The first signs of trouble at Fukushima were quickly followed by expectations of an action-ready ASIMO leaping to the rescue. Honda’s humanoid remains far from able, but their new High-Access Survey Robot is on the job, and of some consolation: it’s got ASIMO parts.
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After more than two years of research and development, in collaboration with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and with input and direction from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Honda has finally made good on its commitment to assist with recovery and repair at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
High-Access Survey Robot is as High-Access Survey Robot Does “High-Access Survey” isn’t super creative in the naming department, but it really does nail what this technically two-piece robot is all about: 1. movement via tracked chassis with a variable-height platform allowing operators to peer into hard to see, difficult to access places up to 23ft/7m high (that’s AIST’s tech); 2. providing a comprehensive visual survey from the camera-equipped arm and automatic 3D mapping of the robot’s immediate location (thanks, ASIMO!); 3. a new control system that increases dexterity by allowing operators to manipulate several robotic joints at once (more ASIMO-tech); and 4. shock-resistant arms, e.g., within a reasonable range, the robot’s arms will remain steady and on-task even when other parts or the entire machine gets jostled around (that’s the big present from ASIMO, detailed below).
The robot’s advancements and benefits are pretty clear: AIST’s sturdy, low center of gravity, tracked base keeps things moving over potentially rough terrain, and when the arm platform is fully extended it’s probably the tallest stand-alone robot out there (at least among robots that actually like, you know, do stuff).
The first two gifts from ASIMO are visually subtle, but operationally quite significant. Performing extremely important jobs through a single camera lens is the status quo drudgery for current recovery & repair robotics, so this system’s 3D view of the robot’s surroundings combined with increased dexterity are welcome enhancements (presumably, a number of different tools could make their way onto the business end of Honda’s arm). The last gift from ASIMO, the gift of stability, well there’s a bit of history to all that, and we’ll get to it below – first, here’s how the job will be done:
So there you go – it’s certainly an achievement, and along with several other machines already at work or heading to Fukushima (see: Japan’s Robot Renaissance: Fukushima’s Silver Lining), Honda’s new robot is a unique and valuable contribution to the recovery & repair effort. Okay – great, happy day!
But wait… So, Honda’s very highly accomplished robotics division (our coverage: Honda Robots for the Home • Honda Robots You Wear) has spent two years at this? Even casual tech observers know that we’ve had durable, effective crawler robots with cameras and nimble, powerful arms for well over a decade (see: iRobot), and those with a slightly higher level of robo-geekery know Honda’s been working on bipedal humanoid robots for almost 30 years.
Honda’s résumé reasonably amplifies everyone’s expectations; as such, both when things went bad at Fukushima, and even NOW, it’s not unreasonable to wonder why they’ve reinvented the tracked robot wheel, so to speak, and why there are still no practical, deployable results from all the time, money, and brains put into ASIMO. Can’t that robot at least do… something!?
Presents from ASIMO: the Humanoid has Indeed Contributed ASIMO is often billed as the world’s most advanced humanoid robot (that’s recently become debatable), and it does have some autonomous capabilities, but what’s brought to the public eye is largely choreographed to a specific environment. The very robo-dorky among us knew it was entirely unreasonable to expect anything of ASIMO as a stand alone robot, but we did know that ASIMO is and has always been a research platform with wild potential. Honda, openly apologetic and conciliatory of its inability to immediately assist with Fukushima recovery & repair, got straight to work:
The self-steadying, self-balancing arm Honda engineers created, obviously, is the predecessor to the limb mounted on the new High-Access Survey Robot. So the work kinda paid off. The prototype provided design cues, inspiration, and data – and then was put away in Honda’s warehouse of lost robotic toys or whatever.
Or was it? Now, speculation is at best speculative, but what if maybe, maybe that arm isn’t on a shelf somewhere? What if, big if, but what if there’s also a body… and it’s not ASIMO?
Because Fool Honda Once, Shame on You… Naively, but with hope inspired by Honda’s technological achievements, the world called for ASIMO to help at Fukushima, but Honda could do nothing. Now, pressure is building from the very exciting, fueled by international competition for prizes and prestige, Fukushima-inspired DARPA Robotics Challenge (our coverage). And, looming off in the future is the possibility that Japan’s best robots might once again get upstaged by something from the U.S., or Korea, Poland, Germany, etc. That’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a ton of motivation.
Honda engineers extracted a polished, self-steadying/balancing arm from ASIMO’s leg in 8 months. In the 18 since, would they really have only managed to attach some eyes and bolt it to a crawler with a really long neck?
Akihabara News’ robotics coverage will keep you hip to developments – and you’ll wanna stay tuned in – because unless Honda’s hoping to get fooled again, it’s both safe to assume they’ve remained busy, and safe to assume that the image below is more than just a rendering; it might be something awesome.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
One could reasonably assume Japan’s impressive array of supertech humanoid robots would swarm the inspired-by-Fukushima DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), but Tokyo University spin-off SCHAFT Robotics is it. DARPA’s militariness and Japan’s Peace Constitution complicate. Oh, and way-overblown gee-whiz coverage of the DRC isn’t helping.
It wasn’t until weeks after the initial disaster that American firm iRobot’s PackBot and Warriorrobots were sent in to assess; it took months to get a homegrown Japanese robot in there. And that really stings, because we now know a great deal of the damage & pollution was avoidable – if only we could have closed or opened some valves, reconnected a hose, turned some knobs, etc.
Sure, iRobot’s machines were very helpful, and other vehicle-form robots could do a lot of good. Ultimately, however, emergency response experts reached consensus around the notion that, as the majority of humans don’t get around on tank tracks or wheels, when disaster strikes an environment designed for bipedal mammals what we really, really need to safely get in there and get things done is a capable, robotic facsimile.
Of course disaster breeds alarm, and Fukushima put humanoid robotics efforts into competitive overdrive; the silver lining reached all the way across the Pacific.
