Robot Innovation

It is pretty clear that we are slowly winning the challenge of producing a humanoid style robot generally able to do physical tasks and generally look and behave in a somewhat human manner.  It is a case of a science fiction inspired initiative that suffers from the problem of relevance.

The first question is to ask ‘why bother’?  What conceivable task can such a device do that would justify the natural overhead involved in maintaining mobility and the rest of it?  Of course at some point, that overhead will become inconsequential to the machines actual capability so it may not matter.

Of course, everyone thinks that we all need to have a dedicated servant.   Yet it seems a waste to do that.

Are Humanoid helper robots are coming soon?

MAY 06, 2011

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/humanoid-helper-robots-are-coming-soon.html

In July 2010, Nextbigfuture had a Sander Olson interview of roboticist Dennis Hong. Dennis Hong's dream for 2020 is to see the CHARLIE H robot being used in millions of households as a robot helper. 

Forbes has a recent feature on Dennis Hong and his humanoid robot Charli.

New robot wave using open source software and hardware

The new wave of robots work is taking place on open-source hardware and software so more innovators can play a role. IRobot designed AVA, a customizable robot with a tablet computer "head" and a wheeled-column body, to serve as a development platform for robotics, like Linux for computers.

AVA's "brain" consists of either a Google Android tablet or an iPad. Angle, who sees potential for home security and medical reminder apps, as well as downloadable personalities, says, "A huge community could create apps that add utility to AVA."

AVA will join PR2, a human-size robot that Silicon Valley company Willow Garage introduced in 2010. The dual-armed, wheeled PR2 is powered by ROS, an open-source robot operating system Willow Garage has distributed free since 2007. The closely held firm has donated 11 PR2s to institutions around the world and sold 5, and wants to encourage app development. One early program from UC, Berkeley taught the robot to fold socks and towels.

Willow Garage PR2 robot, iRobot AVA, Charli and other robots

Hong's lab in Virginia recently designed an 18-inch-tall humanoid that can be built in a few days with standard parts, including a 1.6 gigahertz Intel Atom processor, gyroscope and accelerometer for stabilization and 2-megapixel camera for object recognition. A ready-made version costs $12,000, a bargain compared with the fortunes typically spent on research robots. (Willow Garage's PR2 costs $280,000 to $400,000.) 

Called DARwIn-OP--the OP is for Open Platform while the rest stands for Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence--the robot represents the most comprehensive effort yet to coordinate robotics research among U.S. universities.

Willow garage's PR2 and the stealth-mode Heartland Robotics work were featured recently.