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The Best Robots of 2008

Posted by Soulskill on Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:57 AM
from the fully-functional dept.
Robotics Science
An anonymous reader writes "Robot innovation continued its relentless advances during 2008. SingularityHub has a showcase of the best robot videos of the past year. These robot videos are really amazing, and they show just how far we have come in the field of robotics in recent years." The videos include toy robots, robot musicians (which we've discussed in the past), modular robots that work together to move around, robots doing synchronized martial arts, the BigDog robot that can walk on almost any type of terrain, and robot soccer. We've also recently talked about a couple of robots that will bring you beer.
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[+] Toyota Unveils Violin-Playing Robot 203 comments
eldavojohn writes "Toyota has unveiled a robot that can play the violin. From the article: 'Toyota said it planned to further advance the robot's dexterity to enable it to use tools and assist with domestic duties and nursing and medical care. The robot has 17 joints in both of its hands and arms now.' It seems there have been small — or maybe even strange, impractical — advances in robotics repeatedly with demonstrations of robots performing a specialized task. Are we merely struggling to hard code each human activity as we strive for an all purpose android? Is there a chance artificial intelligence & robotics will ever become generalized enough to make interaction interesting?"
[+] New BigDog Robot Video 193 comments
John860 writes "The US company Boston Dynamics has released an amazing new video of its quadruped robot BigDog. The highlight of the video (at 1:24) shows how the robot starts slipping on ice, almost falls several times, but finally regains its balance and continues walking. The video also shows the robot's ability to cope with different types of terrains, climb and descend steep slopes, and jump. Two years ago, the older version of BigDog was already able to climb slopes, keep its balance after a strong kick, and walk on rough terrain like stones, mud, and snow. The new version weighs 235 lbs and can carry a payload of up to 340 lbs, a factor of 4 better than its predecessor."
[+] Denver Couple Unveils Homemade Service Robot 140 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Jim & Louise Gunderson, owners of a Denver-based computer software tool development company, have finally unveiled their autonomous robot, Basil. Basil is completely home built, runs Linux with some instructions in Java, uses a sonar-based 'reification' logic system, and can go get you a beer or a pot of tea. Quoting: 'The plan is this: The Gundersons will ask Basil to go to the bar, request a couple of stouts from the bartender, and then, once they're placed on the titanium tray perched on his head, bring them back to his creators. They haven't told him how to do this — there's no set script in his processors that tells him to roll a certain distance southwest, speak a certain command, then come back. He'll have to figure it all out on his own, using a basic knowledge of bars and beers and so on, reasoning skills and an ability to understand certain parts of the world. When his sonars capture the image of a person, for example, he knows it's a person, not just a nameless object to be avoided. And he knows that, in this case, that person wants a beer.'"
[+] A Robotic Bartender, and How To Build One 66 comments
Jamie Price writes with a nice tutorial on putting technology to use in the service of mankind, with one of his latest projects — BaR2D2. "BaR2D2 is a radio-controlled, mobile bar that features a motorized beer elevator, motorized ice/mixer drawer, six-bottle shot dispenser, and sound activated neon lighting. The robot is driveable so you can take the party on the road! It was created in my garage using standard hand/power tools and readily available parts and materials. Here is a video of it in action. To see the full how-to with tons of pictures, check out the build.
Submission: The Best Robots of 2008 by Anonymous Coward
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  • Until there is a robot in the kitchen (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rolfwind (528248) on Sunday January 18 2009, @12:09PM (#26507083)

    Robots as we imagine them haven't really evolved. I think the number 1 advancement in robotics of 2008 will be the memristor, if it delivers what some say it will to artificial intelligence (will programming languages fundamentally change considering that, new keywords and all?)

    The synchronized robots are nice, but besides the lack of muscle (being worked upon), it seems the lack of brain is holding back robotics indefinitely. It seems as if would be like the car industry trying to advance in the late 1800s and early 1900s without a suitable motor to power everything else about the vehicle.

    • Re:Until there is a robot in the kitchen (Score:5, Insightful)

      by geckipede (1261408) on Sunday January 18 2009, @12:30PM (#26507287)
      A memristor isn't going to suddenly allow you to make computers that can do more than any other turing-machine-alike. If it did change the game for mobile AIs, we'd be able to simulate the effect on giant static hardware already.
    • Bob May, who wore The Robot's suit in the hit 1960s television show "Lost in Space," died Sunday at age 69.
      Here is the story from AP. [google.com]

      The Robot is best known for calling: "DANGER, Will Robinson". The actual voice recorded was that of the announcer for the show.

