New Scientist has a nice summary of humanoid robot developments. These are like the Asimo and the Qrio, both featured here before. They are very limited at this point in time, and in my opinion will be for quite a bit more. No need to start worrying about being overrun just yet.
The goal is to build robots that can be let loose in our world, where they will learn to interact with humans in a messy and unpredictable environment, not just in the lab. These robots need to be able to get around in the same places we do, manipulate objects in their surroundings and communicate with others around them. In short, they need to be more like us.Lifelike humanoid robots have eluded designers because the mechanisms required to perform such tasks as emulating a hand, or walking and talking in anything approaching a natural manner, are hugely complex and need fine control. Honda's humanoid robot Asimo can walk up and down stairs, fetch coffee and greet visitors. But its gait is deliberate and plodding, and the useful work it can do is severely limited. What's more, all the tasks Asimo can carry out have to be pre-programmed; it cannot act autonomously. Such dumb, choreographed behaviour has tended to cast robotics in a rather pitiful light, and robot toys have never quite got off the ground. Sony even cancelled its robot entertainment programme last week.
But as helpmates, huge leaps in computer power and advances in control software, sensors and actuators are allowing machines to shed their clunky image and gain impressively human-like abilities. The new breed of bots may not look as slick as Toyota's trumpeter, but by digging deep into the fundamentals of locomotion, speech and dexterity, their creators have come up with designs that will put today's robots in the shade.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the article is behind their subscription wall.
Posted by elkaim at June 6, 2006 7:44 PM