Researchers led by Ingo Lutkebohle at Germany’s Bielefeld University are working on an expressive humanoid robot head called FloBi that has simple doll-like features to avoid the effects of the uncanny valley.  Slightly larger than an adult human head, FloBi’s modular design allows the researchers to change its perceived gender by snapping together pieces with clips and magnets.

The head and neck have a total of 18 degrees of freedom, including a proprietary magnetic actuator for moving its lips which improves on comparable designs (see KIST’s FRi & Silbot, and USC’s Bandit) by concealing the anchor points of actuation.  Its eyebrows, eyelids, eyes, lips, and neck can all move independently to express the usual selection of emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and fear).  FloBi is equipped with a camera in each eye, microphones, a gyro sensor, and LEDs in its cheeks to simulate a blush response.  It will be used to study natural human-robot interaction and the effects of its external appearance.  FloBi probably wouldn’t look out of place in Toy Story.

Personally, I’ve always favored robots with features that match its level of sophistication.  Robots as realistic as the Geminoid may look mildly convincing in still photographs, but the effect is shattered when you see it in motion because the actuators and materials simply aren’t there yet.  Detecting even the slightest movement of an eyebrow, for example, comes so naturally to people that even Hollywood’s best visual effects studios struggle to recreate them in computer animations.  The average person may not be able to tell you what is wrong with something, but they’ll know when it doesn’t look right.  Additionally, I think we expect them to be more intelligent than a simple chatbot with canned, halting responses.  Robots with extremely abstract features like the SONY QRIO, for example, could never be mistaken for a reanimated corpse, and they lower the observer’s expectations to more realistic levels.

Video:

[source: Bielefeld University CITEC] via [IEEE Spectrum]

The Associated Press has finally gotten around to reporting on Osaka University’s baby robots.  Check out the new footage of them and their creators in the following video:

Video:

[Bionic Bong] via [Transbotica @ Twitter]

developed by HAL, BrownieBrown/published by Nintendo
1 player/2 save slots/GameBoy Advance/2006.04.26

Each year dozens of Japanese games are passed over for release outside of the land of the rising sun, much to the chagrin of gamers around the world.  One of the most egregious cases is that of Mother 3, the third game in a series created by acclaimed writer Shigesato Itoi with Nintendo.  The first game had been created for the original 8-bit Nintendo Famicom, the sequel (known as Earthbound in the West) was released on the Super Nintendo, and the third game was due to be released on the Nintendo64.  However, due to the game being designed specifically for the ill-fated 64DD drive, the development was eventually scrapped.  It wasn’t until years later, and after much encouragement, that Itoi decided to try to tell the story again; it would have to built from scratch for the GameBoy Advance.

Read the rest of this entry »

This 10 meter (32 ft) tall, 6 ton statue of Optimus Prime, standing just outside the “Bird’s Nest” at Beijing’s Olympic Park, is actually made of scrap metal.  It’s part of the Green Dream Park, opening today, thanks to its use of recycled automobile parts.

[source: People Daily] via [Topless Robot] via [Technabob] via [Gizmodo]

A new Honda commercial airing in Japan is getting the word out about eco-car subsidies for the Insight, Fit, and… ASIMO?  In any case, it’s their last chance to get in on the deal!

Video:

[source: Iitaisan @ YouTube]

RT Corporation, the makers of the Robot-in-Character and the Japanese distributor of Aldebaran Robotics’ NAO, has posted some videos of the robot out and about in unstructured environments.

Video (tackling an incline):

Video (on the grass):

[source: Lovingrobotrabbit @ YouTube]

The International Modern Hospital Show 2010 is taking place from July 14th to 16th at Tokyo Big Sight, where more than 380 companies are exhibiting.  A special display will showcase the Future of Rehabilitation Care (as opposed to surgical robotics), which aim to improve patient quality of life and support independence of the elderly or disabled (such as through power assist technology for transferring patients from their bed and bath).  Most recognizable are the technologies from Cyberdyne (HAL), NEC (PaPeRo), and AIST (Paro).  EMC-250, a wheelchair with a robotic arm capable of picking up a coin from the ground was also shown.

