Human Drives Robot Dressed as Human Driving a Digger (Verdict: We Dig It) July 6, 2007

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Dressing up robots to dig holes. That's more or less what Honda is doing today in Japan with their humanoid robot series, which not only can do Buster-Keaton slapstick shows but also act as human operators in risky situations. However, the important thing is not the robot itself but how they control it.

Continued...

Their HPR-1S and HPR-3 are controlled by humans from a distance with the help of an immersive "supercockpit" developed by the University of Tokyo, Matsushita Electric Works and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Now, why can't the digger itself be remotely controlled I don't know. Some will say that this is the only way to allow the robots to control any kind machinery. That sounds logic, but I want to think they just do it because it is cool.

And because the next step is creating those supercockpits for 130-feet bots that can destroy entire cities.

Operation of human type robot? [Impress Robot Watch]

Comments

Twenty or so years ago, we all thought those Gozilla Vs. Mecha King Kong movies were kinda fun and cheesy.
Enter the Japanese, who apparently took all that Mecha monster mayhem seriously, and have been busy realizing plans for the construction of these weapons of childhood dream destruction.

I wonder when they will start cloning creatures that look like Pokemon...

posted-by George | July 8, 2007 10:40 AM

I think destruction fantasies derail a useful thread. If you wanted to fix something in a bad place in a nuclear power plant; if you wanted to do something in the bottom of the Marianna Trench, well, the Japanese are developing a technology for it. If you have ever watched someone running a backhoe you know that's not trivial. So the dancing robots may not be autonomous technology, but I think the Japanese are really on to something here anyway. -- Martha Adams

posted-by Martha Adams | July 28, 2007 2:45 PM

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