Robots Do The Darndest Things 145
alito writes "15 years ago they couldn't get them to walk, now they are rollerskating (video). Read more about the 2004 Intelligent Robotics and Systems conference in this New Scientist article, and at the conference's site. Also shown at IROS, a childbirth simulator for obstetricians, a capsule that crawls through your intestines, and a 3-mm long swimming robot. (No, I don't get paid by New Scientist.)"
Duping yourself now timothy? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Duping yourself now timothy? (Score:2)
Re:Duping yourself now timothy? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Duping yourself now timothy? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Duping yourself now timothy? (Score:2)
SOSDD (Score:4, Funny)
I'd really like to see... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'd really like to see... (Score:2)
I'm waiting for Robots Gone Wild: NASA edition.
I think it will be a prelude to Judgement Day.
As long as they don't get them confused... (Score:5, Funny)
Doctor: Okay, put the robot in.
Patient: Doc, this feels a little funny...
Doctor: Nurse, which robot did you use?
Nurse: Oh dear god, I think I used the roller skating one!
Patient: AAaagggh...
Doctor: D'oh, there goes another one!
Nurse: Well, I'm off to check on the obstetrical robot!
Doctor: Make sure that one's not wearing rollerskates!
what's the point? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:what's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
if you ever have tried rollerskating then you should know that it requires quite good balance and body control
Re:what's the point? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:what's the point? (Score:1, Interesting)
How about improving the existing robots we have now, and moving on from there?
Re:what's the point? (Score:3, Funny)
Last time I checked a very large proportion of the population was born in some way.
Re:what's the point? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm pretty sure my ex girlfriend wasn't so much "born" as she was "spawned"...
Re:what's the point? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:what's the point? (Score:1, Insightful)
I disagree. We don't want robots to go the way of cellphones, where they can make calls, take photos, play mp3s, etc, all in a mediocre way. I'd prefer to have an army of small robot each specializing in a handful of tasks. This way, each robot can be built well by a specialist in the area, and when the shopping robots breaks I can still use the cleaning robot, or upgrade the sex robot without upgrading my singing robot...
Re:what's the point? (Score:1)
Re:what's the point? (Score:1)
It seemed to avoid the balance situation by picking its feet up very slowly to keep the wheels of the down foot in static friction. The only time it rolled anywhere was rolling it onto the table.
Re:what's the point? (Score:1)
Matt
Robot == Intelligent mechantronics device (Score:2)
In terms of the intelligence, there aren't much improvements...
Re:what's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
As most things in our world are built around our type of mobility (legs), an autonomous real world robot will interact with us and our world far better if it emulates our system of mobility.
Thats the point.
Re:what's the point? (Score:1)
Cleaning robots: two roads [Re: what's the point?] (Score:2)
Maybe roller-skating is much easier than cleaning a real home with all its niches and obstacles, after all. You'd have to teach the robot that the carpet has to be hoovered, and the windows need to be cleaned with a sponge, water and a few drops of dish washing liquid in it and not the other way round. You need to tell it not to pour any water over your brand new 21" TFT, and you'd have to hardwire the use of stonger det
Re:Cleaning robots: two roads [Re: what's the poin (Score:1)
I don't think this is very hard. You just have to give the robot a list of things together with the apropriate detergent. The more difficult part about cleaning
Re:Cleaning robots: two roads [Re: what's the poin (Score:2)
Okay. But if location of things is not fixed (chairs) or can contain objects (tables, desks), then you need to recognize objects before matching "things" against your detergent list. Pattern recognition is hard.
Re:what's the point? (Score:2)
Why does everything new have to be immediately 10
IROS 2004 website (Score:4, Informative)
Rollerbot Mirror (Score:5, Informative)
http://shell.athenet.net/~files/rollerbot.wmv
It'll probably get slashdotted too, but to sources are better than one right?
Re:Rollerbot Mirror (Score:1)
Coral cache of Mirror (Score:4, Informative)
Well if you did get paid by New Scientist... (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Well if you did get paid by New Scientist... (Score:1, Funny)
Hopefully you are now disliked by New Scientist.