Hello, I’m the DARPA Robotics Challenge Okay, DARPA should either be commended or made fun of for sparing almost every expense on graphic design. You be the judge.
Getting to business, know that descriptions of the DRC tend to be either: dry detailed (boring), dorkily detailed (obtuse to laypeople), overly simple (missing the big deal), or the worst – sensationalistically fantastical (the sky is falling oh god oh god killer robots are coming to eat your babies). Hopefully some straightforward sanity to follow – here’s what’s needed to get reasonably hip:
• First Thing About the DRC – Motivator: Prior to the Tohoku Disaster, certainly Japan, notably the U.S., Korea, and Germany, and many other public and private robotics initiatives around the world were seriously considering the needs and feasibilities, but they were rather casually and quite slowly developing humanoid rescue & recovery robots (ex., prior to the DRC, the U.S. Navy had already begun work on the humanoid Shipboard Autonomous Fire-Fighting Robot (SAFFiR), but, you know, not in a big hurry). There was no specific focus among a broad range of creators, no essential motivation, and no potential for the big, public reward of success.
• Second Thing: A Basic, Bare-Bones DRC Description: The DRC is an unprecedented two-year contest with cash prizes (though the prestige is arguably worth a lot more) for teams who can make a humanoid robot capable of semi-autonomous disaster recon, rescue, recovery, and repair. If you don’t have your own robot but do have software than can represent, DARPA might give you a robot to prove it.
Ready, GO!
• Third Thing About the DRC – How to Win: What must be done to win those (relatively few) millions in cash, garner invaluable prestige, and quite likely secure years of lucrative and prestigious robotics contracts around the world? Quoting, the DARPA Robotics challenge aims to:
…invigorate efforts toward developing robots that can operate in rough terrain and austere conditions, using aids (vehicles and hand tools) commonly available in populated areas. Specifically, we want to prove that the following capabilities can be accomplished [by the robot]:
1. Compatibility with environments engineered for humans (even if they are degraded) 2. Ability to use a diverse assortment of tools engineered for humans (from screwdrivers to vehicles) 3. Ability to be supervised by humans who have had little to no robotics training.
…get humanoid robots to successfully demonstrate the following capabilities: 1. Drive a utility vehicle at the site. 2. Travel dismounted across rubble. 3. Remove debris blocking an entryway. 4. Open a door and enter a building. 5. Climb an industrial ladder and traverse an industrial walkway. 6. Use a tool to break through a concrete panel. 7. Locate and close a valve near a leaking pipe. 8. Replace a component such as a cooling pump.
…apply the DARPA Challenge model in order to: 1. Increase the speed of advancements in robotics 2. Grow international cooperation in the field of robotics 3. Attract new innovators to the field
…proceed along a very ambitious timeline: 1. June 2013: Virtual Robotics Challenge (software is running now!) 2. December 2013: DRC Challenge Trials (physical machines) 3. December 2014: DRC Challenge Finals (best of the best, software & machines)
Unquoting.
Among those of us with executive-level robo-dorky proclivities, the DRC is basically one of the most exciting events possible. But the idea of a supertech capitalist competition captures global curiosity and wonder even for those with only a passing interest in robotics.
So it’s underway, and a very international field, including a number of American teams, teams from Spain, Poland, the U.K., Korea, Israel, etc., are now locked in at full-speed. But, oddly, there’s only one team from Japan.* They’re in Track A, which means they’ve got their very own advanced robot and software. But just one team – a small one at that – seems a little… well, it’s Japan, not like it would require reinvention of the wheel: there’s the well-developed ASIMO** and the various HRP robots, as examples, and per the parameters outlined by DARPA, they’re already kinda more than halfway there.
What gives, Japan? Because, as is, this competition could accurately be named or subtitled something like “The What We Really Needed at Fukushima DARPA Robotics Challenge.” More on that in a minute, but first – about that one team:
Team SCHAFT, Tokyo: Three months ago, the rendering below was pretty much the only publicly available image of the DRC contestant from Tokyo University’s JSK robotics lab spin-off, SCHAFT Robotics:
Even DARPA is still using that image at the DRC homepage, and it doesn’t exactly inspire – there are plenty of teenagers who could render that in an afternoon.
But researchers formerly of a place like Tokyo University are not to be underestimated. Tokyo University is like having the academic disciplines of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT rolled into a brain trust institution comprised of the highest-level human intelligence Japan has to offer. Not surprisingly, led by CEO Yuto Nakanishi, the small firm of young and ambitious roboticists have really, really brought SCHAFT to life:
There isn’t a whole lot of public info on SCHAFT, but what we do know is that it’s influenced by some 30 years of Tokyo University’s robotics experience, i.e., SCHAFT has a both a serious mechanical pedigree and some very fine-tuned software. Perhaps the the most widely reported feature of this robot is that, within a certain range of motion, it’s limbs can apply more force than a comparably sized human being (Sorry, there are no superstrong-in-general humanoid robotics out there. Yet.). One can get deeper historical details on the SCHAFT team and their university lab’s background, but the world definitely needs more contemporary information on this robot and the motivations of its creators. (Note to Author: You live in Japan, right? Umm, get thee to Tokyo?)
Here’s SCHAFT turning a valve a human can’t handle:
SCHAFT’s considerable advantage in physical strength is possible through a unique cooling system that prevents overheating in its nearly maxed-out electric motors (hence the strength). Another advantage, illustrated below in the image’s translated quote, is the team’s observably high levels of pure, enthusiastic robogeekery – this is a very good thing.
