I guess it was only a matter of time before Isaac Asimov’s law of robotics made their way into real life. Live Science points to a Yahoo Asia article that reveals Japans industry ministry plans to implement a series of safety’s and protocols that almost follows Asimov’s first law of robotics verbatim.

“The guidelines will require manufacturers to install enough sensors to minimize the risk of the robots running into people and use soft and light materials so they do not cause harm if they do so, the officials said.

They will also be required to install emergency shut-off buttons, they said.”

The article also mentions the possibility of setting up international safety guidelines for robots that fall out of the industrial classification.

Oh and least I forget:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

All the way back in 2004 the Kondo KHR-1 robot kit was introduced and it was mainly geared at hobbyists. The KHR-1 was capable of doing flips, cartwheels and had 17 adjustable joints. Obviously being a kit it required a dedicated robot enthusiast with the time, skill and the $1500 or so necessary to purchase the robot kit. But what about robot fans who wanted to own an advanced robot, yet didn’t necessarily want to assemble one?

Kyosho is now slated to release a robot built on the KHR-1’s skeleton already assembled. The “MANOI athlete humanoid” is touted as a Robot Athlete is specifically designed for competition.

The company that handles MANOI’s distribution (Kyosho) has even scheduled the “Kyosho Athletics Humanoid Cup”. I like the idea of a product that already has events planned for its user base.

Some of the competitions include: a 5-meter run and a 20-meter run. Look for the MANOI to be released sometime this summer.

MANOI Video

Earlier this month we mentioned Korea’s new EveR-1 Android, well here she is in action. The video is in Korean but the images alone give us a pretty good idea of what EveR-1 is capable of.

Here’s a video about MIT’s COG project. The videos a bit dated but interesting nonetheless.

More information about the COG project including: a FAQ, current research and the history of the project itself can be found in the COG section of MIT’s Humanoid Robotics Group website.

China recently introduced its first personal robot, whose main function is personal assistance in the home. The robot is capable of walking and avoiding obstacles as well as giving its owners the news and weather.

Liangliang stands about 3 feet tall and is the creation of Xinsong Automation Co based in Shenyang China. Liangliang is also able to accept and perform instructions given by humans.

In the presentation debut: “a staffer sent a mobile phone message to the robot inquiring about the situation at home and, in two minutes, Liangliang replied with a message: temperature 22 degrees Celsius and everything normal at home.”

The android world just got a new inhabitant, a team of South Korean scientists recently unveiled their answer to Japan’s Repliee Q1. The EveR-1 (Eve and robot) recognizes 400 words and makes eye contact while talking via her lips that are synchronized with the pronunciation of words.

EveR-1 is said to have several life-like facial expressions that include: joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. The android capable of moving its upper torso but isn’t quite ready to stand or walk.

EveR-1’s creators indicated: “We are working on upgrading the android with the aim of making it move its legs by the end of this year. It will be able to sit down and stand up by then.”

This time we’re talking about robots on celluloid. Mike Myers is set to play the lead in ‘How to Survive a Robot Uprising’ a comedy based on a real life manual of the same name, written by a doctoral candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University

Based on the title and inspiration, I can only assume the movie is about surviving a robot uprising.. I’m picturing Myers in his standard slapstick routine, running from robots while interjecting witty one liner’s.

Sony’s Aibo may be no-more but a South Korean company has introduced a robot dog of their own, that just may fill the gap left by Sony quite nicely. DasaTech’s Genibo named for “genius robot” stands 12” high, weighs 3.3 pounds, has a camera built into the end of his nose and understands 100 commands, including sit, roll over and wag tail.

DasaTech plans to put Genibo on the market next year, although no pricing was disclosed.

Video of Genibo in action.

Back last summer when I first posted about the Repliee Q1 android, wait I need to explain something real quick. I now realize that calling the Q1 a robot is a mistake, an android is a robot made to resemble a human, in both appearance and behavior. Anyway back to my point, back last summer when I first posted about the Repliee Q1 I had no idea the extent that it, she? was capable of mimicking a humans appearance, movements, speech and dare I say ‘persona’.

This video was just as startling to me as the pictures of Repliee but in a way it also put the android back into perspective. There are a few things about the Repliee Q1 that still giveaway her mechanical nature. There’s a slight jerk or roughness to her motion and of course her eyes are somewhat emotionless.

I can only imagine what this demo would have been like with fluid motion and dilating pupils. It’s kind of odd to see the science fiction of my youth become science fact before my very eyes. This is an exciting time to live in, I can only imagine how far the field of robotics will have advanced by the time I’m in my later years.

Keeping in theme with my last post, I wanted to point out another area of music that has showcased robots, Album covers. Jeff’s Robots has a neat page up that features robots on some famous album covers. I think the allure here is that music which is by its very nature often emotional, contrasts with the world of robotics and androids. Musicians therefore see an opportunity to tie the emotional and emotionless together. That or they just think robots are cool like I do.