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Robodex 2003 Shows Robots Ready for Work & Play 108

Posted by Hemos from the looking-into-the-future dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "Robodex 2003 was held last week in Yokohama, Japan. At this show 38 companies, colleges and other organizations introduced more than 90 different types of robot. Many were designed to handle tasks too dangerous for humans and assist people in their daily lives. In this column, you'll find a selection of articles and short quotes about this trade show which attracted about 70,000 visitors. I also built my own Robodex 2003 Fashion Show (the whole page weighs 172KB). You'll find there pictures of many new robots, including Banryu, developed by Tmsuk, Inc., which will control your home while you're away, Doki, the world's first gender-aware robot, built by Intelligent Earth, from Scotland, or the Comet III, a one ton mine-clearance robot from Chiba University. There are also pictures of new machines from Sony, Mitsubishi or Fujitsu among others."
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Robodex 2003 Shows Robots Ready for Work & Play More

Robodex 2003 Shows Robots Ready for Work & Play

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  • *yawn* (Score:3, Funny)

    by revmoo ( 652952 ) <slashdotNO@SPAMmeep.ws> on Monday April 07, 2003 @09:21AM (#5678667) Homepage Journal

    Many were designed to handle tasks too dangerous for humans and assist people in their daily lives.

    Call me when they make one that will fetch my beer

    • Re:*yawn* (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Well. Here's a robot bartender. I actually saw this in Tampere University of Technology and seemed to work well :)

      http://www.roboyhd.fi/english/20vjuhla.html [Robotics Society in Finland]

    • here i am... (Score:5, Funny)

      by greenalbatros ( 215035 ) on Monday April 07, 2003 @09:43AM (#5678808)
      here i am. brain the size of a planet and they ask me to go and fetch their beer. i wont enjoy it you know. oh im so depressed...

    • Righttt...

      And just how is that not dangerous? :-p

      • Re:*yawn* (Score:3, Funny)

        by revmoo ( 652952 )

        And just how is that not dangerous? :-p

        You make a good point, and that is why the robot would need advanced non-shaking algorithyms, in order to prevent the beer from being shook up whilst in transit from fridge to hand.

  • I just keep thinking of the robot pulling a 'crocodile dundee': walking up to someone and grabing their crotch to determine their gender.

  • Robots (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Situations too dangerous for humans - robots should be used:

    *Manufacturing

    *Handling dangerous waste

    *Computer programming - robots can't be sued for violating patents

    Situations where robots would be too dangerous (to their manufacturers)

    *Surgery - the programmers of the robot would be sued.

    *Driving a car - endless lawsuits

  • Robots and your home (Score:4, Interesting)

    by st0rmcold ( 614019 ) on Monday April 07, 2003 @09:28AM (#5678716) Homepage

    New generation hackers, break into the robot while someone is away and have him unlock all the doors and the safes in the house :P

    Call me a skeptic, but I don't like robots doing too many tasks, let's not forget human's make robots, and some humans are crooked, so who knows when you will end up with an influence robot?
    • Call me a skeptic, but I don't like robots doing too many tasks, let's not forget human's make robots, and some humans are crooked, so who knows when you will end up with an influence robot?

      I keep bringing this up, and yet we now have computerized voting "machines" here in Maryland. Windows based, no less.

      *deep sigh*

      -- Bander
    • Burglar alarms are connected via a (supposedly open) phone line to central dispatch, and I'm sure they can update the flash code from there: who's to say that your "new generation (cr)ackers" won't use that angle now or that some genius who wrote the code in the first place doesn't pop in a backdoor so he can waltz into your house undetected?

  • Runtimes/power sources? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hayzeus ( 596826 ) on Monday April 07, 2003 @09:29AM (#5678721) Homepage
    I'd be interested in the power sources being used for some of these humanoid robots, as well as the actual run times.

    Some of these guys are tethered, but for those that aren't I'd really love to know what they're using for power, and how long these robots can continue to run. I can't seem to find much (except for Asimo, which uses NiMh batts). Anybody else find some more solid specs?

    • I have no idea why your post got trolled.

