[archive]

Robots Tagged: artificial man

2005

Wakamaru

Category: Household – Tags: , , , , , ,

Wakamaru is a Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, primarily intended to provide companionship to elderly and disabled people. The robot is yellow, 1m tall, and weighs 30 kilograms. It has two arms and its flat, circular base has a diameter of 45 cm. It is in commercial sale today.

Wakamaru runs a Linux operating system on multiple microprocessors. It can connect to the Internet, and has limited speech (in both male and female voices) and speech recognition abilities. Functions include reminding the user to take medicine on time, and calling for help if it suspects something is wrong.

2000

ASIMO – Advanced Step in Innovative MObility

Categories: Artificial Intelligence, Educational, Science – Tags: , , , , , ,

ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda. Standing at 130 centimeters (4 feet 3 inches) and weighing 54 kilograms (114 pounds), the robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk or run on two feet at speeds up to 6 km/h. ASIMO was created at Honda’s Research & Development Wako Fundamental Technical Research Center in Japan, and was unveiled i 2000.

Officially, the name is an acronym for “Advanced Step in Innovative MObility” and not a reference to science fiction writer and inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics, Isaac Asimov.

Asimo represented state of the art robotics i 2000 when it was first introduced. Amongst other things it has the capacity to recognition of moving objects, recognition of postures and gestures, recognizing its environments, distinguish sounds and recognize faces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIMO

2005

Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR)

Categories: Dance, Household, Science – Tags: , , , , ,

Developed by scientists at Tohoku University, the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR) is able to predict the steps of a human partner based on body movement and react accordingly on its three wheels.

The robot is 1.65 meter high and has a female face, wears a plastic ballgown and comes in pink and pastel blue. A male version is also being developed.

Although it can match the movements of a human partner’s upper body, Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge, who led the team behind PBDR, said it could not yet perform dance steps.

PBDR is a platform for human-robot coordination with physical interaction is thus also a step towards developing responsive robots that could provide care for the sick and elderly.

1983

RB5X

Categories: Artificial Intelligence, Educational – Tags: , , , ,

The RB5X Intelligent Robot was the first mass-produced programmable robot that was made for home use, experimentation, and educational purposes. The RB5X is still being produced today.

Its inputs include eight bumper panels, a light sensor and a sound sensor. The robot can learn from experience:

“The RB5X Intelligent Robot is a sophisticated engineering effort whose microelectronics and machinery can be compared to the complex make-up of humans. Like a person, RB5X consists of a collection of subsystem “organs” that work together to make the robot function and become more than the sum of its parts, except that the comparatively crude organs consist of electronic and mechanical devices. Brain: RB5X brain is an on-board microprocessor, the INS8073 that works in conjunction with the robot’s software to permit the RB5X to learn from its sensory experiences. Using this self learning software, the RB5X progresses from simple, random responses to eventual prediction of future events in its environment, based on analysis of past prediction of future events in its environment, based on analysis of past experience.” – RB Robotics, manufacturer.

1921

R.U.R. – Rossum’s Universal Robots

Categories: Fiction, Literature – Tags: , ,

In 1921 Karel Čapek coined the word robot in his science fiction play called R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). The word “robot” comes from the word robota meaning literally serf labor, and, figuratively, “drudgery” or “hard work” in Czech, Slovak and Polish.

The Robots described in the play are not robots in the modern sense. Rossum’s robots are biological creations engineered in the same fashion as Frankenstein’s creature as described by Mary Shelley. Čapek’s Robots are biological machines, but they are still assembled, as opposed to grown or born.

In the play the robots can think for themselves and perform manual labor. Although they seem happy to work for humans, that changes and leads to the end of the human race due to a hostile robot rebellion.

In 1921 Karel Čapek coined the word robot in his science fiction play called R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). The word “robot” comes from the word robota meaning literally serf labor, and, figuratively, “drudgery” or “hard work” in Czech, Slovak and Polish.

The Robots described in the play are not robots in the modern sense. Rossum’s robots are biological creations engineered in the same fashion as Frankenstein’s creature as described by Mary Shelley. Čapek’s Robots are biological machines, but they are still assembled, as opposed to grown or born.

In the play the robots can think for themselves and perform manual labor. Although they seem happy to work for humans, that changes and leads to the end of the human race due to a hostile robot rebellion.

1981

Third Hand

Categories: Art, Performance Art – Tags: ,

The artificial hand, attached to the right arm of the user as an addition rather than as a prosthetic replacement, is capable of independent motion, being activated by the EMG signals of the abdominal and leg muscles.

Stelarc works in a performance art context, and the Third Hand was one of his earliest robotic artworks. In the first performance with the Third Hand Stelarc used the hand to write the phrase “The Third Hand” simultaneously with his right hand and the third hand.

Since 1981 Stelarc has been creating amplified body performances in which he expands the power and reach of the human body by wiring it to electronic devices and telecommunications systems. In these performances he has combined the Third Hand with many other technological components, including sensing devices conventionally used in medicine.

1927

Metropolis

Categories: Fiction, Film – Tags: , ,

In the classic and hugely influential silent movie Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang, the evil scientist Rotwang creates an evil robot substitute for the peaceful character Maria. Maria urges the working lower class not to revolt against the aristocratic upper class but to find a common ground. She is kidnapped and substituted with the robot-Maria that creates revolt and devastation in the city of Metropolis.

When the revolting mob realizes the devastation created by the robot-Maria, they burn her at the stake.

In Metropolis the robot was originally made by Rotwang to do good and replace the workers in their hard work. The power of the robot nonetheless falls into the hands of an evil mind and is used for a personal vendetta, threatening to destroy a whole civilization in the process. The robot is used as a heartless infiltrator; an instrument created for good, but one that easily falls into evil misuse.

1964

Robot K-456

Categories: Art, Performance Art – Tags: , ,

A remote-controlled robot built to walk in the street with and playback music or recorded speech. It could also excrete beans as feces and liquid as urine.

Nam June Paik’s robot is named after a Mozart piano concerto and has the overall shape of a man, it is remote controlled and equipped with speakers allowing it to playback sound. It was built by Nam June Paik and Shuya Abe as a collaboration.

The robot was built to walk on the street and mingle with other pedestrians. In one performance Paik guided it through the streets of New York while K-456 played a recording of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address and excreted beans at the same time.