  • Fembots? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz (883997) on Sunday January 18 2009, @12:10PM (#26507085)

    Call me when there's a fembot that will bring pizza and beer (and er....other services) without being summoned to do so. Then I'll be all set to retire and contemplate truly meaningful things like how to more effectively eliminate lint and sweater pills. Oh, and mister designer...don't forget the MUTE button.

  • No NXT? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Virtualetters (980728) on Sunday January 18 2009, @12:14PM (#26507125)
    The engineering introduction to programming course at my university uses Lego NXT robots as a mainstay. Having played around with them, I am amazed at the flexibility. Someone with a little time and dedication could make a pretty decent version of most of the robots in each of the videos. That said, I've seen some great videos of NXT robots this year and was a little disappointed to see none of them in the list. BTW, the Big Dog video's kick moment is probably the highlight of all. I was expecting a little tap but the kicker really goes all out and I almost feel sorry for him when the robot recovers so easily.
    • And I felt sorry for BigDog after that kick. Great piece of engineering. Let's hope it doesn't become intelligent enough to kick back!

      • Something about the way it moves makes me want to burn and destroy it. Man that thing gives me the shivers. It looks like two guys in a horse suit, but facing each other.

        It must inhabit the uncanny valley for me.

        • I can see why you say that - it is certainly more than a bit creepy. I think it's not lifelike enough to have reached any uncanny valley for me. (I'm not sure I have one, I've never seen anything that inhabits it. Yet.)

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by oever (233119)

          You man like this [laughingsquid.com]?

    • A fully loaded BigDog could take a kick on snow and ice something like a year ago. If that's the highlight of THIS year's video then it must be well behind the state of the art. Or there's no news, which I guess, is good news (no skynet yet.)

  • welcome our new self-assembling, soccer-playing, all-terrain, cyborg overlords.

  • Theo Jansens Strandbeesten [strandbeest.com] are not mentioned. I'm reading his excellent book 'The Great Pretender' now. There he explains his dream to build autonomous beasts from PVC conduits. He is making good progress. Especially the smooth walking motion is impressive.
    He did a talk [ted.com] at TED in 2007.

    • Theo Jansens Strandbeesten [strandbeest.com] are not mentioned. [...] He did a talk [ted.com] at TED in 2007.

      How odd, it's not a robot, and it's not from 2008, and it wasn't mentioned in The Best Robots of 2008.
      I can't understand why!!!

      Aside from the fact that you couldn't be more off topic if you tried, mad props to Theo, delusions of grandeur notwithstanding, his creations are amazing.

      • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

        by oever (233119)

        I do not think that being off-topic will stop the post from getting +5 Interesting.
        Why do you think Theo's creations are not robots? Where does it say robots have to use electrical circuitry?
        Also, not all robots in the list are from 2008. BigDog was covered [slashdot.org] on slashdot in 2006.

    • Good lord, I read this as "he explains his dream to build autonomous breasts from PVC conduits.

      I need to sort myself out :)

  • There's been real progress (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats (122034) on Sunday January 18 2009, @12:36PM (#26507331) Homepage

    Very nice. If you haven't been paying attention to Japanese hobbyist robotics, you may not have realized how far things have come. They're way beyond Lego Mindstorms. Humanoid toy-sized robots are going through obstacle courses. The robotic toys in the $100-$200 range are becoming quite good, too. WowWee Toys has a line of advanced robotic toys, including the first production fembot. [wowwee.com]

    At the high end, there's Big Dog, of course. The successor to Big Dog is the Legged Squad Support System [wikipedia.org], now in the bidding stage at DARPA. LS3 is "Big Dog on steroids". Big Dog was an experimental machine; the LS3 will be a combat-ready prototype. The specs for LS3 call for military temperature requirements, a quieter engine, more payload, faster running, longer range, operation in snow, sandstorms, and rain, and the ability to ford a rushing stream three feet deep. LS3 is intended to haul the heavy weapons of a squad just about anywhere an infantry squad can go.

