncanny valley works both ways though. The closer to human you get, the more the person perceiving looks back towards the robotic edge of the valley. A few steps into the valley from the robotic side keeps the person focused on the far edge.

The trick is not to try to make the robot human like; the trick is to give the robot behaviors that are purposeful and reassuring, and let human imagination bridge the gap.

How many military personnel have developed almost human feelings towards machines who they ha

I am not a child

[Junior J. Junior III (192702)]

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:

[Mr. Picklesworth (931427)]

Well then, it can make you happy. All they have to do is build some easily demolished model clippies and people will never die unsatisfied again.

Re:

[stuffeh (1108283)]

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

Roomba. iPod. Duct tape.

[jpellino (202698)]

We're done here.

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

Just one question.....

[chinaguy (1022547)]

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

What a stupid idea!

[gozu (541069)]

What is the point of sending robots with hearts? It's not like trapped victims is going to be able to replace their own heart if they have a heart attack...

And before you protest, sure, they can eat the heart and get some nutrients and liquid from it but why not send them robots with cookies and lemonade instead? They taste much better and are a lot cheaper.

note: I didn't read the summary as I'm posting late and every second counts.

More than just an iPod

[ezratrumpet (937206)]

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.

Just what I need when pinned down by snipers

[spazmonkey (920425)]

Some nice music and some entertainment to distract me, say a nice game of checkers or a rerun of 'The Lion King'....

Maybe if it was designed to go out and draw some fire, it would be both useful and entertaining!
Who thinks up this shite?

Sirius Cybernetics marketing department at work?

[Steve1952 (651150)]

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 (207550)]

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 (1235418)]

plans to add a heart to robot rescuers

IRON MAN

If trapped, all I need is...

[roskakori (447739)]

...a Nintendo DS and Super Mario Cart.

Sigh.....

[IHC Navistar (967161)]

"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."

-Yeah. Like I relly want to listen to a robot sing "Feelngs" why my family watches me spend the day getting shot at. Real good.

Make it able to RECORD a message

[ofcourseyouare (965770)]

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.

Clippy UI

[PPH (736903)]

Please, dear God! Take me now!

Re:bad scenarios

[Darkness404 (1287218)]

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.