The World Humanoid Robot Games

Have you ever had a dream about a killer humanoid robot chasing you? In our science fiction, they usually travel pretty slowly, but robotics has come a long way, and now they are competing in foot races. The second annual World Humanoid Robot Games are going on right now in Beijing, and will continue through Wednesday. The video above caught some of the bloopers and awkward moments, but the fact that there aren't hundreds of robots falling over each other tells us that they are really getting the hang of bipedal motion. And they go frighteningly fast. In fact, in the 100-meter sprint, the winning robot finished in 9.39 second, faster than Usain Bolt's world record of  9.58 seconds. 



And it's not just running. Another robot set a high jump record of 2.88 meters, which is higher than the human record of 2.45 meters set by Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor. Get ready for another round of nightmares, but now the robots can really catch all of us. (via Born in Space)  

Love Bytes

In a post-apocalyptic world, a scavenger robot learns about human life from the detritus we left behind. What is required to be happy? A companion, of course. He finds one, but this is animation, so we have to suspend our disbelief about power requirements. Just go with it, because it's funny. He can move, and she can communicate, but are they really compatible? And does that matter when no one else is around? Yeah, it's a strange relationship in a strange world. 

Then, just when you start to care about the robot, you are reminded that he isn't human, and that his search for happiness hinges on what this machine knows about happiness. It's possible to change your definitions to make reaching your goal easier. (via Geeks Are Sexy) 
  

The Blueprint for All Cinematic Robots

Seventy years ago, we got something new and different: a science fiction movie about space travel that took itself seriously. The 1956 movie Forbidden Planet had a Hollywood budget, talented actors, and a design team ready to delve into the future. One of the things they designed was Robby the Robot. 

This robot was born at the intersection of several trends of the time. Americans were suspicious of technology as a whole, but they loved appliances that made their work easier. Scientists at Yale were beginning to conceive of artificial intelligence. Real robots were on design tables. And Isaac Asimov worked out the rules making robots safe for human interaction. Robby was impressive, useful, safe, and had his own personality. He made people like the idea of robots, and his influence on later cinematic robots lasted decades. However, the 21st century idea of artificial intelligence may need to take a lesson or two from Asimov.  

Robot Gets Down

Well, it looks like your plan for hiding out in the wilderness during the robot apocalypse is not as sure-fire as you thought. This metal critter will come and find you! The Unitree As2-W uses a combination of legs and wheels to conquer any terrain, whether it's inclines, rocks, mountains, water, or stairs. On flat ground, it can dance to your heart's content! 

Sure, it's entertaining, but what is it really good for? This video eventually shows us that the Unitree As2-W is good for carrying your backpack on long hikes. Surely there are more possibilities, ranging from carrying disabled outdoorsmen like an extreme wheelchair to getting supplies to military units far from civilization. But looking at the robot's stats, that's not currently possible. Sure, it can hold 150 kilograms on its back, but that's only while standing still. On the move, it's limited to 16 kilograms, which isn't much more than lunch for today's mountain hike. But it looks cool dancing. (via Born in Space) 

He Gave His father the Gift of Legs

YouTuber JLaser has been interested in robotics and exoskeletons for years, and now we find out why. His father, a young and athletic guy, uses a wheelchair. JLaser was determined to make a wheelchair that would give him more freedom and travel through the great outdoors. How about mounting a chair atop a quadruped robot? Those cost around $100,000, but it helps when a robotics company's founder is a fan of your YouTube channel. Still, there was a lot of tinkering necessary. Then the chair had to be designed and blinged out. But the results will bring a tear to your eye. (via Nag on the Lake) 

Able Mabel

The first half of this 1966 ad is to promote a household robot that was expected to be available by 1976. She's not quite as smooth or as quick as Rosie from The Jetsons, but she seemed awesome for the time. The second half is a more honest assessment of how far the robot had to go at that time, hosted by a roboticist in great s]need of some Brylcreem. What really happened is that we made improvements for each task separately. A Roomba is much smaller. A Ring doorbell is tiny and stays in one place. And no one irons because we just improved fabric to not need it. (via Nag on the Lake) 

Useful Robots

British engineers show off futuristic robots in 1968. They say that the first man on the moon will take machines like this with him. Sorry, that happened only a year later, and we have yet to do any mining on the moon. And the reference to Thalidomide victims again makes me glad I wasn't born in Europe.  (via Laughing Squid) 

Robot

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From Ellen Woodbury at Pizza Cake. 

Roadrunner

The robot called Roadrunner has only two legs, but it moves amazingly well. Roadrunner uses its powered wheels to move in dual mode, inline mode, and even balances on one wheel. It never needs to turn around, because forward, backward, and sideways are human constructs. Then it can lock its wheels and just walk like a human, which includes navigating stairs and ramps. Can Roadrunner dance? Of course! 

You might wonder what good all this is. Besides the research in kinetic movement, this kind of locomotion would come in handy for wheelchairs and bomb disposal units that need to negotiate rough terrain. Unfortunately, its first real use would more likely be offensive battle. (via Born in Space) 

Humanoid Robots Dancing with Children

The annual Spring Festival Gala is a "must see" TV production in China, broadcast on the eve of the Lunar New year. This year's show featured dancing by humanoid robots  developed by several Chinese robotics firms. The robots danced, flipped, jumped, and performed martial arts moves. They were joined by a group of children dancing onstage, which was impressive due to the danger it implied. This performance was designed to impress the world, but Western roboticists emphasize that dancing robots don't need to have situational awareness in order to adapt to changing conditions like industrial robots would. But they can sure put on a show. (via Laughing Squid) 

A Robot to Control Your Cat

 Cats love to stroll along kitchen counters because they are human-high and often contain tasty or at least interesting things. People have tried many methods to stop them, but all cats are different, so nothing works consistently. My Marshmallow roams the counter, leaving evidence that she scratches herself with my cactus garden. I cope by putting dirty dishes away quickly and not leaving uncovered food out. And cleaning the counter often. She has me trained. 

