The flagship US computing expo Comdex this year found computing passé and robotics the thing. No wonder: Toyota is reported to be developing a humanoid nurse, NASA is building a humanoid astronaut, Sony’s humanoid child Qrio has learned to run, and ever-more ways for robots to make their way in the world are being discovered or invented.

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Year of the Robot

According to PC Magazine reporter Lance Ulanoff, robotics “stole the show” at an otherwise lackluster Comdex 2003, the biggest annual computer trade show in the US. Devices on display included:

• The Wowee Robosapian humanoid robot. It can walk, pick up light objects and perform other actions, but only under human remote control. Cost: US$199.
• Intelligent servomotors by Megarobotics similar to those used in the Sony Aibo. Cost: $45 units. For $900, the company sells a kit to make a robot puppy that can perform feats similar to Aibo.
• Paro, the therapeutic robot baby seal, which won a Best of Comdex award (mentioned in last month’s issue).

Low-power motherboards (typically under $100) that integrate graphics, sound, and the CPU in a tiny space were at the heart of many new robots, including one that looked “quite a bit like a cousin of R2-D2” but with standard PC bays for a hard drive and CD-ROM drive.

Visual recognition and robotics control software was a hit at the show and in the marketplace. After being shown a picture of a person and told the person’s name, Evolution Robotics (ER)’s vision software subsequently recognizes the person if s/he appears through the robot’s video camera eyes. ER is also developing its software with a view to improving robots’ navigational skills, as is Seegrid, a company started by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute researchers, which announced at Comdex a navigational software development kit and a 360-degree sensor array that will enable a robot to explore its environment, evaluate it, and learn it, so the robot can then work smoothly within it. The first robot based on Seegrid technology could be ready within a few months.

The ready availability of cheap yet sophisticated servomotors, motherboards, and vision/navigation software demonstrates how affordable and relatively simple it is today for ordinary hobbyists, not to mention professional engineers, to built sophisticated robots. Indeed, roboticists at Comdex were encouraged by the confluence and maturation of robotics enabling technologies such as wireless connectivity, sensor and microchip technology, speech recognition, nanotechnology, and imaging.

Reference: Ulanoff, Lance (2003). “Robotics Revolution.” PC Magazine, December 3.

Humanoid Nurse from Toyota

Car-maker Toyota is reported to be developing a humanoid robot to work in factories, provide nursing care, and undertake rescues. Details are to be announced shortly and the robot will debut at the 2005 World Exposition in Japan, according to a leading Japanese business newspaper. Unlike Honda’s Asimo and Sony’s Qrio, which were designed essentially for research purposes and are not for sale, the Toyota robot is to be sold as a working stiff.

Car companies have a natural affinity for robotics not only for manufacturing cars, but also because robotics technologies such as motion and sound sensors for collision avoidance are also useful inside cars.

Reference: Unknown (2003). “Toyota robot will aid sick, injured.” AFP/AAP/Sydney Morning Herald, December 30.

Robonaut

Rice University researchers are helping create DARPA/NASA’s Robonaut, a humanoid robot to function as a second set of eyes, arms and hands on spacewalks. NASA wants a humanoid because spaceships have been designed for servicing by astronauts making spacewalks (“extravehicular activities” or EVAs) and to help assemble the International Space Station. Robonaut will not be autonomous, but be remote-controlled by an astronaut inside the spacecraft wearing a 3-D virtual-reality helmet.

The Rice team is focusing on the haptic (sense of touch) interface used in the robot’s control system so the controller’s fingers can feel what the robot’s fingers feel and how much pressure its hands are exerting, and on a voice-recognition system that allows the controller to issue voice commands without having to let go of a control joystick to issue commands to Robonaut.

Difficult as voice recognition technology is on Earth, it is even more complicated in space because an astronaut’s vocal physiology changes in zero gravity.

Reference: Boyd, Jade (2003). “Rice Calls On Multi Disciplinary Approach To Robonaut.” Rice News/Space Daily, December 8.

Running Robot

Qrio, Sony’s child-sized humanoid, has been taught to run — a significant feat because the robot must lose contact with the ground, albeit briefly. It is not the first robot to run, but it is the first to run so smoothly, thanks to more sophisticated joints and a more powerful CPU to control balance.

Qrio can recognize faces (it is believed to use Evolution Robotics software mentioned in “Year of the Robot” above), respond to simple conversations, break a fall by reaching out with its arms, and get up on its own after a fall.

Reference: Kageyama, Yuri (2003). “Sony’s Humanoid Robot Learns How to Jog.” Associated Press/The Ledger, December 18.

Sound Direction for Robot Guides

University of Toronto researchers have adapted a Trilobot robot to navigate a building by using its own voice, but the building first must be sprinkled with microphones to pick up the robot’s synthetic voice, determine its location from the location of the microphone picking up the sound, and relaying the location information back to the robot. The technology has potential as a robotic tour guide for museums — or perhaps hospitals.

Reference: Graham, Sarah (2003). “Robot’s Voice Helps It Find Its Way.” Scientific American, December 10.