      I seriously would like to see the power sources being used as well, it provides an interesting perspective of robots...

      What would be ideal is have two sets of removeable batteries for the robot, as well as one smaller battery which always remains in the robot. Then, when the robot senses its power is getting low, it goes to the battery charger and switches batteries, while using auxilary power during the time when he does not have either battery in him.

      Simila
      • That's OK. The occasional 12-year old moderator is just par for the course -- I have karma to burn anyway.

        Given the current state of power storage technology, the best approach is probably trips to a power-charging station during quiet times (as you mentioned). I'm working on a reliable method of doing this with my web-cam bots, which would allow longer run times with smaller bots, since they need not be so large to accomodate big batteries. Smaller = cheaper, so...

        I'm still wondering if any of the humano

        • Interesting. So since the most troublesome part about recharging involves finding and getting to the base station, why not have the base station replace the battery in the robot.

          For example, with web-cam robots, have several of them, and train then to return to the station when they are running low on battery (easier said than done, because depending on their distance from the recharge station they need to go at different times, unless the max distance does not vary too much from the average distance th
          • The tough part is getting them back to the base station reliably (as you mentioned). Really, as long as you used two, 24-7 coverage would be pretty easy.

            There's probably no need to directly replace the battery. The reason for this is that (depending on the battery chermistry) a good charger can recharge the battery pretty quickly. I believe for NiCADS and NiMHs a well-constructed charger can complete the charge between 15-30 minutes. Gell cells can be 90% recharged inside 45 minutes, depending on the level

      • That run on methane or alcohol.
        Then just train the robot to store kitchen scraps in its 'stomach' until gas forms.
        Other times you could let it drink up a bottle of gin when it needed a boost.

        Not sure what benefit smoking cigars might have, but it sure would be cool, especially if you named it Bender...
        Cheers,
        Jim
      • Sorry, I know this is a little (well, okay, totally) OT, but your sig is absolutely fantastic:
        I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it

        I assume it's a quote from someone, but a quick google didn't turn anything up. Any idea who it's from?
    • There's a prototype gardening robot that "eats" slugs. Currently runs on batteries, but the developers would like to modify it so that it converts their slimy decomposing bodies into a power source (my guess is methane-based).

      A BBC article on this robot [bbc.co.uk]

      Mmmmmm... slugs. *drool*

      -- Bander

    • Toshiba's ApriAlpha can already use their laptop methanol fuel cell. [robots.net]

      Also, tons more pictures linked at boingboing.net. [boingboing.net] I'm too lazy to post all the links so just go there and click.

      There's even a photo of that exoskeleton for nurses that was mentioned a while ago.

  • Why humanoid? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by rf0 ( 159958 )
    How important is it for robots that are around the house to look human. I mena I can understand that people will most likely be more accpeting of them but are they the best design for whatever job they are doing? Or are they really just showing what we can?

    I know that walking is a huge problem for robots especially going up and down stairs

    Rus

    • Re:Why humanoid? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Keighvin ( 166133 )
      Only part of it is acceptance, the other issue is that the robot is operating in an environment designed for certain dimensional criteria. Homes are made for people, and though many of the individual tasks within a home can be better performed by specialised adaptations, for the most part the more adaptable a robot and in this case more capable of mimicking human behaviour the more efficiently it will be able to get about and accomplish its duties.

    • Re:Why humanoid? (Score:3, Informative)

      by mshiltonj ( 220311 )
      Asimov postulated that robots would be humanoid because they would be relatively expensive, and would end up doing a lot of work humans would otherwise do. A small number of humanoid robots could operate the entire existing 'infrastructure' of existing dumb machines without retooling.

