[archive]

Robots Tagged: woman

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.

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In Metropolis the robot was originally made by Rotwang to do good and replace the workers in their hard work.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.