Robots: We Love The Crazy Things They Do
In the past year, we've made robots do some pretty crazy things. These are our favorites.
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From now until Valentine's Day, InformationWeek will be doing lists of things we love, including everything from mobile devices to enterprise software and all things in between. Today, we’re looking at some of the craziest things we've taught robots to do in the last year. Robots are serious business. We find them in the military, manufacturing, healthcare, and increasingly in other enterprise settings.
The interesting thing about robots is that most are still very specialized, and they need to be that way because we're still trying to figure out how to replicate many human tasks. Not everyone necessarily wants to create a perfectly human android. But nearly all robotic tasks are designed to replicate something that is either too dangerous, too tedious, or too expensive for a human to do. Even without trying to make an artificial life form, the key to making better robots it to figure out how to teach them to do everything a human can do.
That's everything. Even crazy things. You must have seen this vomiting robot from a few years ago, vomiting Larry:
Larry is designed to help understand contamination issues, especially around Norovirus. And realistically, we're probably not going to need to make a robot throw up for any reason in the future, but waiting for humans to throw up to run a test (or inducing them to do so) doesn't make sense either.
In the past, we've also had robots learn to catch, play ping-pong (mostly), and run. These were clearly designed around helping robots move and have coordination that's more like humans. And yet the catalog of human endeavor has barely been scratched.
One wonders how long it will be until we start putting the catching robot together with the running robot and the ping-pong playing robot to make an athlete that rivals Olympians. When will we take the vomiting robot and attach it to other medical training robots to make a patient that med students can work on and get a real-life experience? We're getting close.
Miniaturizing everything and supplying the computing power is still hard. But as you can see this most recent crop of crazy robots is showing promise. The tasks are more complicated and they are doing them faster and with more practical value (well, some). The "real" androids may not be far behind.
Check out the crazy things we're doing now, and tell us your favorites in the comments section below.
You can train a robot to make a drink. (I bet it does better at shaken than stirred.) But I don't think you'll ever replicate the smile and eager ear of a good bartender. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines now has a novelty robot that makes drinks. No word on how they plan to weaponize it so it can serve double-duty as a bouncer.
After the robot bartenders fill the cups, this robot can toss a ping-pong ball into them every time without missing. Actually, it isn't designed to do that. It is a sophisticated gripping device for industrial machines. The ball on the end of the device is made of a special material that starts off soft and runs into something, then the arm pushes air out and it hardens enough to grip. It can then gently hold the object until it is ready to let go. But wouldn't you rather watch the brothers of Alpha Phi Omega lose at beer pong as a demonstration?
(Image Source: Empire Robotics)
In the Great White North, there's a more pressing need than food and drink. That's dealing with snow. The University of Manitoba has taught a robot named Jennifer to ski -- both cross-country and alpine. Given the balance adjustments required, this is fairly impressive. Earlier generations of the same robot (pictured here) have played hockey and won several other competitions. I have to confess something. I can ski fairly well down a mountain. But I can't get off a ski lift. I fall every time. I want to see this thing get off a lift. Then I'll be really impressed. No doubt, someone is working on a snowboarding robot named Shaun to enter into the X-Games.
Did you have onions at lunch today? Want to know if those Altoids worked before your date? That's what this robot does. It smells your breath and tells you whether it stinks. Just don't get offended if you have a bunch of garlic and you break the thing. No, honestly, I don't know the future use of this either.
Disney has built a cute little robot that looks like a turtle. It draws pictures in the sand using a special rake. It is entirely autonomous and, right now, can create a doodle in the sand that is up to 10 by 10 meters square. Eventually the company wants it to make drawings as long as one kilometer. Shouldn't be hard to find Nemo if he is that big.
The University of Texas at Arlington Research Center used robots to wrap and deliver presents this Christmas. Baxter is pictured here. In this video, you can see him putting bows on presents. His other friends are delivering them and doing other Elf duties. Aside from the terrifying prospect of giant robots coming down your chimney with presents, this is just precious. My only fear is that Santa is going to decide to replace his reindeer with drones.
NAO might be the most graceful robot I've ever seen. Please watch the video of it diving into the ball pit. The ability to jump with grace shows a kind of fine motor skill that few robots have to date. Plus, it reminds me of those old cartoons where Bugs Bunny dives from the high board into a glass of water. If that's not enough, he looks so happy playing in the balls.
Honestly, some of there are more impressive than others. I'm very worried about the cooking robot. I'm not all that impressed by a bad breath robot. I do love the joy and diversity that these robots demonstrate. Each of these robots represents a step toward a greater whole, a time in which when robots are capable of doing more than highly specialized tasks. There's so much promise (and danger) in that. What do you think? Which were your favorites? Which didn't impress you? What do you think robots even a couple years from now will be capable of? Tell us in the comments section below.
(Source: Felipe1355 via Deviant Art.)
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