11k/sec and dropping!
Rollerskating robots.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Rollerskating robots.... (Score:1)
I already have a robot that washes my dishes... (Score:2)
Oh wait, that's my dishwasher.
Let's not foget about... (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.dannybot.com/
Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled (Score:5, Informative)
These Japanese are playing stricks with the media saying they have advanced robots when in fact they are nothing more than radio controlled "toys"!
Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled (Score:3, Informative)
http://science.howstuffworks.com/asimo6.htm [howstuffworks.com]
Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled (Score:4, Interesting)
No, that robot is the Sony robot. A completely different beast.
Japan is funding research into humanoid robot devellopment, and so all the big companies are develloping their own.
Honda was the first to get a humanoid walking robot. By now its smaller, runs on batteries and they even programmed it to recognise faces and a few words of japanese. You can instruct it verbally to follow you around, its quite an achievement.
Sony has their doll sized robots who can dance and run around and allmost skate (its not really skating), and it can mimic the movement of a surfer on a mechanised surf board. It impressed me by its ability to keep its balanced when lightly shoved, and to get back up if it falls down.
Toyota has a trumpet playing robot, who was on wheels at first, but they pretty much had to give it legs after the other two did it. And in doing so also made a sort of robot-legged chair, the demo video of which is worth seeing for the look of great fear in its test pilot's eyes, despite his helmet and four point harness.
As far as commercial applications, Honda rents its robot to companies and museums for its coolness factor, and has plans to sell it as a household appliance for the elderly. Its the size of a child and I think they aim to have it able to perform the simple tasks an old person might give a child to do as chores. Pick stuff up, help them out of bed and whatnot.
Sony are apparently going for the high-tech doll market, a follow-up to its robot dog product line.
Toyota...I dunno, superhuman robot orchestra? They seem to be a "mee too" effort.
Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled (Score:1)
Yeah, I found the image processing of the ASIMO [honda.com] to be quite amazing.
Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled (Score:2)
Re:Robot isn't autonomous, its remotley controlled (Score:2)
World's Greatest Android Projects (Score:1)
Hey.... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Hey.... (Score:1, Funny)
3mm long swimming robots? (Score:4, Funny)
scary.....
Re:3mm long swimming robots? (Score:1)
Is all eugenics bad?
Getting small (Score:3, Funny)
Mirror (Score:5, Informative)
EEG controlled robots (Score:4, Interesting)
From TFA:
Looks like Professor Xavier may follow shortly!
But seriously, this does seem to be a real potential benefit for all humans. We will effectively be able to extend our own bodies using robotic technology, perhaps controlling figher aircraft and other complex machinery with our minds.
Re:EEG controlled robots (Score:1)
It may amaze you, but current day fighter aircraft and other complex machines are controlled by people's minds. They use an interface called "the human body".
required trek reference (Score:2)
Note that Worf tried this once [startrek.com]. There was an accident and became paralysed. One mildly sucessful treatment involved relays transmitting signals to his muscles from the brain through electronic devices.
We're headed for trouble (Score:4, Insightful)
We might as well start planning right now. The article in the posting, as well as numerous other reports, show that the robot mechanics is getting better and better. What is lacking, is some real AI. I think that within 30-50 years, if not before, this "problem" will also be solved.
That's when trouble starts. As Isaac Asimov shows in his literary "experiments" with the three laws of robotics, even *with* benign top priority imperatives NOT TO HARM humans, we may not be safe.
Given the mechanics and the AI, how will robots become a threat to us? Imagine a scientist in a robot laboratory sometime in the future. He/she has all the parts needed to produce the ultimate robot: agile and completely autonomous. I think the temptation will be too much for *any* person. It will be impossible to refrain from releasing a completely free and autonomous robot into society to see what happens. Imagine the excitement: This is comparable to a second creation; it is almost like being God.