Team member inserting SCHAFT’s coolant; being robo-geeky on TV:
For SCHAFT in motion, the video below includes a brief feature from an NHK documentary on advancing robotics projects around the world. There are some good shots, but the doc is sprinkled with a lot of supposition, and some pretty glaring inaccuracies and generalizations are used to set up unfortunate leaps of logic and just, you know, misstatements. It’s either poorly researched, or very poorly translated, so consider it a nice visual presentation, but when it comes to facts & figures and specific details, definitely not verified or reliable reference material:
(for SCHAFT, jump to 25:25):
So, SCHAFT is cool, highly regarded among other contestants, and well on its way to a good showing at the December 2013 DRC trials. But it’s a curious thing that, with cash prizes and the invaluable prestige of doing well in a wholly unprecedented global robotics challenge, SCHAFT is the only Japanese name in the game. So again, what gives, Japan?
Well, the “D” in DARPA of course stands for Defense. As in United States Department of Defense. As in, humanity’s most massive and far reaching military force like… ever. By far. This doesn’t exactly sit well, and it butts up against a pervasive anti-war sentiment enshrined in modern Japan’s peaceful-by-law society (yep, by law).
The 1947 Postwar “Peace” Constitution: Not So Comfortable With Military-Funded Robots? Article 9 of Japan’s postwar national constitution is regarded as an explicit prohibition against state-sponsored/perpetrated offensive military activity. So, with a Japan not allowed to build offensive war machines, that has even run into trouble providing tertiary supply line support to allied forces abroad, building robots with cash from the U.S. military is… sticky.
While a point of debate and political grandstanding in Japan, the Peace Constitution has never been amended and it’s unlikely to be anytime soon. And so Japan can defend, but cannot offend, as it were. Obviously this doesn’t prevent private industry from developing machines that might one day make their way into military support roles, though that’s not exactly… approved of.
Japan isn’t the only country to question DARPA’s motivations and express concerns about the DRC leading to some seriously scary Terimator-like murderdeathkill-bots. Last fall, at a conference in Osaka, DARPA’s Gill Pratt responded:
“The DRC is about developing robots that I believe wholeheartedly are completely impractical for military purposes, for offensive military purposes. Will the technology that we come up with find its way into military systems, probably yes. But I guarantee you that if you work on a robot for healthcare, there’s a chance that technology will also find its way into military systems.”
Okay, Japan’s uneasy, but there appears to be a bit of cherry picking with this. After all, Mitsubishi long ago purchased the recipe for American F-15 fighter jets and manufactured them for the Jieitai, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Or more subtly, the last two Sony PlayStation consoles probably have the graphics processing capability to guide cruise missiles.
So, maybe, perhaps, probably: it’s the visibility of a military-funded humanoid robotics project vis-à-vis palpable anti-war sentiment that permeates a massively parallel-thinking, group-oriented monoculture. In the form of Honda, robotics pioneers at Kawada Industries, the JSK lab at Tokyo University, AIST, METI, and other public and private robotics developers, Japan has to be aware of how its peaceful-by-law reputation might suffer if it helps build what could be construed as an offensive-capable humanoid warbot.
The final DRC contestants, and especially the winner, are going to be everywhere in the news, and, as is already happening, non tech-focused reporting outlets (and unscrupulous blowhardy loudmouths in general) are going to frantically excrete large quantities of disingenuous, irresponsible, SEO-bating headlines like:
“Formerly Aggressive Japan has a Killer Robot Soldier – Should We be Afraid?”
So, it’s complicated. And that’s where the story ends. There’s no red bow with which to tie this one off – it’s just complicated, man. Perhaps one will venture to Tokyo, nail down some more SCHAFT details, and discover the identity and motives behind the mysterious Japanese software-only “Team K.”
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Addendum on Weak Robotics Coverage, Media Hype, and Misinformation There are excellent sources of responsible robotics news out there on the intertubes: IEEE, Gizmag, The Verge, Robohub.org, The Robot Report, Anthrobotic.com, and the URL where you’re currently located. However, outside of Al-Jazeera English and occasionally the BBC, mainline robotics coverage, in the truest sense of the words, produces what is usually half-researched, half-suppositioned, half-assed sensationalism.
They’re far from being alone, but since they published this poster child for unfortunate journalism just a few days ago, today The Guardian gets the blaster: “Darpa Robotics Challenge: the search for the perfect robot soldier.” Karl, this is not good. Karl, is it only about pageviews for you? Karl, do you even want to share any meaningful info? Karl, how long have you been interning over there at the Guardian?
Maybe it can be dismissed as playful journalism, but there’s a huge glaring gigantic wall between playful and irresponsible. Smartassery and pointed, perhaps ironic hyperbole in tech coverage is very, very cool – if, IF it’s qualified and not allowed to fall in love with itself and become a self-sustaining fusion reaction of assclownery for its own sake.
Or, in Karl’s case, hyperbolic scare-mongering to get more views. It doesn’t inform. It doesn’t help. It retards progress and understanding and retards the possibility of developing an informed, nuanced point of view.
As the DARPA Robotics Challenge proceeds, shall we all stop that? KTHX.
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*According to the DRC website, there’s another Japanese Team in Track B (software only), but there is next to zero public information about the group known as “Team K,” and it’s unclear whether or not they’re like, you know, doing anything. (Note to author again: You live in Japan, right?)
**It should be noted that, while unwilling to toss a beefed-up ASIMO into the DRC, Honda is working on their answer to what the DRC will produce. We’ll follow up with some inside info on that later this summer. (Another note to author: Because you live in Japan, right?)
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Honda’s Walking Assist with Stride Management: Coming to a Hospital Near You! If, that is, you’re connected to one of 50 Japanese medical institutions now testing and evaluating a pair of the semi-robotic exoskeletal assistive devices. Honda breaks down the what’s-it-do-and-how as follows:
“The [Walking Assist Device’s] control computer activates motors based on information obtained from hip angle sensors while walking to improve the symmetry of the timing of each leg lifting from the ground and extending forward, and to promote a longer stride for an easier walk.”
Honda’s worked closely with several medical institutions throughout development of the Walking Assist Device, but last week’s announcement of the 100-unit roll-out signals what is effectively their flagship field testing effort; a medical trial to collect feedback and evaluations from professionals and patients, and data from the devices themselves, of course. But it’s much sexier than your average medical trial. Because robots. Obviously.
