Sunday, July 19, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Below the soft silicon skin of one of Japan's most sophisticated robots, processors record and evaluate information. The 130cm humanoid is designed to learn just like a human infant.
"Babies and infants have very, very limited programs. But they have room to learn more," said Osaka University professor Minoru Asada, as his team's 33kg invention kept its eyes glued to him.
The team is trying to teach the pint-sized android to think like a baby who evaluates its mother's countless facial expressions and "clusters" them into basic categories, such as happiness and sadness.
The robot can record emotional expressions using eye-cameras, then memorise and match them with physical sensations, and cluster them on its circuit boards, Prof Asada said.
Since CB2 was first presented to the world in 2007, it has taught itself how to walk with the aid of a human and can now move its body through a room quite smoothly, using 51 "muscles" driven by air pressure, he said. (WOW!!!)
In coming decades, Prof Asada expects science will come up with a "robo species" that has learning abilities somewhere between those of a human and other primate species such as the chimpanzee.
And he hopes that his little CB2 may lead the way, with the goal to have the robo-kid speaking in basic sentences within about two years, matching the intelligence of a two-year-old child.
By 2050, Prof Asada wants a robotic team of football players to be able take on the human World Cup champions - and win. Welcome to the cutting edge of robotics and artificial intelligence.
More than a decade since automaker Honda stunned the world with a walking humanoid P2, a forerunner to the popular ASIMO, robotics has come a long way.
Researchers across Japan have unveiled increasingly sophisticated robots with different functions - including a talking office receptionist, a security guard and even a primary school teacher.
Electronics giant Toshiba is developing a new model of domestic helper, AppriAttenda, which moves on wheels and can fetch containers from a refrigerator with its two arms.
Last month also saw the debut of Japan's first robotic fashion model, cybernetic human HRP-4C, which can strut a catwalk, smile and pout thanks to 42 motion motors programmed to mimic flesh-and-blood models.
A Tokyo subsidiary of Hello Kitty maker Sanrio, Kokoro - which means heart or mind in Japanese - has also produced advanced talking, life-size humanoids. "Robots have hearts," said Kokoro planning department manager Yuko Yokota.
"They don't look human unless we put souls in them. When manufacturing a robot, there comes a moment when light flickers in its eyes. That's when we know our work is done."
Robot Ethics Guidelines
- Robots expected to become more mainstream
- Scientist concerned about social impact
A SCIENTIST is calling for immediate introduction of robot ethics guidelines amid surging use of the machines and concern about their lack of human responsibility while caring for children or the elderly.
In an article published in the journal Science, Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, argues that the steady increase in the use of robots in day-to-day life poses unanticipated risks and ethical problems.
Rise of the machines
With prices plunging by 80 percent since 1990, consumer sales of robots have surged in the 21st century, reaching nearly 5.5 million in 2008, and are expected to double to 11.5 million in the next two years.
"They are set to enter our lives in unprecedented numbers," said Prof. Sharkey, expressing fear that an absence of ethical rules fixed by international bodies could mean the machines' control will be left to militaries, the robot industry and busy parents.
The scientist also points to the remarks of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who he said predicted that "over the next few years robots may be as pervasive as the PC."
"We were caught off guard by the sudden increase in internet use and it would not be a good idea to let that happen with robots," Prof. Sharkey said.
"It is best if we set up some ethical guidelines now before the mass deployment of robots rather than wait until they are in common use."
He said it was vital that action be taken on an international level as soon as possible, "rather than let the guidelines set themselves."
For Prof. Sharkey, who has studied robotics for 30 years, such standards are compatible with the rise of robots, of which he is an enthusiastic defender. He stressed the benefits that robots can bring "to dangerous work and medicine."
Prof. Sharkey shrugs off doomsday scenarios in books such as Isaac Asimov's I, Robot about the threatening interaction between robots and humans, or in movies such as the The Terminator in which robots take over the world.
Such story lines will remain firmly in the realm of fantasy, even as societies hurtle towards greater automation, he said.
"I have no concern whatsoever about robots taking control. They are dumb machines with computers and sensors and do not think for themselves despite what science fiction tells us," he said.
"It is the application of robots by people that concerns me and not the robots themselves."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Robotics club activites
Make a comment!!!
Name our Robotics Club!!!
Email your entry to Ms Scott anastasia.scott@tlc.qld.edu.au