Cookie is a hard case, though. He roamed the whole kitchen and was not susceptible to human tricks. The guy behind the YouTube channel Lab-X is an engineer, so he built an AI-assisted robot with a squirt gun built in, and trained it to recognize Cookie and deter him. He named it Puffy. There were plenty of tests and failures and tweaks to be made before it actually worked. If you don't care about the tech stuff, you'll still get a kick out of Cookie's antics. My cat would spot the robot and knock him off the counter immediately.    

The Robot Apocalypse

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Kitten vs. Robots

Half-Asleep Chris has a new kitten named Henry, who is active, adorable, and much funnier than his adult cats. Henry was the perfect choice to test out a series of ten mechanical animals for their value as cat toys. Oh, the other cats, Bella and Ralph, got a chance to interact with the toys, but they quickly figured out they weren't real animals, so their reactions are only shown here when they add to the video's humor. Henry, on the other hand, is in kitten heaven. 

Henry's reactions to each animal robot are not exactly scientifically significant, but they are entertaining. He also spends quite a bit of time in this video licking cat food off a glass table. (via Laughing Squid) 

Strongbad and the Robot Council

What are all these robots doing around here? Strongbad investigates by sending in one of his minions to infiltrate the robot council meeting. (via Metafilter) 

Robots Making Springs

Utopian science fiction and dystopian science fiction both involve robots (and/or AI) taking over all the work that humans do. The difference is that in utopian fiction, humans can still afford to live without those jobs, while dystopian fiction considers jobless people useless.  

In the real world, robots are essentially machines that took over the most boring, dangerous, and mundane manufacturing jobs, freeing us humans to do more creative things. But what happens to people who aren't creative? They are just out of a job. Now AI is coming to replace mentally-based and creative labor, and the educated class is also in danger of being jobless. And in a purely capitalist society, the profits go to those who own the machines. But I digress. 

Meanwhile, enjoy this fascinating and hypnotic video of a multi-armed robot producing all manner of springs. (via kottke) 

Simone Giertz Has Pumpkin Soup

Simone Giertz is famous for building robots that aren't good at anything besides entertaining us. This time she attempts a robot that serves soup. Pumpkin soup, which she hates for reasons she will explain. But the robot stole the show, once it was finally in service. It did its job. 

Giertz needs to try some really good pumpkin soup. My daughter made pumpkin soup from my mother's recipe and it was nirvana. Lots of onions, heavy cream, and a bit of curry powder. The she turned vegetarian, and the next time she made it from vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and coconut milk instead of cream. It was not that good. I noticed Giertz using coconut milk, so she may have the same problem. (Thanks, Edward!)

Robot Learns Gymnastics

Spot can do a lot of things, and now he can do backflips. I don't think Simone Biles has anything to worry about just yet, but it's a breakthrough in robotics. 

Why would a robot dog need to do gymnastics? Their clients don't need it. People who watch videos on the internet do, but that's not profitable. Robotics engineer Arun Kumar explains why this project is useful. The eeriest part is how practice makes perfect for a robot. They didn't have to tweak the hardware or software after every unsuccessful attempt. Instead, the artificial intelligence inside Spot learned by positive reinforcement, meaning it gets a reward when it performs well. Just like training a real dog. (via Geeks Are Sexy) 

Robot Deals with Work Frustrations

I saw the latest update video on Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot and found it a bit underwhelming. We've followed Atlas for years, and he's learned how to tidy up around the factory. I wasn't the only one who found it a bit ho-hum. YouTuber dhant122 saw that what the video lacked was an inner monologue, or an exterior monologue, for that matter. So he fixed it. Now Atlas is the factory worker facing constant drudgery that's made worse by his nemesis Tom, who is quite the work bully. (via Laughing Squid) 

Silly Robots

YLLW is an animation, Illustration, and motion Studio in London. Their first project to be made public is an exercise in designing robots to be silly, yet attractive. 

We wanted each ‘Silly Robot’ to be different from one another, either in movement or conceptually so we created a set or rules; a strict colour palette, one texture and no more than 4 hours to create each one from start to finish (which we broke only a few times).

Each robot started as a sketch, we then worked directly wthin After Effects where we used shape layers and a few plugins to help speed up the design and animation process. We didn’t want to be too precious over every little movement and whatever we had at the end of a few hours usually went up to social media and we moved onto the next robot.

You can see each of the 50 individual robots as gifs in this gallery. (via The Kid Should See This)

Robot Kickboxing

Contrast these kickboxing robots with the ones who played a soccer tournament last month. In this tournament held in China, the action is much more exciting. These are Unitree G1 EDU model robots, which can be operated by a remote control, by voice commands, or by motion sensing. Here they are using remote controls. The robots are quicker and better balanced than the AI robots playing soccer- and a little taller, although not yet human sized. They also have the ability to get back up when they are knocked down (cue "Tubthumping'). In this video, their main vulnerability seems to be a tendency to get lost when they aren't facing the right direction. Read more about robot kickboxing at Cnet. https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/highlights-from-worlds-first-humanoid-robot-kickboxing-tournament/ (via Geeks Are Sexy)