Naturally, the robot will have a strong need for self preservation. So it will start to secure land, natural resources, labour, spare parts, factories, and so on, and build other robots and societies to fulfill these and other purposes.
This is when conflicts will start. Wars often start as a result of a disagreement over natural resources or land.
Ideas, anyone?
Robot Insurance (Score:2)
Just put Wil Smith on ice... (Score:1)
Re:We're headed for trouble (Score:3, Interesting)
The army doesn't call them robots, they call them "unmanned vehicles", but they are heading towards autonomy, and they are carrying "payloads".
Killer robots aren't a possibility, they are a reality (and besidses, industrial robots have accidently killed humans already).
Naturally, the robot will have a strong need for self preservation.
Naturally.
But the robot is not a creation of nature, and so might very well not be endowed with
Friendly AI (Score:2)
plenty [singinst.org]. And I agree with you, but while Asimov wrote some great stories, the "three laws" are a useful plot device at best. Development of real, human friendly AI will have to take into account resource contention etc. just as you point out. The most important thing is that, also as you pointed out, the temptation is too great for prohibitions to work. We have to develop friendly AI before we accidentally create unfriendly AI. (And for AI I hear include any sort of A-Life which has the pote
Re:We're headed for trouble (Score:5, Insightful)
First, the practical problems involved in creating a robot that can autonomously participate in human society is far from being solved. People have been saying for over 40 years that the solution was 30 to 50 years in the future. I wouldn't expect it to arrive in a 1000 years, if ever. And yes, I study AI.
Second, as Sartre observed, "Hell is other people". A single super robot on the loose is no match for our puny weapons. To be effective, he'd have to enlist a following. But since he's alone, those followers would have to be recruited amongst humans. But how on Earth is that ever going to happen?
Third, you make it all sound like a video game. "Secure land, natural resources, labour...". You took a page straight out of Civilization, there.
Fourth, there are a lot more pressing issues to worry about than what happens when a breed of superintelligent robots wants to dominate the planet.
Re:We're headed for trouble (Score:2)
Yes, I am highly pessimistic. The only areas where AI is making significant progress is where it derives from classical process control and signal processing. And this in itself is more a result of ever increasing processing power and improved component quality than any breakthroughs that originated in the field of AI.
The assumption seems to be that if we just keep improving sensor resolution, filtering algorithms, an
Re:We're headed for trouble (Score:1, Insightful)
Surely there's another way any robot could preserve itself: get a job. I'm serious! Assuming artificially intelligent robots aren't all-powerful laser-shooting giant killing machines, there's no reason they couldn't be as punishable by the legal system as us humans.
I mean, last time I looked, us humans had a pretty strong need for self preservation, and we don't generally
Killer autonomous robots will be intentional (Score:1, Insightful)
So considering robots and AI, if intelligent robots decide to start killing and take over the world it will be by human design before it's ever a result of robotic nature and/or independant decision. Some mallicious person will attempt to build a robot that has the skills necessary to reproduce and cause as much damange as pos
Re:Killer autonomous robots will be intentional (Score:1)
Re:We're headed for trouble (Score:2)
Why wouldn't a robot that can think as well as humans (not just compute) possess other human qualities like emotions? I think I have a strong need for self preservation, and I am starting the process of securing land, natural resources, and spare parts. It's call gett
Catheterization robot was recently tested (Score:1)
I'd like to see . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, the robot dancer/skater/stairclimber are all interesting but they run through what I assume is a static algorithm . . . what about inducing some disturbance and writing an algorithm to reject the disturbance to the robot's balance system.
Re:I'd like to see . . . (Score:2)
Seriously though, resilience against the kind of force you are describing is mostly a matter of mass. Certainly the robot shown in the video clips achieves its balance by constantly accounting for the discrepancy in where it expects to be versus where its sensors tell it it actually is: it's too
Re:I'd like to see . . . (Score:2)
When we think "robot", we think "android". (Score:3, Insightful)
The attraction for androids is only skin deep. Today's androids are just a mass of wires. Getting a robot to walk, shake hands, play chess, etc. is substantially different from a sentient machine.