    All the technology is falling into place. The navigation and vision from the DARPA Grand Challenge, the success of the newer algorithms in machine learning, the balance and slip control of Big Dog, and the cost structure of the toy industry are coming together. We have not yet seen the "killer app", but I think that robotics is now where personal computers were in about 1976, after the Apple I but before the Apple II.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Animats (122034)

        No offense to DARPA, not all of the navigation and vision algorithms in those cars with a whole set of high speed computers are really practical for use on smaller home service robots.

        Vision works better on home service robots that it does outdoors. Outdoors, getting a long enough baseline for a stereo pair is hard, except through motion vision. Humans only have stereo out to a few meters, anyway. SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Mapping) for mobile robots is getting quite good. Willow Robotics demoed t

    • We have not yet seen the "killer app"

      I think you're right, but I'd say it's very likely that the "killer app" will quite literally be a "killer app"... or at least an "app" that facilitates killing. There's tons of DARPA/DoD money going into this, and the sooner we get robosoldiers, the sooner we can have less casualties, hopefully on all sides. Or at least that will be the plan.

      • Actually like the big dog, I think the killer app will not be killing machines, but machines to carry our crap and do the simple chores (like mowing, vacuming, sweeping, carrying laundry up and down the stairs.) will be the first real setups.

        Of couse one could argue we don't get enough exercise as it is.

        • Yeah, I agree. That's kind of what I meant by an app which facilitates killing. They're not going to do the actual killing, but they're going to make it a lot easier. (Or if you want to be a little less jaded, they'll help make our soldiers more effective - which certainly involves more than killing)
    • I don't like these new fembots. They make me feel far creepier than polite society will generally allow me to feel...

    • I so want a chevaline.

  • Oh no! They're taking over already!

  • Industrial Robots (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dabel (573340) on Sunday January 18 2009, @12:56PM (#26507505) Homepage
    Don't forget about industrial robots. While not garnering as much media attention as the robots in the link, today's industrial robots can pull off some amazing work.

    4 robot coordinated system with 2 robots exchanging holding fixtures and coordinating with 2 more welding robots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EK1ad4-gWM [youtube.com]

    1 robot system taking human-readable commands from a linux based touchscreen and generating offsets and moves dynamically http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFSCm24O7lA [youtube.com]

    (full disclosure - I work at the company, Automation IG [automationig.com], that designed and built these robot cells)

  • ... I welcome our Dalek overlords.

  • The server seems to be running on a robot... and the robot has left the building. Impressive.

  • What could be better than a giant robot [youtube.com] shooting lasers out of his face and trash talking to communists? Plus his voice sounds like Optimus!
  • Allow me to add a few, since I might know a thing or two about this subject. Some of you might remember Flame, a robot designed at the TU Delft, and being used to further understand human walking (he walks like we do, as opposed to for example Asimo...)

    http://www.3me.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=c4fa06f1-b767-4a67-a19e-ea3356400f06&lang=en [tudelft.nl]

    The nice people at DBL (Delft Biorobotics Laboratory) have built a next generation robot called TUlip

    http://www.dutchrobotics.net
    for those interested. Th
  • Did I miss something? Why are half of the front page stories tagged Republicans when they have nothing to do with republicans?
    • Yeah, the tags are unfortunately, still F'd. I wish they had a blog or something, because I'm curious about how their algorithm works (but too lazy to actually read the code). Hopefully /. is aware the tagging system still needs work.

  • Isn't this obvious? They should give one to Steve Ballmer! He'll just throw it against the wall over and over instead of screwing things up and maybe MS will turn into a decent company, at last...

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKpP4Fe1YHE [youtube.com]

    Maybe it can't carry a payload, but it'll give you nightmares.

  • Has DARPA announced any plan for a follow-up to its Grand Challenge contest -- the one with the simulated city driving course?
  • BigDog was the only one of those that really made me sit up and think, "That thing CANNOT become sentient, or we are DOOMED!"

  • Robots are pretty much where lasers were in the early 60s. Now lasers are used in fields of science, engineering, and day to day life that are pretty much beyond the wildest dreams of the scientists and engineers who were busy coaxing coherent light out of crystaline rods.

    Industrial robots have been around for some time. Humanoid robots are about to become the next big thing. Exploratory robots, giving human beings unprecedented operational and experiential access to the vanishingly small, unprecedentedly l

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