This past weekend I went to the movies, and it was for a good cause. I went to see Moon, which is classical science fiction that generally doesn’t get made these days. The trailer raised enough questions to peak my interest (though I don’t suggest you watch the trailer if you plan to see the film), and what with the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing, I thought what the hell.

Moon is clearly steeped in some of the great sci-fi films of the past, from its calm computer a.i. companion GERTY who will remind you of the HAL 9000, to the stark moon base setting that could easily pass for the interior of Alien’s Nostromo. Aesthetic similarities aside, Moon brings much food for thought to the genre, exploring different ideas that haven’t been done as well, at least not in recent memory, and all on a surprisingly skimp budget of only $5 million.

Chroino (a name derived from “to chronicle” and “kuroi” [lit. black]) is a diminutive humanoid robot designed by Tomotaka Takahashi of Kyoto University’s ROBO-GARAGE.  While conventional robot designs are obsessed with practicality, Chroino is a robotic work of art; a kinetic sculpture with a life of its own.

Takahashi-san wanted to eliminate the awkward walking style of robots, which tend to walk and run with constantly bent knees, leading some to speculate they desperately need to relieve themselves (take Asimo’s running gait, for example).  With his SHIN-Walk technology (lit. Silky Walk) Chroino walks more naturally with a smooth and steady swagger that earned him a spot on TIME’s list of Coolest Inventions of 2004.

One of the reasons Takahashi-san likes to create smaller robots is to dampen the public’s unrealistic expectations of them.  Chroino has a limited repertoire: he can sit up and stand up on his own; dust off his hands; take a few steps; and balance on one foot.  He can also kick a small soccer ball around – but he’s not much of an athlete.

Iowa State University has developed their own humanoid robot to perform procedural learning.  Though the robot lacks a lower body and is therefore unable to move around on its own, it has two (rather large) Barrett Whole Arm Manipulators for arms, and a custom-designed head with stereo vision capable of simple emotional expression.  Its three-fingered hands are flexible enough to perform a variety of grasping motions, using fingers 1 and 3 as opposable thumbs when necessary.

The philosophy behind the research is to teach the robot the properties of its surroundings similar to the way a child or animal learns during early development, through direct experience.  The robot has already learned to identify objects from the sounds they make when being touched, pushed, held, and shaken.

The robot used a pair of scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon for the opening of Iowa State University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering building, where the robot makes its home in the Developmental Robotics Lab.  Izaak Moody, an undergraduate in the College of Art and Design, is responsible for designing the robot’s friendly head, and has created some nice rendered animations showing the robot’s emotional range.  The previously posted robot Archie from the Universities of Manitoba and Vienna could learn a lot from this.  Videos and media after the break.

[source: Developmental Robotics Lab @ Iowa State University]