I have always admired Sony's foray into robotics with the AIBO and the QRIO - I hate them for discontinuing these projects.
However, Honda's ASIMO is just sex on legs.
I would understand anyone who thinks it is fake and has to be a kid in a robot suit.
This video is mind-blowing (to me) - they have it running about like a little kid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAcgSi6pzv4This is a very tragic video whereby the ASIMO falls down some stairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4upvi5ytFI&mode=related&search=Looks like a motor/mechanical failure in one of his legs.
Anyway, tons of videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=asimo&search_sort=relevance&search_category=0&search=Search&v=&page=2If you ever see one of these things - if it is ever in your country at some show/convention - steal it. I will buy it from you. If you ever get close to one - just grab it and run - I will pay cash.
The Asimo is not a "real" robot. It is tele-operated. Think really high end, walking RC car. It has an operator that is watching a video screen that controls the robot. The Qrio was a much cooler, non tele-op machine that was pre programmed to dance etc ...
If you like this kind of stuff check out Robo-one or do a search on "Bioloid" really cool stuff for the hobby robot crowd.
I love this kind of stuff and follow it closely.
Allan
The Asimo is not a "real" robot. It is tele-operated.
Its still a robot.
Think really high end, walking RC car.
...which is also a robot, of sorts.
None of the robots in Robot Wars were capable of decision making, yet they were still robots.
Semantics.
Roomba = Robot No human intervention other than turning it on.
Asimo and all the killer RC vehicles on robot wars etc ... are not "real" robots by definition. They are remote control vehicles requiring continuous human input and decicion making.
From Wiki:
"
There is no one definition of robot which satisfies everyone, and many people have written their own.[11] For example, International standard ISO 8373 defines a "robot" as:
An automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose, manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.[12]
Joseph Engelberger, a pioneer in industrial robotics, once remarked:
I can't define a robot, but I know one when I see one.[13]
The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines "robot" as:
A machine used to perform jobs automatically, which is controlled by a computer.
"
So to get back to the talk of cool robots, lets assume robot to mean autonomous machines that make decisions based on environment without immediate determinate human intervention.
Puki wants to talk about cool walking "robots" and so do I.
I think it would be great to be able to re-target BMAX compiles to the AVR micro controller. Programming robots in BMAX would be very cool.
Allan
Asimo falls down, tragic - for Honda, they were quite quick to turn their screen of. Impressive nonetheless, the way he runs about is impressive.
People fall down too, the important question is could he get back up without being picked up?
ASIMO came by our university a year or two ago. I attended the showcase, was really cool stuff :).
ASIMO looks cool but something like this is probably closer to the way we walk.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6291746.stm I was bidding on an AIBO on eBay - it was the ERS7 - Mind 3 version (the most advanced one) - but eBay removed the item for some kind of infringement on the rules.
I was winning the auction too - by a long way - sniff.