Robot Helpers

March 25, 2002

Two Legs Good
You've met C-3PO and R2-D2. Now meet SDR-4X, the new "entertainment robot" Sony unveiled last week. It's a cute, knee-high robot that lists singing and conversation among its accomplishments — making it a lot less useful than the Star Wars androids, but a fun toy nonetheless. It has a vocabulary of 60,000 words, it can walk by itself, and once it gets to know you, it will recognize your face.

SDR-4X is the newest member of the growing family of humanoid robots, and it's one of many that will be on display at Robodex 2002, a four-day exhibition that begins this Thursday in Japan. Featuring thousands of electronic creations of all shapes and sizes, the exhibition will focus on "robots as partners." The official word is that "the goal of Robodex is to provide people with 'love' and 'dreams' through robots and to realize a society where humans and robots cohabit with each other."

Is that kind of society a very distant dream? Not if Honda has its way. The Japanese corporation's robot division is working steadily to "create a partner for people, a new kind of robot that functions in society." Over the past few years, Honda has developed a series of robots: the oldest in the family is P1, which came out in 1993, and the latest addition is ASIMO.

ASIMO looks a little like a 10-year-old in an astronaut's suit. It weighs about 110 pounds and stands four feet tall. "ASIMO will truly be able to help people in the 21st century," says Honda, adding that its "dream is that ASIMO will help improve life in human society." A commercial for ASIMO describes how the little robot will be able to respond to simple voice commands, recognize faces, carry loads, and push carts — so one day, it might be able to assist the elderly and help with household tasks.

In the table below, identify three tasks that you think robots could do in your home/school/neighborhood.

What would be the advantages of having a robot carry out these tasks?

Task Advantages

For the time being, ASIMO is only available for high-profile tasks: earlier this month it rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Japanese businesses can rent ASIMO, but the rest of us will have to wait a while before such service robots are available for sale. Sony's SDR-4X, on the other hand, will hit the stores later this year (if you're willing to pay the price — it costs about the same as a luxury car). The dog-like robot, Aibo, is a little more reasonably priced: the most sophisticated model runs at around $1500. Sony has already sold thousands of them.

It's a Robot's World
Whether for entertainment or service purposes, Sony and Honda's robot divisions have been dealing with the same technical challenges: how to get a robot to see, hear, walk, climb stairs, dodge obstacles, and pick itself up if it falls over. It's a long list and it highlights just how complex humans are — all of our capabilities are difficult to replicate in a machine. Engineers are making progress, though. Check out these videos of SDR-4X:

See a group of SDR-4X robots singing and dancing.

You can also see how the SDR-4X masters stairs and other balancing acts.

Robots have come a long way since the first simple models were developed for industrial use in the 1950s and 1960s. The robotics industry really took off following the development of the microchip in the 1970s, which allowed for making the "brains" of robots smaller and less expensive.

Between 1980 and 1996, the number of robots per 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industry grew from 8 to 265 in Japan, from 2 to 79 in Germany, and from 3 to 38 in the United States.

By what percentage did the robot population rise in each country named above? You can use the table below to figure it out.

For help with calculating percent increases, try this Destination Math tutorial.

Number of Robots in Industrialized Countries
(per 10,000 workers)

Country 1980 1996 % increase

Japan 8 265

Germany 2 79

United States 3 38

The figures are still increasing. According to the Handbook of Industrial Robotics, the number of robots in the United States almost doubled in the 1990s, with robots doing an increasing number of diverse jobs:

A Robot Is Born
The word "robot" was coined by the Czech playwright, Karel Capek (CHOP ek) in a play published in 1920 — Rossum's Universal Robots, or R.U.R. Capek derived the word "robot" from the Czech word robota, which means "harsh or forced labor."

R.U.R takes place in a factory in which artificial humans (robots) are manufactured as a cheap labor force. Eventually, the inevitable happens, and the robots declare war on the human race.

Rules for Robots
The science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) believed that for humans and robots to exist together peacefully, there had to be a set of laws for robots that would prevent them from causing harm to humans.

