ROBOTS DREAMS - Robot news and robot hacks from a true robot geek

First Things First, Especially With Robot Help (Video)

In considering future applications for home and personal robotics, it’s critical to priortize. To be successful, and acheive market acceptance, robots will have to assist us in important ways, like making sure that we don’t forget to watch Jeopardy….

Actually, given that both our parents used to be huge fans of Jeopardy. The program was a delight to them and certainly they would have welcomed a robotic reminder.

Tarantula Revisited (Video)

Really reminds us of a robot tarantula…

Who Will Assist The Assistance Robots?

It's one of those nagging puzzles that you just can't quite figure out. We've watched, and actually been enthralled by the development of the HAL (Hybrid Assisted Limb) robotic suit by Cyberdyne based in Tsukuba.


We even made the trek out there a couple times just to see the huge (and no doubt extremely expensive) Cyberdyne robot technology showcase facility they setup in the new shopping center located just a few minutes walk from their headquarters.

Of course, it bothered us a tiny bit when we noticed, or thought we noticed, that it always seems to be the same guy wearing the HAL suit. Was it just a matter of scheduling, training, or doesn't the one-size-fits-all rule apply to robot suits? But that's a minor concern. It doesn't keep us wake nights loosing sleep.

The real question that does keep nagging us is "how are they going to
make money?" As wonderful as the HAL technology is, can it actually be
commercialized and sold at prices that will generate a high enough profit margin for the shareholders to eventually see a reasonable return on their investment?

Certainly there are numerous potential applications for the HAL suit, or some derivative implementation of the core technologies. These might include enabling hospital staff to safely lift and reposition patients, giving construction workers the ability to deal with heavier building materials, or letting farmers process more crops or work longer hours without experiencing crippling pain and strain.

In most other countries those types of problems have a simple solution
- find cheaper sources of labor, typically by allowing immigration from poorer, less fortunate, countries.

That may, or may not, turn out to be a viable solution here, due to a cultural issues. Nevertheless, most of the potential applications for HAL that we can think of are quite cost sensitive.

Hospitals are extremely cost concious. While they are willing to spend huge sums for state of the art medical diagnostic equipment, like the latest CT scanners, will they be willing to pay a price premium to implement robotic systems to move patients around?

Will farmers, even with government assistance, be in a position to spend the sums necessary to tend their crops wearing the HAL suit?

We certainly hope that the answer is a resounding 'yes', but it remains to be seen.

Hopefully Cyberdyne and its investors can survive through the current economic crisis that has taken a severe toll, sometimes fatally, on other robot companies.

[From the Robots Dreams iPhone]

Transformers Galore! (Video)

Cars that transform themselves into robots. Robots that transform themselves into trucks, or planes. Humans that transform themselves into robots that transform into cars and trucks…

Wall-E Was Italian?

In the Wall-E movie there wasn't enough time to really dig into and explore the trash collecting robot's origins. But, if reality follows fiction (at least Science Fiction) then Wall-E's ancestors may prove to have been Italian.

Researchers in Tuscany have developed DustBin, a mobile robot platform equipped with a reasonable level of autonomous operating ability and have already started initial field testing.

The robot is intended to provide 'on-demand' rubbish collection and disposal, a service concept that is long overdue.

Robot trash collectors aren't likely to go on strike for better working conditions, nor will they ignore smelly garbage getting ripe in the hot summer sun.

And, at least here in Tokyo where the local breed of black crow is large enough to carry off small children, DustBin robots would be welcomed with open arms.

Italian Robot Trash Collector

[Posted from my iPhone]

Creative Robot Birthday Cake (Video)

How to make a unique and delightful, animated music-box type birthday cake?

Hide some Lego Mindstorms under the cake and use pipecleaner linkages fed through drinking straw tunnels to move whatever character the lucky birthday person loves.

Animated Birthday Cake How-To

Raising Teenage Robots (Video)

Raising teenagers through their adolescent trials, tribulations, and insecurities is hard enough for parents. What are we going to do when our family’s robot dependents reach the same age?

Robot! Bring Me A ...! (Video)

Ask most Western robot geeks what they would like a humanoid robot to do, and the typical answer is “Bring me a beer.” Ask the same question to a Japanese robot otaku, and you’re very likely to get a response like this….

Mujaki Clockwork

Robot Presidents

We clearly remember the first time we saw the Disney animatronic robot presidents in operation. It was fascinating to say the least, but there was a huge 'uncanny valley' feeling to the display.

Now, years, if not decades, later, the realism has improved considerably. Still, we're not quite sure that the world is ready for a Robot President Obama while he is still in the White House leading the country.

[Posted from my iPhone]

Probably Not Safe For Work, But ... (Video)

The movie trailer for RoboGeisha is totally hilarous, even if it is a little raw in places.

We have to wonder if the real movie, assuming there actually is one in the works could be better than the trailer, or if we could sit through the feature length screening in the theater without spilling our popcorn, or blowing CocaCola out our nose laughing. :D

[Posted from my iPhone]