      So instead of having a vacuum-bot and a dish-bot and clothes-bot and bathroom-bot, households would only need to have and maintain one expensive intelligent robot that would operate all the 'dumb' machines that we already have

  • MS-Robots (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 07, 2003 @09:34AM (#5678749)
    MS-Robot EULA

    *The robot is not your property. MS owns and controls it except where you are given permission by MS to control it. Controlling it except as permitted by MS is illegal under the DMCA. Everything the robot does is your responsibility, no matter if you controlled it or if MS did. You are criminally responsible for anything your robot does. You will not sue MS or defame MS in any way. You will acknoledge that you solely controlled the robot to do everything it does, even though you didn't. The robot's parts are warrented for 30 days. We cannot be responsible for damage related to operation of the robot, however. The function of the robot is not warrented in any way. You may not replace any major parts of the robot without buying another license. If a major part is replaced, it will be considered, at MS's sole determination, a new robot. If MS considers it a new robot, you agree to pay $500 to continue using it. Making your robot interact with other robots requires RALs. (robot access licenses) Allowing robots to interact in any way without the proper number of RALs is illegal, and you will be prosecuted.
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

  • Laws of robotics (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tomato3 ( 557456 ) on Monday April 07, 2003 @09:43AM (#5678804) Journal
    I'm sure most of you herehave heard of Asimov's three laws of robotics.

    The Three Laws of Robotics are:

    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 the orders given 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.

    My question is: when do robots become capable enough that we start worrying about them having ethics programmed into them? We already have robots that can walk around and watch the house. When do we start to worry that they're dangerous? Do we wait until they've hurt someone?
    • Probably at the point where they can make judgement calls, rather than simply following the logic of their programming.

    • Well, my guess is that we should be worrying about these things when (and if) we produce a sentient robot. Only then will "ethics" have any meaning. Otherwise, it is just wishful thinking, much like to creating a law for Internet Explorer to prohibit it from bringing your whole system down... "A browser may not crash an OS or, through bad programming, allow the OS to come to harm".

      I dare you to program this, sir!

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

      Doesn't seem that a robot police officer programmed with rule #1 would be too effective in stoping one human being intent on causing harm to another hjman being.

      Ahhh, I can see it now...

      Police Robot: Scanning...
      Police Robot: ##Alert## Helpless human pedestrian in danger by unknown assilant
      Police Robot: Analysis... [Possible mugging]
      Police Robot: Acquiring unknown assilant...
      Police Robot: ##
    • OK. Number 1 reason I would see where we worry about the danger of robots is explicitly when they are operating in civilian environments. If a robot is walking around in a mall for example. Imagine (just imagine) of the possibility (however remote) of a baby crawling around the floor. OK it would never happen probably, but then there's that .00001% chance....

      Anyway, that robot should instantly cease all current functions and initiate functions to disengage (or whatever Isamovian situation you can imagi

    • The three laws are simple and straightforward and meant to be foolproof. However most of Asimovs Robot stories revolved around technicalites allowing the robots to violate the three laws.

      For example the short story 'Reason' from I, Robot, the machines were actually hostile to the human characters at some points.

      The scenario is Earth gets power beamed to them by giant solar collecters in space that are manned by robots. One of the collecters goes offline for some reason and two repairmen are sent.

      The robo
  • When the sex robots arrive, then the home robot industry will grow (pun not intended). Especially if they use polymorphic-metasilicone to reform into whatever shape one might desire. Turn the knob from "Wynona" to "Brittney". I guess you could do "Oprah" with refill packs.

    Does sex with geeks come under "tasks too dangerous for humans"?

  • I can understand robots for work purposes, but for play???

    What's next? Some company with a marketing division that will be defined as a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first against the wall and shot when the revolution comes thinking up new marketing slogans for robots, such as:

    "You're plactic pal who's fun to be with.."

    It's just too much. Somebody send me back to the 19th century before they make robots with the GPP (Genuine People Personality) feature.

    I don't think I can stand meeting robot
    • How much of a step is it to go from playing games on your computer or Playstation 2 to playing with a robot. Sure, there's a technological step but the basic premise remains the same - you're gaining enjoyment from an object meant to simulate some level of human experience through transistors and electricity.

  • So, what exactly is that last robot's expression supposed to be (the one being shown the green block of tofu)? I'd expect "disgust," but it's more "intrigue." Chalk that up as a bug in the software?
  • This story reminded me a movie I once saw. A long time ago, late at night, HBO aired a flick which featured a guy with a robot "wife" and his journey to find another when the first one broke. (As for how it broke, don't ask) The movie was called Cherry 2000 [imdb.com]. Think of it as a poor man's Blade Runner...without...you know..."Blades."