Sentience impresses me, but a mechanical shaking hand does not.
When I think "robot", I think "hot female android" (Score:2)
Sentience impresses me, but a mechanical shaking hand does not.
2 words: Sex bot.
More words: Buffy bot, Cherry 2000.
You mentioned "skin deep", well we like skin [realdoll.com]. If you can teach it to shake hands, you can teach it to do other "tasks" as well.
Don't look at me like that, you're all gonna buy one!
Re:When we think "robot", we think "android". (Score:2)
I guess we can deduce how you feel about politicians then.
Johnny 5... (Score:1)
That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:5, Insightful)
Which, to anybody who's learned to skate, is of course remembered fondly as those first steps before you learned why they made you wear those uncomfortable wrist guards.
Its a nice little robotic achievement, but its not skating.
Actual skating would involve a phase of sliding along between "steps".
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:2)
Although maybe that's a painstakingly pre-programmed maneuver, and not a reaction to approaching the edge of the table.
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:2)
Yeah, but he can't get to that speed by himself. He has to be rolled off a ramp.
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:2)
It lumbers around the table akwardly, after ONE competant turn following a slide down a fixed ramp of a known lenghth and angle under controlled conditions.
Its neat, but it is not "like a very agile small human".
recall fondly the first time that I saw ASIMOV WALK
Its a new feature to their not-for-sale robotic doll, not the second coming of robot Jesus.
Cute, good work from the roboticians, but it still needs improvement: I
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:1)
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:2)
<BR> and <P> tags. Use them.
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:1)
My big block of text served a much better purpose than your attempt at instruction above.
However, I will attempt to reform.
Re:That robot is NOT rollerskating (Score:1)
my concern for robots will start when... (Score:2)
Slashcharge effect! (Score:2, Funny)
Obviously, you get paid by their web host who is now charging them $5 a gig overage charges.
Lessons from the FUTURE! (Score:2, Funny)
Narrator [in movie]: Ordinary human dating. It's enjoyable and it serves an important purpose. [He turns the table over and a crying baby appears. He turns it back again.] But when a human dates an artificial mate, there is no purpose. Only enjoyment. And that leads to...tragedy.
[The woman behind him turns into a blank robot and the man downloads a celebrity onto it.]
Billy [in movie]: Neato! A Marylin Monroebot!
Monroebot [in movie]: Ooo! You're a real dreamboat (mechanical voice) Billy Everyt
Personally, I'm not that impressed (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, if they can program a neural network that changes the leg and arm movements in relation to a physics model, and have the robot learn how to walk and skate by trail-and-error, then I'd be more impressed. THAT is what we should aim for nowadays.
Re:Personally, I'm not that impressed (Score:3, Interesting)
Its kind of creepy to walk into a dark room and hear the machinations of a dozen little robots walking back and forth for hours as they learn to walk faster.
Speaking of birthing simulators (Score:3, Funny)
prostate simulation (Score:2, Informative)
Re:prostate simulation (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Speaking of birthing simulators (Score:1)
Not everyone on /. is using Windows (Score:2, Funny)
If it's windows media or apple player only, some us using only Linux would know not to bother.
Re:Not everyone on /. is using Windows (Score:1)
Re:Not everyone on /. is using Windows (Score:1)
A cheaper childbirth simulator (Score:1)
Depressing (Score:2)
They're still not doing dynamic balance (Score:3)
Because of this, legged robots are back to walking, rather than jogging or running. The field has regressed since Raibert and Hodgins.
You guys REALLY dont get it do you? (Score:2)
We are all actin
I thought robots would be serving us by now (Score:1)
They are probably 20 years behind.
We hardly have a HAL that can sing bad tunes.
Or a Terminator with a speech impairment.
Maybe too many people are taking computer courses but not (electronic) engineering.
Can't wait to have my personal cyber-bar-maid
Skate-bot (Score:1)
Headline (Score:1)
I can seriously see how this would be important for the robot scientists, as it helps develop balancing and so forth.