Each rehabilitation and/or physical therapy-focused recipient medical facility gets one medium- and one large-sized device. Details on the cost and duration of the leases haven’t been disclosed, but we do have the following specs:
If successful, the devices will very likely see wider domestic trials, possibly moving beyond rehabilitation and making their way into the homes of Japan’s rapidly aging population. In addition to recovery, the Walking Assist Device could provide just the boost needed for walking to the grocery store, visiting a friend or family member, a healthy stroll around the shopping center, or, for Japan’s endangered farming population, 50% of whom are within 5-10 years of retirement, another trip out to the field.
Given sufficient demand, and should they be cheap enough to produce, the Walking Assist Devices could perhaps be enlarged for populations a bit more… uhhh, let’s be nice and say “a bit more robust.” Among other developed nations, the U.S. also has a growing population of retirees who’d definitely appreciate the extra spring in their step. But Honda, remember, you’re going to need some bigger springs. Sorry about that. It’s a problem. Sorry.
Honda’s Ongoing Assistive Robotics Commitment – Respect Due: While Honda began specific work on walking-assist devices in 1999, the devices weren’t widely public until 2009. Differences between the current and early iterations are visible in the main image above: on the right and left are the earlier, bulkier, more metallic devices – the middle image, included in last week’s press release, shows the sleeker, current model (the middle image has actually been out in the wild for at least a year, so one assumes the 50 medium and 50 large devices now shipping are the same, possibly with some under-the-hood upgrades and/or modifications).
Unless you’re of a certain level of robo-dorkiness, you might not know that Honda’s actually been pounding away on bipedal humanoid robotics tech since the mid-1980s. You might be unaware of their proactive efforts toward addressing Japan’s aging population crisis through assistive robotics (Akihabara News coverage). And, you could have missed news that Honda’s pursuing a robotics-in-the-home partnership with Sekisui House (even more Akihabara News coverage!).*
Cars, ATVs, a lawnmower perhaps, maybe a sprinkling of ASIMO – that’s the standard mental image of Honda.
Consider upgrading?
*If you read Akihabara News you’ll know about ALL THAT STUFF! ….just sayin.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Welcome to Touchable TV! In addition to showcasing their 8K, 7680×4320, Ultra-High-Def (Ridiculous-Def?) TV broadcasting kit last weekend, Japan’s NHK also demoed a haptic feedback device that simulates virtual 3D objects in real time. And the thing is, it’s really just a robot that, when you touch it, kinda touches you back.
NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is a public media organization somewhat analogous to the American PBS. However, entirely not at all like its American counterpart, the J-broadcaster’s got this: NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories. Which is nice, because in cooperation with various corporate partners, NHK seriously delivers the tech.
Okay fine… so where’s the robot?
Haptic Virtual Reality that’s Actually Virtual – Just Put Your Finger in This Robotic Thingy! In the image above, a brave test pilot is placing his index finger into the locus of a five-point artificial haptic feedback environment. Based on the analysis & modeling of a virtual 3D object that in turn informs the movements and relative resistances among five robotic arms controlling the five feedback points, a focused area of stimuli/response is generated. Sounds complicated to explain “robotic, artificial sense of touch” that way, but conceptually the idea is quite simple:
#1. Put your finger in here and strap on the velcro:
#2. It’ll feel like you’re touching something that doesn’t physically exist, like Domo-kun (Dōmo-koon) here:
Each of those shiny round points is the terminus of a robotic arm that either gives way or holds steady based on the relative position of the finger to the contours of the object being simulated. Each point’s position-resistance refreshes every 1/1000th of a second. Not bad.
For practical, full-immersion VR to exist (in a physical sense; that is, before VR becomes a direct neural interface a la The Matrix), for now and for a while our low-to-medium-resolution interactive haptic feedback interfaces will be intrinsically robotic. And for virtualizing entirely digital, non-real artifacts, NHK’s device is a step in that direction.
Of course five points of interactivity might not sound like much, but mindful of the generally leapfroggy nature of technological advancement, effectively replicating and surpassing the haptic resolution we now experience via the estimated 2,500 nerve receptors/cm² in the human hand doesn’t seem too tall an order.
If that does seem too tall, if that does sound too far out and overly optimistic, if it seems impossible that we’d ever be able to cram 2,500 sensory & feedback robots into a square centimeter – well, then your robo-dorkery score is low and you need to pay more attention. Because dude, we’re already building nanorobots atom-by-atom. Not an “if” question, this one.
Neat… But Anything Really New Here? Of course, a wide variety of teleoperated force-feedback systems are either already in use or in-development (the da Vinci Surgical System; NASA’s Robonaut 2; etc.), so it’s important to emphasize here that NHK’s device is novel for a very particular reason: Maybe all, or nearly all, of the force-feedback haptic systems currently in use or development are based on an ultimately analog physicality. That is to say, whether it’s repairing a heart valve from another room, or, from a NASA building in Texas, tele-pushing a big shiny button on the International Space Station – what’s being touched from afar ultimately is a physical object.
So, what we might consider contemporary practical VR is more accurately a kind of partial VR. As the sense of touch is essential to our experience as human beings, incorporating that sense is a step toward interactive, actual factual, truly virtual virtual reality. Modeling and providing haptic feedback for non-physical objects, i.e., things that don’t really exist, in concert with other virtualization technologies – that’s a big step.
So What Can/Does/Will it Do? NHK is kind of talking up the benefits for the visually impaired – which is good and noble and whatnot – but perhaps focusing on that is a bit of a PR move, because at least in theory this technology could go way, way beyond simple sensory replacement/enhancement.
