/ News
Honda's ASIMO Robot Is Now Surprisingly Human
Honda's remarkable humanoid robot, ASIMO, has come a long way since I first saw it stiffly walk across a stage more than a decade ago.
The latest edition can run briskly, climb stairs with ease, dance like Travolta, kick a ball and jump up in down in what can only be described as a robot tantrum.
The 4 feet tall, 115-pound robot now features five dextrous fingers on each hand with force feedback sensors. As we saw in its first North America demonstration at the International Auto Show in New York on Wednesday, ASIMO can pick up a sealed container filled with orange juice, unscrew the top, pick up a paper up with its other hand, pour the juice and carefully set both cup and container back on the table.
It's a simple task for humans. For ASIMO, it takes a great deal of sensors, including its two camera eyes and the sensors in its hands — which not only tell the robot that it's holding something, but what kind of object it is and how much it weighs.
Earlier versions of ASIMO were somewhat larger and heavier, but this robot has a far greater degree of autonomy.
When I first saw ASIMO (which stands for "Advanced Step in
Innovative Mobility”) in 2003, the robot was remote controlled from behind the stage. Now the engineers program it with simple tasks — and ASIMO uses its sensors figures out the rest.
It can navigate a floor, labeled with tape so ASIMO can keep track of where it's going. It can walk up a flight of steps without pausing (or falling). ASIMO still has to pause before descending the steps (it kind of stomps down them).
The robot's battery still doesn't last more than 40 minutes, and ASIMO has an unfortunate habit of walking in a semi-crouch. But it can now also jump in place and hop on one foot. Neither of these actions look super smooth, and seem unimpressive until you realize you're judging a man-made object by human standards.
It's a robot that can jump, not a person jumping while wearing a robot suit.
Honda, which started the ASIMO project in 1986, is spending a lot of time working on ASIMO's communication skills. The robot can understand a handful of phrases and is now quite adept, thanks to its articulated hands, at Japanese sign language. Honda executive Jeffrey Smith told us that ASIMO is in the process of learning American Sign Language.
Best know for making cars, Honda, is working hard on removing the "creepiness" factor from ASIMO, a task that becomes increasingly important — and perhaps difficult — as ASIMO becomes more and more human-like and starts to approach the uncanny valley.
ASIMO, for example, can serve tea — but instead of focusing the robot entirely on the task of delivering and pouring hot liquid, Honda has programmed ASIMO to pause and look at the guests before bending down and placing the tea on the table. That simple act, which mimics what a human might do, "helps people have more friendliness and affinity toward ASIMO," explained one Honda executive through an interpreter.
It's also critical that ASIMO, which can now recognize faces and vocal commands, also read our non-verbal communication. Honda researchers hope to build this skill by placing ASIMO in more real-world situations, where they can collect additional data.
In our brief time with ASIMO, the robot showed off all its skills, including running across the stage at nearly 3 miles an hour; it even shook my hand. As I held its cool, magnesium alloy appendage and felt it firmly, yet gently, pump my hand, I imagined a not-too-distant future where a robot like ASIMO is carrying my luggage, fetching a ginger ale from the fridge, or keeping my children entertained with a game of soccer.
For now, though, ASIMO remains an impressive piece of robotic technology — one that, like a favorite aunt, visits far too infrequently and has no timetable for a lengthier or permanent stay.
Source: http://mashable.com/2014/04/16/honda-asimo-arrives-north-america/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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