Sajid Ahmed

Group C

CS312

Summary of: At Home With The Androids

There is a movement around the world to develop humanoid robots. This article

discusses the features of various robots under development at the time under different

robot scientists.

The robot named (Symbiotic Intelligence Group) SIG, is developed by Hiroaki

Kitano at Kitano Symbiotic Systems in Tokyo. The developer’s goal is for the robot to

have eyesight, hearing, and processor power to follow instruction form several people in

a crowd. The robot is made out of aluminium, 1.2 meters in height, has a digital camera

and four microphones, it has ERATO-1 Beowulf- class 32-PC cluster. The main purpose

of the robot is “To study intelligence and multimodal sensory integration in a highdegree-

of-freedom robot; it also will serve as a prototype for the upper torso of a fullbody

humanoid”1.

The robot named (Dynamic Brain) DB is being developed by two researchers

named Mitsuo Kawato and Stefan Schaal at Advanced Telecommunications Research

Institute, outside Kyoto. The researchers use robots to understand human brain function.

The robot is an “Experimental tool to explore issues of biological motor control, theories

of neuroscience, machine learning, and general-purpose biomimetic robotics”[1]. It is 1.9

meters in height, 90 kg, has 2 two degree of freedom cameras, an artificial vestibular

system.

The face robot is being developed by Fumio Hara and Hiroshi Kobayashi at the

science university of Tokyo. The robot is 36 cm long, 2.1 kg, it has one CCD camera.

The robot is researched for human robot communication.

Yoshihiro Fujita is developing R100 at the NEC research center. This is a

personal assistant that can recognize faces and identify commands in few hundred

Japanese words. The frame of the robot is composed of plastic, it weights 7.9 kg, and is

44 cm long. It has “Three microphones, touch sensor, ultrasonic sensors, and

environmental sensors” 1.

The purpose of Jack is, “To study "global dynamics" - the idea that movement in

a humanoid robot doesn't need to be programmed explicitly from moment to moment” 1.

Yasuo Kuniyoshi is developing the robot at the Electrotechnical lab. The height of the

robot is 1.6 m, weight is approximately 60 kg, it has Stereovision, CCD video cameras.

The robot also has, “Bin aural auditory microphone system, position sensors in the

joints” 1.

The Robonaut developed by Robert Ambrose at the Johnson Space Center with

the purpose of “NASA needs a space- walking robot that can do repairs on a spaceship

via telerobotic remote control, as directed from inside by an astronaut” 1. it is 1.9 meters,

182 kg, has stereo cameras, and 150 sensors per artificial limbs for position, velocity,

temperature, torque, force.

Resource:

At Home With The Androids. Sep 2000. 25 April 2004.

<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.09/robosapiens_pr.html>

 



[1] At Home With The Androids. <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.09/robosapiens_pr.html>

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