ASIMO running nowhere

[Taro Toporific]

Honda's Robot Advances, but to Where?
NYTimes.com 7PM 15 Dec (Technology)
Despite the technological advances, Honda has not made much progress in determining just what the robot might be used for....
...The robot, 4 feet 3 inches tall, demonstrated its form on Wednesday. It walked onto a wide stage, then, after a few steps, drew its arms closer to its sides and lifted its knees high as it broke into a jog, hydraulic muscles whirring loudly.
Perfecting the running motion was a technological challenge, the robot's developers said, because the rapid arm movements tended to throw the robot off balance...
...Honda has been renting out earlier versions of its robot as guides in museums or to entertain at company events. The company charges 2 million yen ($19,000) a day. The carmaker will not say how much it has spent developing the robots. Japanese press reports have put the figure in the tens of millions of dollars.
See also: Say Hello To ASIMO, toka'REAL-LIFE BATTLEBOTS' VS 'little pacifist Honda robots', toka Astroboy & ASIMO inducted into Robot Hall of Frame, toka.Pervy Asimo attacks Robodex Girls!, toka...

[vir-jin]

I saw another presentation at the mori building last weekend. asimo can clap his hands, give a wink and moves like a really heavy weighted astronaute. Looks like a big tool. I hope they will develop it further...

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

Link www,findaRobotEngRishTeacher,net

[kurohinge1]

... Despite the technological advances, Honda has not made much progress in determining just what the robot might be used for...

Place it on my barge - we're in need of a new drinks waiter



Or, they could always be mass produced to
replace the 72,000 Filipinos that won't be coming

[dimwit]

'REAL-LIFE BATTLEBOTS' VS 'little pacifist Honda robots'

That's the same thing they said before Pearl Harbour.

[Socratesabroad]

NYTimes.com 7PM 15 Dec (Technology)
Despite the technological advances, Honda has not made much progress in determining just what the robot might be used for....

When the visitor offers to shake hands, ASIMO extends a mechanical hand in response. Then, on cue from a Honda employee, the robot waves and emits a chirpy "bye-bye."

Cute. But is this bucket of bolts smart enough to get me a beer? To Masato Hirose, senior chief engineer at the Honda lab, this is not a facetious question. Since 1986, Honda researchers have been trying to build a robot that could balance and walk naturally like a human. With ASIMO (short for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), mission accomplished. Now they are moving on to the next epochal challenge: creating a generation of humanoid machines that boast the kind of butlering skills of classic science fiction robots.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020701-265481,00.html

emphasis mine

The NYT article's quite snide about Asimo and his ilk, but they represent a tentative solution to major problems of balance, walking, maintaining a center a gravity, etc. I think another article said it best - robots today are at the same stage as PCs in the 70s. Dismissed as impractical and without use, they merely need a killer app or viable platform to really take off technologically...

What, does no one remember this:

[dingosatemybaby]

NYTimes.com 7PM 15 Dec (Technology)
Despite the technological advances, Honda has not made much progress in determining just what the robot might be used for....

When the visitor offers to shake hands, ASIMO extends a mechanical hand in response. Then, on cue from a Honda employee, the robot waves and emits a chirpy "bye-bye."

Cute. But is this bucket of bolts smart enough to get me a beer? To Masato Hirose, senior chief engineer at the Honda lab, this is not a facetious question. Since 1986, Honda researchers have been trying to build a robot that could balance and walk naturally like a human. With ASIMO (short for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility), mission accomplished. Now they are moving on to the next epochal challenge: creating a generation of humanoid machines that boast the kind of butlering skills of classic science fiction robots.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020701-265481,00.html

emphasis mine

The NYT article's quite snide about Asimo and his ilk, but they represent a tentative solution to major problems of balance, walking, maintaining a center a gravity, etc. I think another article said it best - robots today are at the same stage as PCs in the 70s. Dismissed as impractical and without use, they merely need a killer app or viable platform to really take off technologically...

What, does no one remember this:

While dingo loves Ripley-wearin,' heavy-liftin' exoskeletons as much as the next canine, he just knows, with that uncanny canine intuition of his, that the first great killer robot app will involve balls and putters - and dingo doesn't golf, even though he lives next to a course.

Take a look at these guys, courtesy of Masamanai:

http://masamania.com/archives/2004/11/car_show_lots_o.html

and note that Japanese car companies (well, and Sony, too), seem to be taking the publicity initiative in robot development, and, well, dingo would be surprised if, in about 15 of your human years, the millions of Japanese won't be coming home to a mechatronic Sailor Moon that says, "Okaeri," cooks dinner, and sits in a seiza position staring worshipfully at him until it's time to hit the futon, where the real fun begins.

Edited to add obligatory "And gaijin geeks, too."

-dingo
-satisfied with his special Aibo lady, but still looking to trade up

[GuyJean]

Perfecting the running motion was a technological challenge, the robot's developers said, because the rapid arm movements tended to throw the robot off balance...

Have you seen the video of it running? Asimo looks like a little, old Japanese man running..

http://world.honda.com/HDTV/ASIMO/200412-run/index.html

GJ

[Buraku]

Japan tech predicts bugs' flight paths to zap them with lasers
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Techno ... ith-lasers

Hyundai sends Boston Dynamics' Spot robot into the metaverse
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/hyundai ... 44286.html

Musk's Neuralink wants to embed microchips in people's skulls and get robots to perform brain surgery
https://www.businessinsider.com/neurali ... -ai-2021-2

Elon Musk: Unregulated AI Could Be The “Biggest Risk We Face as a Civilization”
https://futurism.com/elon-musk-unregula ... vilization

[Buraku]

Elon Musk's 'I-Robot' with 'unique human personality' set to be ready in three months

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world- ... e-27326614

[Buraku]

Optimus is coming soon?
https://twitter.com/TechnologyOrg/statu ... 7099065345

What will Hyundai Motor Group and SoftBank think of Musk?

Everything we know about Elon Musk’s Tesla robot
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/opti ... 72561.html