[source: Int'l Modern Hospital Show] via [CB News (JP)]

Fuji-Q Highland, an amusement park located near Mt. Fuji, is constructing the 1:1 scale bust of a mecha from the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion anime.  Mycom Journal has a number of photos from the project, which include early prototype dioramas and models, to the ongoing assembly work which should wrap in time for the July 23rd opening date.  I’ve included a sample of the most interesting images here.  It should be noted that the these are mostly from the trial fitting stage, so any imperfections in how the pieces come together have yet to be rectified, and final finishing is still to come.  The exhibit will also feature a life-size statue of one of the mecha pilots with whom fans cans have their photo taken.  Looks pretty cool!  Too bad they couldn’t build the whole thing…

Media:

A 2008 survey suggests that people aren’t interested in robots that look like humans.  The survey asked people at a home  and living show about robots in daily life.  Botjunkie took one look at the graphs and concluded that it isn’t a good idea to design robots that look like people.  What the graphs and paper do not show is that there is a range of humanoid robots, from ones that look realistic to ones that have abstract human features.  The survey uses the blanket term “humanoid robot” to describe robots as different as this:

The reason why this is important is that almost half of the respondents (44%) admitted harboring fears related to robots, including that robots could replace humans someday, and the ever-popular possibility that humans would lose their jobs.  In other words, if it looks like a person, talks like a person, and walks like a person, it seems much more likely that they could replace a person.  Despite the fact that factory and industrial robots can in fact replace human workers, people are clearly more comfortable with them because they can’t imagine them replacing their job.

However, all is not lost for humanoid robots.  The following graph of “What Should Robots Do?” reveals that people want robots that can perform a variety of household tasks.  Unfortunately, it does not ask them if they would prefer to own 50 specialized robots that each do one specific job (such as the various products from iRobot), or 1 humanoid robot capable of doing all of the work (such as a hypothetical future ASIMO).  After all, the whole purpose of designing a robot with the same shape as a human is so that it can do a variety of tasks in a human-centered world, and not because we are more comfortable with them for their human-like appearance.

I also wonder how people in their twilight years would respond to these questions (only 6% of respondents were over 65), since the maintenance of many home robots would be a job in and of itself.

Naturally people don’t want robots to do the jobs they feel require a human touch, such as taking care of the kids, or that are considered above mechanical work, such as cooking and driving, though paradoxically they do want robots to take care of them when they get old.

What do you think; were the survey results influenced by irrational fears, and was it perhaps a bit too vague?  Or do you agree with the responses?

[source: EPFL Infoscience paper (.PDF file)] via [Botjunkie]

Even if you don’t play video games, you may have heard of a Japanese dating simulation game for the Nintendo DS called Love Plus, back when one lovestruck young man married his significant sim.  Produced by Konami (a company with a long history of dating simulation games [such as the Tokimeki Memorial series]), the game lets you date one of three teenage girls.  A countryside hotel featured in the game even offered discounts for “couples” to stay there, and now there’s a sight-seeing tour built around taking photos with your digital girlfriend!

The tour takes advantage of an augmented reality set-up for the iPhone that will conjure a 3d model of your polygonal paramour in specific photogenic locations.  So long as you don’t occlude the camera’s view of the AR signposts, you can pose next to the character in snapshots.

The latest game includes an emergency help button that can be used only once, and the designer cautions players should not press the button unless they really need to – and that it is “not a toy”.  Apparently if you are feeling really down about your life (hey, the programmers know their audience) you can watch a tear-jerking scene in which your digital girlfriend gives you an impassioned pep talk about life.  It has been said that not a single dry eye could be found in the recording studio when the voice over actresses had to record these particular sessions.  Dating sims aren’t just for lonely guys- there’s also a selection of games with cute digital boyfriends to choose from for girls.

If the popularity of Love Plus is any indication, robots built to be the perfect partner may be welcomed with open arms rather than the disgust and paranoia one might expect.  They would alleviate loneliness and, even with relatively simple A.I., might improve the quality of life for some people.

[source: Famitsu (JP)]