    Ready for the mind-blowing synop?

    When Sam Treadwell breaks his Cherry 2000, a robot wife/sex toy, he hires E Johnson, to guide him across a dangerous apocalyptic wasteland to an

  • Usefull at all? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by aberant ( 631526 )
    Maybe my perspective is slanted on this issue because i don't bring in six figures, but most of these robots seem completely useless. I mean $16k for a robot that guards your house? You can get a mean dog for much cheeper and he will do a better job. A gender aware Bot? Man i would hate to think how much that would cost when i could go down the block and pick up a girl that was a professional at "being gender" aware for much cheeper. Don't think i am some anti technology idiot, but it just seems we got
    • It seems that some people have the notion that robots have to be "humaniod", essentially useless, and prohibitively expensive. One of the best examples of what robots in the near term will look like is the Roomba [roombavac.com], which is a small robot designed for a specific job, and is only $200. I've got one, and it really does do a good job of vacuming the house with little intervention. I'd imagine that a home sentry robot would most likely look like a roving webcam with a WiFi interface to your home computer, rathe
  • An appropriate story on Tetsuwan Atomu's birthday [wirefarm.com].

    (In 1952, the story was written that he was born April 7th, 2003.)
    It's already the 7th here in Japan...

    Maybe another 20 years and such a robot is feasable? 10???

    Cheers,
    Jim
  • I'm not getting one of those! I ain't no robosexual!

    What happens when the robot starts dreaming about killing all humans?

  • The real question (Score:4, Funny)

    by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) on Monday April 07, 2003 @10:56AM (#5679338) Homepage Journal
    Where are the BuffyBots?

    I'd settle for a Cherry 2000, but that model is outdated already.

  • Happy Birthday, Astroboy!!! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cybrpnk2 ( 579066 ) on Monday April 07, 2003 @10:59AM (#5679354) Homepage
    The "guest of honor" at Robodex 2003 was Astroboy, 1960s Japanese anime icon, who according to the storyline was "born" TODAY on April 7, 2003. Check out lots of fun links on this sidebar story here [scifitoday.com].
  • I was looking through my Home owners Insurance policy and found out that I have $500 coverage for damage done by a "robotic servant"!
  • In case anybody noticed, almost none of these robots have HANDS. The only ones that do are Asimo and HOAP, as far as I can see, and they're not yet in the price range where actual people can afford to buy one.
    The 'bots in the more rational price ranges have what, little rubber thingies that look vaguely like hands but have no moving parts? What's up with that? Why bother with arms if the hands on the ends of the arms DON'T DO ANYTHING?
    Until these bots have at very least opposable thumbs as a rule, they're

  • I'll wait for Robotron 2084 [klov.com], where we'll have robots ready to kill you on sight.

  • Where's Marvin?

  • Dear Cyberdyne Systems,
    I would like to pre-order a May type maid Robot, deliverable as soon as they become available. I would like to order one with full care for humans programming and pneumatic b00b13z.

    Please make sure that the Robot is packaged properly because the last one i got had its' power charger damaged and i had to make a new one out of USB cable.

    Thank You.

    Suchetha
    <Please make sure you send me the HUMAN FRIENDLY version. The last time i gave an order like this, it went to another Cybe
  • Oh good! Now we can all be protected from the Terrible Secret of Space! Just watch out near staircases.

  • Despite the fact that none of these robots does anything useful (with the exception of the mine clearing one) that couldn't be done better and cheaper without the robot, I still love them. Whenever I see new, advanced robots - especially humanoid ones - I'm just overwhelmed with awe. These things are so cool. They're dazzling.

    If I had the means to buy one of those very expensive new robots, I would do it without hesitation. I would consider it a reasonable decision. "But they don't serve any practical pu
  • if you mean keanu might lose his job, just say keanu might lose his job... LOL

    rhy

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