An advanced version, incorporating the virtual touching of both simulated and/or real objects, could add layers of utility and interactivity to almost any form of work, entertainment, shopping… from afar we might discern how hard it is to turn a valve in an accident zone (partial VR), how bed sheets of various thread count feel against the skin (partial or full VR), the rough surface of the wall one hides behind in a videogame (proper VR), or even pettting the dog, or petting… ummm, a friend (partial and/or proper VR – chose your own adventure)!
That’s a ways off, but in the short-to-near-term, here’s how NHK envisions functionality for their touchable TV tech:
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Full-Immersion Omni-Sensory VR System! Okay, so to get this ball rolling: NHK, meet VR upstart Oculus Rift. NHK & Oculus Rift, meet VR/AR mashup Eidos. NHK, Oculus Rift, and Eidos, meet UC Berkely’s laser-activated pseudo-robotic hydrogels.
We’re all waiting for your pre-holodeck lovechild.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
While riding her bike on Sunday, May 19th, at approximately 3:30pm, highly accomplished and well-regarded robotics researcher Dr. Kanako Miura was struck by a large truck near Charlesgate Park in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Miura, 36, died at the scene. Official reports conclude that it was simply a terrible accident on a busy road.
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A guest of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Miura arrived last October for what was planned to be year of research at the world-class MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). She had been invited to share her pioneering work on improving the understanding of human bipedal locomotion and applying that practical knowledge to advanced humanoids, i.e., Dr. Miura made robots that walk like us.
“She was really part of the fabric of our group. She was not just a visitor in our group, she became a close friend and a member of our family. The energy she brought to her work was contagious, and her enthusiasm was easy to see. She loved giving tours, and showing off the lab, and she had an unfailing optimism in the future and importance of humanoid robots.”
-Professor Russ Tedrake, Director; Center for Robotics, CSAIL
Dr. Miura held a B.E. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.E. and Ph.D. in Information Science from prestigious Tohoku University. She also earned an additional Ph.D. in Electronics and Automation from equally renowned Université Louis-Pasteur in 2004. Such certifications alone evidence a formidable intellect; factoring in the linguistic challenges between Japanese, French, and English – well, that pushes the dial up a bit further.
The considerable expertise Dr. Miura brought to MIT arose from post-doctoral research at Tohoku University, a subsequent research position with communications giant NTT Docomo, and her eventual ascent to senior researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in the Intelligent Systems Research Institute’s Humanoid Robotics Department.
While at AIST, Dr. Miura worked on the world-famous HRP-4C Future Dreamrobot (nicknamed “Miim,” from the Japanese). You might not know the name, but chances are you’ve seen photos or video of the agile and strikingly human robot:
HRP-4C has also “met” with the highest levels of foreign government:
With the above robot as the platform and Dr. Miura as the lead researcher, the AIST team made several valuable and distinct contributions to mobility and agility in humanoid robotics. The video below, for example, demonstrates the “slip turn” motion. “Slip turn” is very human-like movement that allows a biped to rapidly change direction with minimal change in body orientation. How is this an advancement? Well, think about the baby steps a robot like ASIMO has to take when changing direction, as opposed to this:
Another project led by Dr. Miura was the development of a more human-like gait for bipedal robots. When we walk, movement in the pelvis precipitates and works in conjunction with movement in the knees. A natural human step ends with the back foot balancing and pushing off the toe, and this leads to the standard leg-swing motion of the human stride. Here’s that recreated in robot form – and again, sorry ASIMO, but your flat-footed shuffling must yield:
Dr. Miura also led a project that would allow a robot to mimic human movement based on motion capture technology.
After contributing so much to her field, in addition to eventually being courted for the year of study and collaboration at MIT, she was also recognized here at home with the 2010 AIST President Award:
Such is the noble reality of robotics research. No single person can crank out a perfect human facsimile, and there are no Tony Starks – there are researchers like Dr. Miura, diligently working through small but profound iterations and laying the foundation for generations of robotics research to follow.
Unfortunately, no one at Akihabara Newsor Anthrobotic.com knew or had ever met Dr. Miura. However, through the words of Professor Tedrake and other public and private discussions, it is easy to appreciate that she was not only a brilliant and motivated scholar, but also a warm and engaging person. How we wish to have had the pleasure of interacting with such a comprehensive intellect.
Though something small, we hope it a fitting memorial to share her work here. That awareness of her contributions might inspire others toward learning about robotics, engineering, or science of any kind, is a fitting legacy.
Seems safe to assume she’d agree.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Google Glass fever and upstart Meta’s rapidly financed US $100,000 Kickstarter campaign indicate #1. impending altered reality market maturity, or #2. everything new remixes the old, but still the geeks sing “Ohhhhh look, shiny!”
Google Glass: Loudest Voice in the Room In development for several years and announced way back when, Glass finally got to developers and the geek elite about two months ago (for US $1500, plus getting oneself to a mandatory orientation meeting thingy). Glass is a kind of hybrid between a head-mounted display and augmented reality (AR) prosthetic outfitted with the internets. Really, if you’re reading Akihabara News you’re probably already hip, but if not there’s a search engine very ready to help you. Big G overlord Eric Schmidt indicated last month that a consumer-ready Glass product is about a year away. Realistically, at this point it’s unclear whether Glass is expected to be a viable consumer product or more of a proof-of-concept development platform.
Meta: Quickly Kickstarted, High-Profile Team Assembled – Working Man’s AR? If you saw last year’s sci-fi short film “Sight” or the YouTube sci-fi series “H+,” you’re already hip to what Columbia University’s Meron Gribitz & pals are aiming for with Meta. While Glass is more of a HUD with some AR, Meta is less with the acronyms and more what the name suggests: information about information, i.e., Meta hopes to overlay manipulatable imagery/data on the physical world, augmenting real reality and projecting virtual reality (VR) artifacts that you can fiddle with in real time.
