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Next-gen bots put on a human face
Advances in technology making possible robots that look and work like people
Baxter is a two-armed robot that changes facial expressions and looks friendly.
NEW YORK - Recently, Mr Natanel Dukan walked into the Paris offices of French robot-maker Aldebaran and noticed one of the company's humanoid Nao robots sitting on a chair.
Mr Dukan, an electrical engineer, could not resist kissing the robot on the cheek. In response, the Nao tilted its head, touched his cheek and let out an audible smack.
It is certainly a very French application for a robot, but the intimate gesture by the US$16,000 61cm robot, now being used in academic research labs and robotic soccer leagues, reflects a significant shift.
Until recently, most robots were carefully separated from humans. They have largely been used in factories to perform repetitive tasks requiring speed, precision and force. That generation of robots is dangerous, and they have been caged and fenced for the protection of workers.
But the industral era of robotics is over. And robots are beginning to move around in the world.
More and more, they are beginning to imitate - and look like - humans. And perform tasks as humans do, too.
Many of the new generation of robots are tele-operated from a distance, but are increasingly doing tasks independent of direct human control.
For instance, Romeo, a 152cm humanoid robot, will soon be introduced by Aldebaran as a "big brother" to the pipsqueak, kissing Nao robot. Created with the aid of US$13.8 million from the French government, the costly robot is being programmed to care for older people and assist in the home.
To provide useful assistance, it will have to do more than the repetitive work being performed by commercial robots in factories, hospitals and other settings. Moreover, the new robots are designed not just to replace but to collaborate with humans.
The idea that robots will be partners of humans, rather than stand-ins or servants, is now driving research at universities and laboratories.
This year, new US industry standards for robotic manufacturing systems were published, underscoring the emergence of the field. The standards specify performance requirements that will permit humans to collaborate with robots directly, reversing earlier manufacturing guidelines that prohibited "continuous attended operations" requiring humans to be in close contact with robots deemed unsafe by the industry.
Today's designers believe their robots will become therapists, caregivers, guides and security guards, and will ultimately do virtually any form of human labour. (Robots that can think on their own - that is, perform with high levels of artificial intelligence - have yet to arrive.)
The key to this advance is the new robot's form. Their human-like appearance does more than satisfy science fiction fantasies.
Roboticists say they are choosing the human form for social and technical reasons. Robots operating indoors, in particular, must be able to navigate a world full of handles, switches, levers and doors designed for humans.
Roboticists point out that humans have no affinity for their own shape, making collaboration more natural. Creating robots in humanoid form simplifies training and partnerships in the workplace, and increases their potential in new applications like caregiving. It is still unclear how well these new faux-people will be accepted by society.
But rapid improvements in computer vision, processing power and storage, low-cost sensors, as well as new algorithms that allow robots to plan and move in clutered environments, are making these new uses possible and in the process changing the nature of robotics.
Biomedical engineering associate professor Charlie Kemp of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta said: "Things are not the same when you're interacting with people. That's where we want robots to be; it's where we see there are huge opportunities for robots, and there are very distinct requirements from what led to the classic industrial robot."
And so on factory floors world-wide, a new breed of robot is being manufactured by companies like Rethink Robotics of Boston, which has a humanoid robot for simple factory automation tasks.
"This is a way that robots can be used for fun, interactive exercise in rehabilitation," Professor Kemp said. "We can also use it as a tool to understand whole body physical interaction between people and robots."
NEW YORKS TIMES
Robots designed to help humans
• Romeo, a 1.5m-tall humanoid robot, created with a US$13.8 million grant from the French government, is being programmed to care for older people and assist in the home.
• Boston's Rethink Robotics recently released a video of its robot, Baxter, making a cup of coffee with a coffee machine. The company said the humanoid robot, with tong-like hands and a computer-screen face, was trained to carry out a variety of pre-prgrammmed coffee-making tasks in just several hours.
• In Kemp's Healthcare Robotics lab at Georgia Tech, a 1.5m-tall robot named Cody, which is able to sense forces on its arms and move gracefully, is being used as a dance partner for both experienced human dancers and patients in physical therapy.
• At Carnegie Mellon University, Ms Manuela M. veloso, a professor of computer science, has developed a series of mobile robots called CoBots to perform tasks such as delivering mail, guiding visitors to appointments and fetching coffee.
NEW YORK TIMES
