www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/03/02/200503020022.asp

A government-backed consortium of Korean information-technology companies plans soon to roll out consumer robots that will “take care of your simple daily chores, such as checking blood-sugar levels for diabetics or even reading to your children.” Three prototypes have been developed. Trial services in hundreds of households in apartment complexes will begin in October in conjunction with a separate project by the Ministry of Information and Communication to build infrastructure for the broadband convergence network. By 2007, the ministry hopes a million robots will be in use.

Morphing Robots

Check out this MPEG video to find out just how sophisticated self-reconfiguring robots — “shape shifters” — have become. If you are not in the habit of keeping up with advances in robotics, you may be surprised.

Shape Shifters 2

www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=139390

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Universal Medical Device? An MRI that could move itself to another room and turn into a surgical robot, then into a Gamma Knife for the next patient? NASA engineers have successfully tested a prototype tetrahedron (pyramid)-shaped robot which, when ultra-miniaturized and joined together in “autonomous nanotechnology swarms” (ANTS), could flatten itself to form an aerodynamic shield while traveling through a planet’s atmosphere, morph into a glider for landing, then into a snake to traverse rough terrain. If it came across an object of interest, it could “grow” an antenna to transmit data to Earth.

World Robotics Expo

How soon do you think before your hospital will be filled with robots? On exhibit at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan, are industrial-strength robots that clean building floors at night, collect garbage on the streets of a city, patrol buildings to detect intruders and fire at night and guide visitors during the day (conversing with them in Japanese, English, Chinese, or Korean), interactively play and talk with children (whose individual voices the robots learn to recognize so they can automatically play the child’s favorite games or call the parents if needed), and transport disabled passengers to their destination automatically (while avoiding obstacles).

While these are either on sale or soon will be, others in development include robots for running errands, decorating ceramics, drawing portraits, caddying at golf, snow-plowing, emergency rescue, surgery, and a variety of robots for rehabilitation including one that works on the upper limbs including wrists, and a wearable robotic “Muscle Suit” for the upper limbs.

And this is not to mention the separate exhibits in the Corporate Pavilion, where Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Brother are showing where names that mean big business are going with robots.