For now, Meta has a slick video, a prototype, a crack team of engineers and advisors including professor Steven Feiner and wearable computing advocate guy, Steve Mann, and financing to get their dev kit into dev’s hands. To its credit, Meta does seem to aim less at generalized gee-whiz gimmickry and heads-up automated narcissism, and more toward the getting actual work done.
Asian Alternatives: First: POPSCI, very well done. The image on the above left melts one’s technosnarky heart.
In typical form, China has assimilated and excreted: the Baidu Eye is their Glass clone. There’s no indication of plans to bring it to market, so maybe they just wanted to say “Ha, ha, we can, too!” Or maybe they just wanted to do research and ride the Glass hype, which is understandable. But China, dude – might wanna think about doing some original stuff someday soon. That lack of intellectual capital is going to sting when “Designed in California” meets “Made in the U.S.A. With My 3D Printer.”
Over here in Japan we’ve got startup Telepathy One pushing a Glass-looking, but as they openly declare, not Glass-like AR headset (above-right). While technology writers rhetorically speculating as much in a headline makes for good Search Engine Optimization (other adjectives include: disingenuous, blithe, lame), rather than compete with Glass, Telepathy One is focusing on social networking & multimedia – but they too are clearly attempting to catch the contemporary current of AR hype – which is understandable. And hey, even if Telepathy One flashes and disappears, that fact that the phrase “Japanese Startup” can be used without the usual preface of “Why Aren’t There Any…” is a positive thing.
Okay Then, It’s Almost Doable – But Still… Indeed, the apps, core software, computational capability, and the ubiquitous-enough network connectivity essential for decent AR are quickly ramping up. Along with innovative concepts like the AR/VR mashup Eidos Masks, alternatives to and more advanced versions of the above devices will likely continue to crop up. In fact, the never-even-close-to-being-vaguely-realized promises of VR are also showing signs of decreased morbidity. So…
We Actually Want It vs. They Want Us to Want It Glass, the engine of the current VR hype machine, is of course conceptually nothing new, but it has the word “Google” in the name, so people are paying attention. Of course even Google gets ahead of itself from time to time (Buzz? Wave?), but lucky for them selling ads pays well, and they’ve got a boatload of cash to pour into whatever sounds cool. Millions have benefited from Google’s side projects and non-traditional ventures (Gmail much?), but the expectations leveled on Glass are… perhaps a bit much. Suffice it to say, Google absolutely nails search and software and web apps, but thus far big-G’s hardware projects have but limped.
But if we’ve got the cash, that probably won’t stop us! The soft tyranny of the tech elite is the ability to ring a shiny bell and then watch the doggies line up to pay. Luckily, actually useless products, products produced with too much hype, products produced with too much variety, products out of touch with the people who ultimately finance their creation – no matter how awesome they seem at first blush – they will fail. Hard. (Note: Sony, if you’re here, please reread the last sentence!).
Until AR & VR technologies can out-convenience a smartphone, shrink into a contact lens, dispense with voice controls and the confusing non-verbal communication of fiddling with a touchscreen on your temple, i.e., until such devices can move beyond relatively impractical novelty, it’s unlikely they’ll amount to much more than narrowly focused research and demonstration platforms.
This is to say, along with inventing Google Glass, the search giant might also want to invent something for us to like, you know, do with it. Or maybe that’s not fair – so to be fair, one can concede that no new technology is perfect at 1.0, and any awesome innovation has to start somewhere…
Maybe it could start in 1995. Ask Nintendo about that.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Props to io9 and Meta’s Kickstarter and Meta (but come on guys, tame that website – autoplay is really annoying). PopSci article/image; Watch the augmented reality-themed “Sight” and “H+” by clicking on those words.
Japanese Robot Art – It’s Good, Man! Illustration, product packaging, statues & sculpture, and even some transhumanist pin-ups; for decades Japan’s been pounding out the robot art like nobody’s business. Last week’s robotics piece examined the artistic legacy influence of giant Japanese robots on the upcoming film Pacific Rim, but this week it’s just cool robot art for the sake of looking at cool robot art.
Some readers might just see the shiny, and that’s cool – some might find a new robo-wallpaper or screensaver, and that’s fun – or, as happens more than one might suspect, the exploration and enjoyment of sci-fi imagery and entertainment can result in actual factual inspiration.
Art Can Make Science, The -Fi Drives the Sci- A guy named Martin Cooper, inspired by the communicators from the original Star Trek series (60s), went on to lead the Motorola team that invented the first mobile phone (70s). The Panasonic/ActiveLink exoskeletal Power Loader & Power Loader Light look a whole lot like the safety-yellow power loader from Aliens. The 1959 novel Starship Troopers has been cited as a major inspiration for those working on real-life badass robot suits. Sikorsky’s helicopters & Lake’s early submarines were heavily inspired by Jules Verne. It goes on.
Art & The Contemporary Robotics Revolution The social and economic significance of the ongoing explosion in practical robotics shows a lot of parallels to the communications boom and media upheaval centered around the rise of the internet – in all likelihood, it’s not going to slow down. At all. And one has to wonder how many Gen-X roboticists fell in love with their field as children playing, watching, reading the Transformers, Voltron, Gundam, Star Wars, etc. Certainly went that way with at least one dorky keyboard pounder, as well.
Whatever the result, humans need art – and those of use with deep-seated robo-geekery proclivities, we need robot art. And so, enjoy the four forms below, and see the links at the bottom if you need a little more enjoyment, something that’ll look cool on your laptop or phone, and if the imagery below inspires you to invent, kindly link here when you go public, yeah?!
Form #1 – Illustration Because Illustration: Doesn’t have to be a whole lot of practicality to robot art, just looking good is good enough. The main image above and the first work below is that of Toshiaki Takayama, who goes all kinds of robo-cyborgy on humans and dragons and other imaginary stuff:
Another great illustration is this Gundam going all robo-rage on… something, via Concept Robots, artist unfindable:
Form #2 – Transformers Box Art: Now, this is also illustration, but for marketing and product packaging, of course. These images, perhaps modern vintage, were included on the 80s Transformers packaging. With plastic & metal toy in hand, these were the mind’s landscape.