So, in 1950, in a collection of stories titled I, Robot, Asimov published his Three Laws of Robotics:

1. A Robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A Robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A Robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First Law.

Performing tasks in surgery: In January of this year, the United States' first robot-assisted coronary artery bypass was carried out. Usually, a coronary bypass requires that a ten-inch incision be made in a patient's chest. But with the robot, only three keyhole-sized holes are made between the ribs. Through these holes, two robotic arms and a tiny camera access the heart. Because such small incisions are made in the chest, the patient makes a much quicker recovery.

Working in space: NASA's space shuttles are fitted with robotic arms. Earlier this month, space shuttle Columbia's robot arm assisted with repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA is also developing "Robonaut," a robot that will accompany astronauts on space expeditions and perform tasks that might prove dangerous for the astronauts. Also in the works are tiny robot insects that will allow exploration of previously inaccessible areas on other planets.

Defusing bombs: Police regularly use robots in place of humans to defuse bombs and to enter danger zones.

Becoming "man's best friend": Sony's AIBO (Artificial Intelligence Robot) robot puppies are programmed to imitate the behavior of real dogs. (But they won't chew your slippers!)

Thinking Machines
Despite their sophistication, the heart-surgery robot, Robonaut, and ASIMO all lack a fundamental human capacity: the ability to think, make decisions, and be creative. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the term used to describe this capacity for a computer or a robot to imitate the thinking and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.

Scientists at the AI Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on several projects that aim to create robots that think and behave like humans. One of those projects is known as Cog (short for "cognition").

The Cog engineers are striving to build a robot that learns behavior in the same way a child does. By interacting with its surroundings, Cog learns simple behavior patterns — it has already mastered hand-eye coordination skills (it can reach out to something that it sees), and it can nod and shake its head in imitation of its caretakers. It can also play with a Slinky®.

Work It Out
Another of Honda's robot prototypes, P3, is built to closely resemble the dimensions and design of the human body. P3 is 62.9 inches (160 centimeters) tall and weighs in at 286 pounds (130 kilograms). It has a shoulder span of 23.6 inches (60 cm).

How does P3 compare to your own height? What about your weight? Work out what percentage of your height and weight P3 has.

P3's "skeleton" is made of the metal magnesium, which has less than a quarter the density of steel. An object that weighs 15 pounds (6.8 kg) when made from magnesium would weigh 70 pounds (31.8 kg) if it were made from steel.

If a given object weighs 100 pounds when made of magnesium, work out the approximate weight of the same object if it were made of steel.

More Links
In news announced last week, the first human cyborg — part man, part machine — was created. Read more from CNN.com.

Visit the official Asimo and P3 Web site from Honda. You can also visit the Robodex 2002 Web site.

Design your own robot, courtesy of the Computer Museum. (Requires Shockwave. Download now.)

Learn more about how the invention of the microchip launched robot technology.

Find out more about NASA's space-robot, Robonaut, in this article from CNN.com.

Meet Kismet, an "emotional" robot developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence laboratory.

The Steven Spielberg movie A.I. features thinking robots.

Professor Rodney Brooks, the director of MIT's AI laboratory says that the goal of the project is to produce "a thinking robot. If we are successful, there may not be a place for humans in the future."

At the MIT AI laboratory Web site, you can see videos of Cog learning how to reach out to a visual target.

Watch this video from MIT to hear Cog's developers talk about its progress, and to see Cog play with a Slinky.

Find out how MIT researchers are developing a humanoid face for Cog.

ASIMO and Cog are two very different projects in robotics. What makes them fundamentally different? Which do you think is more valuable for society?

What do you think the implications are for having "thinking robots" sharing our world?


		Percent Increases For help solving the percentage problems in this story, look no further than Destination Math.

		Pool with Cyber-8 In this fun geometry tutorial, Dijit gets help from a robotic pool tutor called Cyber-8.

		The Father of Invention The inventor Rube Goldberg devised some unusual machines for carrying out daily tasks. Read about his designs in this Riverdeep archive article.