I just had to share a music video from one of my favorite bands, Air. What does this have to do with robotics you ask? Well besides the monotonic robot voice used in the song the video has some interesting android like imagery and well it’s just a cool song!

Air – How does it make you feel? Windows Media Player

Air – How does it make you feel? Real Media Player

Air at Astralwerks

Perusing around the web for robot information earlier today, I ran across an article about the ‘Robot Hall of Fame’, hey that sounds cool I thought to myself. The RBH is sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University and its inductees span from useful industrial robots to the well known Hollywood variety.

Recently 5 new robots were inducted to the Robot Hall of Fame: Maria from ‘Metropolis’, Gort, from ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ and David, the android from ‘Artificial Intelligence: AI.’ represented this years cinematical robot inductees. Sony’s AIBO and Scara an industrial robot rounded out the commercial and industrial robot inductees.

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.

The latest in robot guards is the Guardrobo D1 (real original name) which was initially developed because of the concern for the growing elderly population in Japan. The cartoon like robot (really, it looks like Rosie from the Jetsons but then again so does every robot) was developed by Sohgo Security Services, a Japanese security company worried about having enough youth around in 2040 to keep the criminals at bay.

The Guardrobo with its cameras and various sensors will be on the look out for intruders, fires, and water leaks. When it finds these troubles the 109 cm tall robotic guard will alert human guards via radio and video footage so the humans can see the severity of the trouble and then act accordingly. The Guardrobo is not completely reliant on us humans though, it can take action into its own hands by putting out fires. Cool.

The Sohgo Security Services Co. has yet to determine a price point but they are planning to offer this robot style security within a year’s time

The robot is the one on the left. I think…..

Source: National Geographic

In what has to be one of the largest commercial robot displays in the world, Robot Expo has more than 60 robots on display. The robots range from the practical to bizarre in their intended uses, with one touted as the most humanoid robot to date, covered in a ’skin-like’ substance and mimics breathing.

The show which runs through June 19th is a showcase of some of the most advanced robotic projects in the world. Some of the robots on display can swim, taste, read and draw which goes to show just how far robotics in general have come. While these individual skills alone own may appear to some as nothing more than parlor tricks, the combination of all or some of these skills into a single robot will likely herald in a new

Science Fiction had its lines-blurred by reality long ago and this bit of news just goes to prove it all the more. NASA is working on ‘Robotic Skin’ which could allow a robot to sense its environment much like humans do.

Robots move well on their own, especially when nothing is in the way,” Lumelsky explained. However, change the environment and a different picture emerges. “Robots should be able to react, but today’s robots can’t,” he said. “That’s the difference and that’s got to change for exploration.

This ‘Robo Skin’ is undergoing research at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The touch sensitive skin said to be critical in situations where humans and robots work side by side in space, where the slightest touch could be the difference between life and death, for human and robot alike.

I wanted to post a bit of information I just ran across, the sad part is only found out about this after the fact. Botstock is a gathering of robot enthusiasts from across America who meet up annually to share their passion for all things robotic.BotStock 2 was held this past weekend in Spokane Washington at the ‘Robot Hut‘ quite appropriately.

Many of the participants are members of a forum dedicated to robots called Alphadrome, the forum is a wealth of knowledge and has quite a bit of photos and stories from the event. Well worth a look. I missed this year’s event, but hopefully I can make next years.

Of all the corporate robots that have been announced in the last few years, Toyota’s seem to have made the most ruckus with the least amount of anticipation. Or rather before Asimo was introduced there was already buzz building around the event, with Sony’s Qrio we already knew Sony had been working on robots for years, so the Qrio was just another in the line.The Toyota robots on the other hand seemingly came from nowhere, even if they had been working on them for many years. I sat down last night and began studying up on these robots and what impressed me most was the diversity in Toyota’s range of robots. I’ll list each robot in the range and describe the intended and extended uses for each:

The Toyota “Walking Robot” obviously grabbed the lion’s share of attention from robot enthusiasts as it well, walks. Much like the Honda Asimo, the Toyota walker is a really impressive sight to see. Toyota has added something new to the mix however, the most notable of which is the ability to play a musical instrument.

While the musical capabilities of the walker are quite impressive, it’s really more indicative of the robots overall flexibility and built-in intelligence than intended use. Toyota states the ideal use for the walker series would be in the healthcare industry, possibly providing direct care to the elderly or injured who need day to day monitoring and or supervision.

Toyota’s rolling or wheeled robots seemed to be aimed more at industry, allowing for large expanses to be traveled in a relatively short span of time. One possible use I can envision in this arena would be the automated sentry or robotic watchman, who can patrol a factory checking pre-determined doors, windows, and other entry points for trespass.

Another possible use for this type of bot would be an automated tour or guest direction for large factories or facilities, where a simple point A to point B guide is needed. The robot could even guide visitors to the desired location with a scripted speech about the given faculties amenities and pertinent personnel.

The third robot Toyota introduced seems to be geared toward bolstering or expanding the physical abilities of humans, by allowing the “rider” or occupant to direct the robot to otherwise inaccessible places, giving new freedom to those with disabilities.

According to Toyota’s press release:

The mountable model is capable of carrying its passengers almost anywhere they need to go. It is fun to ride and operate.

 

Last but by no means least in the range of partner robots the “Wire-operation system” offers something yet again not seen in this new world of commercial robots, speed and fluidity.

The wire operation robots seems perfectly suited for the stage or set, with their “less robotic” movements and capabilities. Think advanced animatronics that can walk off the stage, ala the presidents in the “Hall of President’s” at disney, and the possibilities of the wire robots open up.

 

 

While reading up on Toyota’s entry into the world of robotics, I couldn’t help but think that Toyota’s bot looked a lot like Twiki from Buck Rogers.