In Japan it was this:
And across the Pacific:
Form #3 – Statues & Sculpture: The most well-known and pun-intended visible robot statue is the life-size, 1:1-scale Gundam that pun-intended pops up from time to time around Tokyo. Ironically, this is Gundam Suit is, well, Mobile. The attention to detail is fantastic:
And just how big is the 1:1-scale Gundam? Could ask this dude:
Form #4 – Japanese Robot Art for Big Boys & Girls (CAUTION – the link below will deliver some NSFW): For those who’d like a little more, ummm… nudity and sexuality in their robot art, a good place to begin is the work of nasty robot airbrush wizard Hajime Sorayama. His iconic and widely recognizable work was transhuman before transhumanism was cool, but his name isn’t exactly household. Below is a pretty mild sample, but if you’re like, you know, into that sorta thing, jump through the link down there – but not at work or in front of grandma:
Thanks for viewing – if you’ve got a favorite Japanese or otherwise nationalitied artist who represents with the robot art, let us and other readers know down below.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Fourteen years from now, when Japan’s magnetically levitated, approx. 300MPH/482KPH Chuō Shinkansen comes online, it’ll be among the world’s coolest people movers – maybe even top of the list. And the world’s most fantastic train should have equally fantastic train stations, yeah?
Maybe not.
While the existence of this train is old news, released just last week were Japan Railways’ design proposals for stations on the initial Tokyo to Nagoya route (with eventual extension to Osaka). Suffice it to say, as proposed these supertech trains would be stopping at stations with an aesthetic that aggressively bypasses any notion of post-modern minimalism and instead lands somewhere in the vicinity 1970s Soviet chic. They’re basically elevators, stairs, automated ticket counters, toilets, and tracks.
Those interested can see the plans here & here (PDF; Japanese only).
Train Stations are Not Just Train Stations (in Japan) For one who’s never traveled here, this might not seem like such a big deal. Because it’s just a train station, for a very fast train at that, so who’s looking to linger? Well, the thing is, in Japan even medium-sized and smallish train stations can be the nuclei of entire neighborhoods or city wards, and they’re often social & economic ecosystems unto themselves; think variably sized multilevel shopping malls where trains happen to stop. This is particularly true in places like Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka where rail stations serve literally millions of passengers on a daily basis.
Japan Railways is calling the designs “modern” and “revolutionary,” but here in rapidly aging, often techno-contradictory Japan (yes, the rumors about ongoing fax machine usage are true), dispensing with the niceties and familiarities of strongly analog and strongly full-service rail travel culture might be too tall an order – the natives might revolt… which basically just means they’ll demand that their local municipalities cocoon the stations with restaurants, convenience stores, souvenir shops, coin lockers, and little out of the way cubbys with those stand-up irons to press your pants.
Remains to be seen, but we’ll keep you dialed in as things unfold.
Addendum on Nomenclature: Oh, by the way, the ultra-utilitarian stations aren’t the only thing that could use a bit more thought: “Chuō Shinkansen” might sound exotic and Japanesey, but it really just means “Central Shinkansen.” And, though the name’s gained a domestic and international cache of high-tech coolness, “shinkansen” just means “new main line.”
Sure, a dead-sexy maglev bullet train is a concept that sells itself, but let’s hope that gets some polish. Because calling this thing the “Central Shinkansen” would be like naming the latest Ferrari “Red Car.”
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Akihabara News Contributor Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com.
A Slice of Giant Japanese Robot Lineage: With a marketing campaign aimed at pretty much any human being with electricity, high levels of robo-geekery aren’t at all required for one to be aware of this summer’s giant robot & monster movie, Pacific Rim. However, awareness of the nearly 60-year legacy of giant Japanese robot fiction could use some press. Thankfully, you don’t have to be an anime fanboy to get hip; working forward from the 1950s, and mercifully avoiding discussion of the convoluted and often bizarre plot lines, check this out:
Oldest: Tetsujin 28-go (1956 – Approx. 34ft/10m; pictured above-left) Directly translatable as “iron human,” Tetsujin is probably the oldest example of specifically Japanese giant robot fiction. While no humans piloted Tetsujin from within, it was human-controlled. What was the influence, and was Tetsujin brought to the English-speaking world, one might wonder? Why yes, in 1964 Tetsujin came to America and changed his name to “Gigantor.”
Older: Giant Robo (1967 – Probably 100ft/30m; not pictured) This manga and anime series was created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, the same guy who made Mr. Tetsujin up there. The human-controlled “Giant Robo,” which is Japanified English that could only appeal in that (lack of) linguistic context, came to America shortly after it’s J-release as “Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot.”
Old: Mobile Suit Gundam (1979 – Approx. 60ft/18m; above-center) These giant Japanese robots got a person inside at the wheel. Gundam is one of the better known yet mostly Japan-only giant robot franchises, and is one of the few properties on this list to actually grow in popularity since its initial release. Global coverage of a 1:1-scale Gundam statue in Tokyo definitely helped that along.
New-ish: Microman and Diaclone Robots (1974 & 1980, respectively – various largeness; not pictured) While not human-driven nor necessarily human-controlled, we best not go without mentioning what are perhaps the most famous giant robots in all of modern fiction: the American Hasbro & Japanese Takara Tomy co-produced Transformers franchise, launched in 1984. The concepts for which were co-opted and incorporated from the latter Japanese company’s Microman and Diaclone toys.
Newer: Beast King GoLion (1981 – inconsistently huge but always huge; above-right) Actually a team of five human-driven giant robot lions who combine their powers to form an even larger giant robot. Beast King GoLion far and away has the most awkward in-English-yet-Japanese-sounding translation of the original title (what the hell’s a “GoLion,” right?). As such, when it made its way to rest of the world, it became the very well-known “Voltron: Defender of the Universe.”
