Someone call MIT’s researchers and tell them their terrifying cheetah robot has a long-lost teensy sibling in Switzerland. Developed in the laboratories of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the “cheetah-cub robot” is a four-legged metallic critter modeled after a house cat. The scientists focused on designing legs that can move like our feline friends’, paying particular attention to their stability while moving on uneven surfaces. While it has a long way to go before it becomes a graceful daredevil, it’s a fast little bugger that can run seven times its body length in one second. The researchers hope their creation gives rise to more robots for exploration and search-and-rescue missions in the future — a far more noble goal than some cat-owners’ dream to have their pets’ pictures land on the front page of Reddit.
When Anki Drive was demoed live on stage during Apple’s WWDC, we saw a modern take on classic slot cars using iOS devices and Bluetooth-equipped toy vehicles — basically a racing video game rendered with real world objects. But there’s actually a lot more to it than that. Earlier this week, we talked briefly with Boris Sofman — Anki’s CEO and cofounder — about the product and the startup’s history and ambitions. While playing the game and taking pictures was off limits, we got the opportunity to examine the cars up close. Read on after the break.
If you fancy yourself a good air hockey player, this robot may have a thing or two to teach you. It comes from Japanese researchers at Chiba University’s Namiki Lab. It is pretty good at competing against human players because the robot changes its strategy based on its human opponent’s playing style. Think you have what it takes to win?
The system is comprised of an air-hockey table, a four-axis robotic arm, two high-speed cameras, and an external PC. The robot tracks the movement of your puck and paddle, using position data from the camera images that are processed by the PC, and uses that data to figure out how to react.
You may think you are fast, but the robot is faster, tracking the game at 500 frames-per-second. This ‘bot already knows its next move when you are reacting to that last shot. It already knows your next move as it counters your last hit. It can’t be stopped. It can’t be reasoned with… Sorry. The point is that you aren’t fast from the robot’s point of view. It is playing in a kind of Matrix-style bullet-time, because it is so much faster than you.
To make it more fair for those who play this robot, researchers programmed the robot with a three-layer control system. The first layer is responsible for basic motion control of hardware. A second layer decides its short-term strategy. Things like whether it should hit the puck, defend the goal, or stay still. The third layer is all about long-term strategy and throwing it’s superiority in your face. If you are playing aggressively, it will too. If you are defensive, it will become defensive. How can you win? Well, you can kill it at least. It’ll never see that sledgehammer coming.
Last year Kenji Ishida and his company Brave Robotics released 10 units of his awesome remote controlled car that can transform into a mecha. Unsurprisingly, all 10 units were bought, and there’s no word on when the company will release more. But you might not have to wait for Brave Robotics, because toy maker Takara Tomy is also working on a similar toy.
Before you accuse Takara Tomy of stealing Kenji Ishida’s work, lawyer down. Frankie of Hobby Media spotted Takara Tomy’s prototype at the 2013 Tokyo Toy Show, and apparently he also found out that Takara Tomy is collaborating with Brave Robotics. So we’re all good.
Frankie also said that he saw the toy transform, but he was asked not to film it as it was still a work in progress. Just to refresh your memory, here’s what Brave Robotics’ toy looks like in action:
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.”
• • •
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.
• • •
*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?)
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Some have called Willow Garage’s health into question lately, but the company may have a minor hit on its hands — if through an unexpected channel. The firm has seen a strong enough response to its Velo robot gripper that it’s mulling an early sale of the device this fall, at an educational price somewhere between $500 and $1,000. Whether or not that happens depends on feedback, however. Willow Garage is both offering notification sign-ups and running a feature survey — if you need a different interface or better performance, now’s the time to speak up. There’s no guarantee of receiving a Velo when the company might ship just 50 to 100 of the advance units, but you won’t get one if you don’t ask, will you?
Despite everything Apple is expected to unveil at WWDC today, a corridor-mapping human scale telepresence robot probably won’t be on the agenda; for that, we’ll have to wait for iRobot and Cisco’s Ava 500. Built on the iRobot modular Ava platform, the video collaboration ‘bot mounts a Cisco EX60 telepresence screen – complete with HD
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.
• • •
Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
Maybe robots won’t kill us all after all. There are some signs of a coming utopia… robots that pour beer for you for instance. That’s right, things are looking up thanks to robots like the PR2 here who makes sure that you have a beer as soon as your mug is empty.
When you are sitting and enjoying the beer that a robot has just served you one day, you will have the fine folks at Cornell University’s Personal Robotics Lab to thank. This PR2 robot from Willow Garage is assisted by a Kinect 3D camera and a database of 3D videos. It gauges your possible reactions and adjusts accordingly.
In other words, if you move your cup, it won’t pour your beer on the table. No wasted beer means more for you. Just one question… Who drinks beer out of a coffee mug?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
