
QA from Anybots - the coolest thing you'll see at CES all day. - Sam_Odio
http://sam.bluwiki.com/blog/2009/01/coolest-thing-youll-see-at-ces-all-day.php
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dpatru
Seems ironic that robots in science fiction were envisioned as menial servants
able to do physical tasks too hard or unpleasant for humans, whereas this
robot, with it's sleek 35lb body and advanced communication ability yet with
no arms seems better suited to play the role of master in a world in which
many cultures have regarded abstinence from physical work as a mark of
superiority (for example, in asian cultures, very long fingernails was a mark
of class because they could only be maintained by a person who didn't have to
do manual work.)

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markessien
What does it do? It looks to me like a segway with an LCD screen in the
middle.

~~~
pg
It's for mobile telepresence. E.g. you send this to the factory in China
instead of flying there yourself. It has cameras and audio and a fancy laser
pointer they built themselves. You drive it via the Internet from an ordinary
computer.

It's much lighter than a Segway. Only 35 pounds.

~~~
ivankirigin
iRobot made something similar called the "coworker". It was a spectacular
failure. It was shorter and ( i think ) a bit smarter about remote obstacle
avoidance. They asked around $5K.

They never answered the question: why is this better than a conference call?
This is doubly important considering it has no arms.

I'm certain there is a market for this or a similar kind of robot. It needs to
have compelling remote presence, and it needs to be cheaper than $5K.

Adding up motors, computers, cameras, the chassis, plastic modling, etc. can
get expensive fast, especially if you haven't ramped up production somewhere
fast & cheap like China.

~~~
bprater
Why better than a conference call? It has to be it's mobility. (Although,
didn't they mention it needed to be tethered? It has to be because it lacks
batteries.)

I think that in situations where data needs to be sucked up in a mobile way
but not in a way that the environment needs to be manipulated (no arms), it'll
work. Well, when it gets batteries, it would.

~~~
mileszs
You're thinking of the old model, Monty:

"Unlike monty, QA is 100% battery powered, and gets 4-6 hours of runtime on
every charge. Monty's pneumatics required it to be tethered at all times.
Also, its much lighter at around 35lbs. Monty is too heavy to pick up."

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icey
Sorry for the threadjack, but are there many HN people going to CES?

I'm flying up in a few hours, but only going to be there through tomorrow
night.

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rjprins
Why did they design it to look like some disfigured woman?

~~~
chadgeidel
Yeah, this isn't "uncanny valley" it's just weird. Arms (even if static) would
help. If not, don't give it "shoulders."

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mattmaroon
Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not give this thing arms. I've
looked into Monty's eyes, and I tell you it's evil.

Even without arms, you better watch your back around steps with this thing in
the house.

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gojomo
I've found a leaked photo of the next version of QA from Anybots, code-named
'Maria':

<http://www.jeffbots.com/maria-large.jpg>

(Compare to Anybots QA: [http://bluwiki.com/images/thumb/7/7b/Anybots-
QA.jpg/250px-An...](http://bluwiki.com/images/thumb/7/7b/Anybots-QA.jpg/250px-
Anybots-QA.jpg) )

Somebody warn the workers!

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biohacker42
CISCO is working hard on telepresence and no robots are involved.

On the plus side, this is mobile, but on the down side, it has the
connectivity CISCO is working on as prerequisite.

I'm wondering who needs a rolling tv screen?

I have no such wonders with the roomba and the its hardwood and linoleum
cleaning cousins, those little bots are damn helpful.

~~~
pavel_lishin
The rolling TV screen is less important than the rolling camera.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
Is the camera in stereo?

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jderick
I think big dog is still cooler:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww>

Asimo too:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfaAiujrX_Y>

~~~
pg
Imagine something that balanced dynamically like Big Dog, but was a biped like
the Asimo, and you'd have:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CQ5AKaEi3U>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTy_smY3sw>

~~~
jderick
This robot makes small jerky movements. I think the others are much more
natural in appearance. Perhaps it is more of a hardware issue than software,
as it does seem to have pretty good balance.

~~~
pg
"more natural in appearance"

Truer than you know. The reason the Asimo's gait looks so smooth is that it's
preprogrammed. It doesn't balance dynamically. It looks smooth for the same
reason animation does.

~~~
ivankirigin
That's not technically true. Asimo has preprogrammed paths, but not motor
movements. Even in a semi controlled environment, a preprogrammed biped would
fall.

The difference is between electric motors and pneumatics: today's pneumatics
are just jerkier.

And static balancing doesn't mean that it is preprogrammed, just that at any
point (unless it is running), all movement could stop and the robot would stay
standing.

If humans stop moving, we collapse.

I guess the best reason to say Asimo is not more natural is that no animal in
nature is statically stable. All animals with legs have actuators with the
characteristics of pneumatics and springs (in humans, tendons are springs).

We can also turn to efficiency. The electric motors on Asimo will _never_ be
practical. It takes too much energy for the bot to ever be sold as a product.
No animal in nature has a 15 minute battery life :)

~~~
pg
_static balancing doesn't mean that it is preprogrammed_

Really? That's what I was referring to when I said the gait was preprogrammed.
I assumed that static balancing meant that the robot was only willing to
traverse certain paths through the n-dimensional space of possible limb
configurations, and that since these could be calculated in advance, they
would be. But since I know you know about robotics, I'm willing to be
convinced otherwise.

~~~
ivankirigin
There are constant adjustments made by the dozens of motors in the legs and
torso to keep balance, based upon sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes.
That's not preprogrammed.

My point about a reasonably controlled environment is that in the real world,
even on a "flat" stage for a show, there are enough irregularities to make
complete preprogramming hopeless.

I don't know enough control theory, but it could be stated that an open loop
controller will be doomed to fail for a biped.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-loop_controller>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-loop_controller>

Higher level, there are sequences of commands that yield a step forward or to
the side. That is almost certainly preprogrammed. When you own an asimo, the
api they expose is actually really limited. For example, to lift the arm from
the side to the air will only have a few states in between, and you choose
which one you want. This is not low level control at all. They do this because
they know Asimo is a marketing machine, not a real robot, and they don't want
grad students making it fall over on youtube.

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abstractbill
Congrats Trevor and everyone at Anybots - I can't wait to see one of these in
person.

~~~
icey
I just saw it this morning... I have to say, it honestly was one of two things
that gave me a "holy shit!" moment at CES. First of all, they were the only
exhibit really getting much attention in the Sands; and they were getting a
TON of it.

Secondly, the description doesn't do it justice. They were doing a demo of it,
and there was just something about the way this thing is put together that
makes it feel like it came straight out of Star Wars.

Huge props to Trevor and crew for making something so cool - I hope you guys
found some deals at CES!

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there
i think this is cooler

<http://www.notcot.com/archives/2009/01/iosafe_solo_flo.php>