Other notable giant Japanese robot series include the human-controlled Mazinger Z (1973) and the more recent human-driven Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). And there are more. Actually, several more. And someone needing a master’s or PhD in Japanese studies should probably dig into why nearly all of the giant robot pilots are children.
But okay, okay – point made, yes?
So, Are We Sure Pacific Rim isn’t a Giant Japanese Robot Movie? Guillermo del Toro, Pacific’s Rim’s well-respected director, has indicated that while the whole legacy of Japanese giant robot fiction has a presence in the film, it’s not a specifically Japanese-style giant robot & monster movie. But look – it’s got huge monsters coming out of the ocean [uh… CHECK!], and giant, human-controlled robots have to fight them and save the world [CHECK!].
Given the obvious monster movie influence of Godzilla, Ishiro Honda’s 1954 allegorical classic, and the above detailed genre-spawning giant Japanese robot factoid expo, the logic of precedent dictates that Pacific Rim essentially cannot avoid being by default, de-facto, and by-proxy, specifically Japanese. Kinda like any McDonald’s, anywhere on earth, just can’t help but be American.
Absent whatever makes Japanese artists and writers so keen on the concept, would humans have come up with giant driveable robots anyway? Yeah – totally. But in this universe, Japan did – so viewers of Pacific Rim, know that the film is standing on some big, beefy, giant Japanesey robotic shoulders.
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The Just for Fun Pacific Rim & Robot Jox Addendum: Now, we’re not the first to point this out, but Pacific Rim is obviously, ummm… also influenced by the so-bad-it’s-awesome, barely seen even by robo-dorks, confusing and intellectually assaulting live-action cartoon that is 1990’s Robot Jox. To be fair, “influenced” probably isn’t the right word; some of the parallels are just conceptually and anatomically unavoidable.
Given that Guillermo del Toro’s driving Pacific Rim, comparisons probably aren’t really that fair. But, if you wanna ferociously lower your expectations and see what a bad giant robot movie looks like, go ahead and YouTube Robot Jox. It’s out there.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
2013’s Top 4 Robot Short Films Japan’s yearly Golden Week, a 10-day stretch of spring garnished with national holidays, tends to shut down almost every industry save tourism & travel. Of course this includes J-robotics movers and shakers, so in this week’s feature we’re going straight-up international fiction and presenting 2013’s best robot-related short flicks to date.
This narrow window of but 4 months gives us a nice, fresh selection, but there’s definitely a huge pile of noteworthy pre-2013 robo-centric shorts out there. It’s difficult for any lone robotics geek to keep a handle on them all, so if you’ve got a favorite you’d like to introduce please let us and other readers know in the comments below.
We’ll get back to Japanese robot sci- next week, but today it’s all -fi. So, go ahead and downshift your thinking cap and enjoy these fine British, German, Malaysian, and Honk Kongian offerings:
The Film:ABE (8m:22sec – Live Action/CGI Hybrid) Writer/Director: Rob McLellan; England
Chosen Because: Looks great; Explores pitfalls of narcissistic amoral robot self-awareness. What’s Going on Here: Death by robot. Semi-Inverted Love Allegory vis-a-vis Homicide. Quote from the Robot:“Maybe this time, I will get it right. Maybe this time, I will fix you.”
ABE is not exactly light viewing. Be warned that it’s morbid and disturbing… but, it will be so mostly in your own head. Which is part of the hook. The blood & guts are only implied, and aside from a few obscured b-roll shots here and an occasional stain there, the viewer’s imagination is what renders the robot-perpetrated gore.
The Film:R’ha (6m:26sec – CGI/Animation) Writer/Director: Kaleb Lechowski; Germany
Chosen Because: Behold the power of one motivated animator with some sexy software. Plus, AI robots and aliens. What’s Going on Here: AI/Robot Military Runs Amok on what Appears to be the Evolutionary Eventuality of Sharks. Quote from the Robot:“Insanity is a neurologic dysfunction. I don’t suffer such weaknesses.”
R’ha gets straight to business with a biological captive, a robotic interrogator, and some backstory on the apocalyptic shenanigans of warbots gone all kinds of murderously self-deterministic on their creators. The content is clearly formulaic, but R’ha is likely more of open-letter resume than exercise in storycraft. That one 22 year-old student wrote, directed, and animated the whole thing just might show proof of concept.
The Film:Changing Batteries (5m:33sec – CGI/Animation) Creators: Shu Gi, Casandra Ng, Hon JiaHui and Bahareh Darvish; Malaysia
Chosen Because: Lightly explores a possible/likely scenario. Very effective non-verbal communication. Robot. What’s Going on Here: Isolation; Bonding with Machines; Mortality and Immortality. Quote from the Robot:N/A – All non-verbal communication here, but expressed well.
After exploring robo-insanity and robo-revolution, the melancholy Changing Batteries actually lightens the mood a bit. While predictable and rather saccharine, it kinda does explore tolerance, acceptance, and bonding with the “other,” in this case embodied by grandma’s little robot helper. Slightly cheese coated, but still a touching, well worth the watch, and well-made final project by a team of 3D animation students – and probably the most relevant to reality of the lot (aging societies will need robots!).
The Film:Modin (2m:50sec – CGI/Animation) Creators: Lam Ho Tak & Ng Kai Chung Tommy; Hong Kong
Chosen Because: Very good animation, very good music. Slo-mo robots. What’s Going on Here: Scathing commentary on resource depletion. Or, just two robots fighting over a found battery. Quote from the Robot: N/A – But lots of mechanical grunting.
Wrapping the top four, Modin is a brief, playful showdown between two equally matched and equally drained robots who perchance across a battery in the barren wasteland they roam. Can they just share, or will it be M.A.D.?
Thanks for Watching! Remember, if you’d like to get us or other readers hip to an older robot short or one from 2013 that we might have missed, let us know down below.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
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