I saw this singing robot at Wired magazine. Watch the video and read the subtitles closely, since much of it is in Japanese. This is Cool Science! A robot diva programmed to mimic a human singer’s facial movements breathing patterns.
Japanese engineers have taken a different tack in their robotic development, working to make more lifelike robots that will integrate well into human society. To do this, they’ve followed some interesting learning curves. I liked how they use maps of mouth movement and even integrating breathing patterns into the robot’s speech.
Did you catch the reference to using hidden Markov technology to train the robot when to breath? What they are referring to is (more…)
Robot Zot! by Jon Scieska and David Shannon explodes with energy. Robot Zot has landed in the backyard and quickly invades the house where he destroys the toaster, an infomercial, and plenty of other things, and he rescues a toy telephone from a toddler, convinced she is captive queen. Everywhere he is followed by his faithful robot pet who looks something like a Spanish conquistador’s helmet.
Bravery is the key here. When our hero Zot faces the enemy, quaking and tempted to turn, he screws up his courage and shouts his battle cry, “Hero Zot–never fall. Hero Zot–conquers all!”
Jon Scieska has created pure boy material here, full of daring, high adventure, and zany mayhem. Then again, if your girl is the type who loves silly antics and great illustration, she’s covered here, as well.
Illustrator David Shannon completes this book with high energy and perfectly expressive illustrations. Its difficult to imagine a better collaboration between author and illustrator. Every pose and every view is perfect. Each kitchen counter appliance seems alive and menacing. The vacuum hose is a giant boa constrictor. The wide-eyed toddler the cruel captor. A dad lurks occasionally in the background, scratching his head at the devastation Robot Zot leaves in his wake.
I love Robot Zot!. Every reading seems to get better. It’s perfect for a bedtime read, take-along in the car, for pre-readers or kids headed for the second grade
Well, maybe here’s a career for a video gamer with good eye-thumb coordination – RoboSurgeon! At HeraldTribune.com there’s a fascinating article titled For Human Hearts, Renovation by Robot on heart surgery using a robot with tiny arms and hands that wield the sutures and tiny scalpels to make the cuts.
Because of it’s size and dexterity it can operate inside of a human through a much smaller opening. The surgeon twists and fiddles with small controllers attached to the mini surgical samurai to direct its slicing and sewing inside the patient, hence the critical need for that eye-thumb brain connection. The surgeon and spectators watch the entire procedure from the inside the patient via the video delivered by the robot’s miniature camera eye. The manufacturer, Intuitive Surgical, names this robot the da Vinci Si HD System.
Here’s a promo video from their site. The surgeon’s control of the robot is very cool.
There are not many surgeons qualified to operate using a robotic surgeon. There are many others who feel that there are too many risks associated with the procedures at this time. However there are some great advantages. For starters, these robotic mini-surgeons eliminate the need to saw the patient’s sternum in two, and also the subsequent pulling apart of the rib cage in order to make enough room for your surgeon’s hands, which you can imagine, must be at least as big as catcher’s mitts. Then, there is the reduced chance of infection because the surgical area is so much smaller and there is less exposure to airborne microbes. A team of additional medical personnel stand by to immediately pursue traditional surgery should something occur that requires their intervention.
The surgery isn’t perfect and some doctors qualified to perform the surgery won’t do so because of the risks and drawbacks, such as lengthier surgeries and longer time under anesthesia.
I remember when my father underwent a quadruple bypass (when he was my age). His recovery was agony, in part because of the pain of recovery from having his sternum separated. Then, he was limited in what he could lift in order not to put additional pressure on it. I don’t believe that he would have been a candidate, though, because his liver was sufficiently impaired that the anesthesia was a big concern, since it would tax his liver. (Your liver cleans stuff out of your blood, like anesthetic drugs, alcohol, and other goodies.)
So, the upshot is, go ahead, get that kid of yours an Xbox and save a life. That mind-boggling waste of time today may be saving skill of tomorrow. Think of it, your child may someday to become the virtual pilot of a mini anti-cancer submarine swimming through a patient’s veins, zapping cancer cells before they zap another healthy cell. Then, you’ll be proud to proclaim, “It was the video game console we bought him when he was just 8-years old. He almost didn’t graduate from high school, but look at him today!”
Robot Living has a short informational post about a cute, pink, robotic penguin that interacts with its friends and has a baby that it interacts with, too. I’m not showing these videos of Penbo the Pink Penguin Robot that are embedded below (the first is also posted by Robot Living) to my youngest daughter. I might show it to a grandparent or uncle around Christmas time. I think I’ll show it to my friends’ kids, though. Nothing like sowing seeds of the Christmas Gimme’s early on and spoiling summer in the mix.
Robot Living says:
What can we say. It is pink. It is a penguin and has a baby called Bebe. Both respond to stimulation like your voice and your touch. Both robots should be available soon through Amazon.
The other robot that Robot Living is referring to is Prime 8 Gorilla that is developed for boys. Here’s the video, a commercial you’ll probably see on Saturday morning TV, if you watch with your kids:
Here’s another video performance by Penbo, from the London Toy Show, with a man giving a demo:
I’m too old! (can you hear my bones creaking?) I love this interactivity that they are developing. I want to re-engineer my career and work on programming these things instead of working in BI and teaching Economics. But that mortgage and tuition for the kids’ school always gets in the way.
Well, I was too slow with this post. My youngest just woke up and came downstairs. Like a foolish dad, I showed her the video I’ve posted below. She watched quietly for about 15 seconds and then said, “I want that. Can you buy me that robot?” I knew she’d say that.
Some time last summer I got the bug to build a robot. I wanted to get my oldest daughter, age 11, involved, too. Lots of things about robots appeal to me. They are very much the nexus for a lot of cool, current and emerging technology: (more…)
