Welcome Steemians to the first installment of YO ROBOT, a new series on Steemit that explores individual robots.
YO ROBOT explores all kinds of robots, from the untamed, powerful Boston Dynamics robots to the cute and personable ones like NAO. It will also cover androids, like the one that Ishiguro built as a copy of himself. Each article will cover only one robot and hopefully will provide you with something new you didn't know. The focus of this publication will be to introduce people to the world of robots. Links to technical details are provided, but these articles are not too technical in nature. They are written in such a way that anyone will be able to understand. If robots are destined to become our new overlords, we might as well get to know them.
ASIMO
Image Source: Asimo official website
Asimo is considered to be among the most advanced humanoid robots in existence. Asimo is a child-sized humanoid robot created by Honda in Japan. It took over 20 years to develop and fine-tune this intelligent robot. Asimo is an acronym which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. Asimo was introduced in 2000 and has undergone technological innovations throughout the years. Each new version of Asimo introduces new features, making advancements in motion, artificial intelligence and human-like capabilities. The last Asimo upgrade was in 2011 which was ground-breaking because Asimo is now considered to be an autonomous robot. This means that Asimo is able to make decisions on its own instead of relying on directions from a human controller. Asimo’s development has been compared to a human child’s because with each new version, brand new skills are added.
Why was Asimo created?
Image Source: Asimo official website
The team at Honda created Asimo to be a multi-functional, intelligent mobile assistant. They state, “Honda wants to create a partner for people, a new kind of robot that functions in society.” Everything about Asimo is designed with human comfort in the real world in mind. The core philosophy which guides Asimo’s engineers is the belief that robots should be useful assistants to human beings.
What can Asimo do?
Image Source: Asimo official website
When Asimo walks in a hallway, it changes direction to avoid colliding with humans. Asimo is able to do this because of the presence of predictive motion programming. Asimo is also an artificially intelligent robot who can listen, understand and speak to humans. It can walk, run, hop on one leg, go up and down stairs, kick a ball, take drink orders, respond when its name is called, access information on the internet, fetch and serve tea, dance, push a cart, recognize different faces, understand/speak English, Japanese and sign language, bow, shake hands and interact autonomously.
The autonomous ability is quite impressive because this means that Asimo can stop and start various activities in reaction to the human beings around it. Asimo did not start out as an autonomous robot, as it was only in 2011 that the autonomous ability was added. Regarding Asimo’s ability to shake hands, this is accomplished because Asimo has fine-tuned sensors on its hands which control how much pressure is applied, depending on the object and situation. This is why Asimo can pick up an empty paper cup and not crush it. Most robots cannot pick up empty and full paper cups because they haven’t been designed to recognize the differences in pressure and materials.
Asimo returns to its charging station when it senses its low battery charge. Asimo is equipped with a lithium ion battery that lasts one hour if Asimo is in continuous motion.
What’s in the future for Asimo?
Image Source: Asimo official website
Asimo’s engineers foresee the future of Asimo to be one that helps humans in these possible scenarios: assisting elderly and disabled people, going into dangerous environments and fighting fires or cleaning up toxic waste.
Fun and further technical research
Many Asimo robot prototypes were built that tackled the technological and engineering hurdles starting in 1986 with EO and ending about 1997 with P3. Read the full technical details of Asimo here: http://asimo.honda.com/downloads/pdf/asimo-technical-information.pdf
If you’d like to download Asimo wallpapers or screensavers, click here.
Download the Asimo papercraft model and build your very own paper Asimo.
Video
Here’s a video overview of Asimo and some other robots that will soon be featured in YO ROBOT:
Other than walking on two legs, what can Asimo do that my boston terrier can not do?
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I'll go with not poop. :D
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well, Asimo can perform sign language in Japanese..............
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My boston terrier can tell me when he wants to go outside..or is hungry...
He uses full body signs..it's pretty evident what he wants.
Unlike my big BLACK cat, Bubba, who talks to me. "ME OWWWW"...he's very insistent. He knows exactly what he want me to do. Unfortunately I have no clue.
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We can strap a bomb or a small projectile on their bodies and sent them to hot spots.
But to be onest here military drones are desined for that, these robots on the other hand will have other task...
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Done that
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You can't get your Boston Terrier to give you a handjob without going to jail.
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no hands
.
no thanks!
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Superb post @stellabelle !
Asimo is a great robot but has some limitations like the big battery that he is carring on his back. But I belive too that at this point he can be a good assistant ...in the same time...I find another flaw:
So I belive that this issues can be fixed and maybe in the future will be better and cheaper models for common use.
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all the current robots have limitations and I see the main issue being power. Most of the robots are still connected with an umbilical cord style power source. I agree that the lithium battery is not a great design choice, but there currently exists few alternatives. Until new advancements in batteries arrive, this will be limited, as you stated. There's some innovation in batteries going on, but none that have reached mass production. We are in need of battery improvements, for sure. I wrote an article about nanowire batteries but I don't know what stage they're at: http://interestingengineering.com/extraordinary-nanowire-batteries-can-charged-200000-times/
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Thanks for your reply @stellabelle !
I like this subject very much and I will check past and future posts of you because I want to read more!
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are you actively involved in the robotics field? I'm very interested in artificial intelligence, I guess, as far as robots go. I'm really curious when fully autonomous androids will be emerging, that's what has captured many imaginations, including my own.. There's so much going on in so many different fields, that very few have the time to catch up on it all simultaneously. For me, learning has always been my main preoccupation, so I'm really excited to do this series for others who appreciate straightforward information without all the opinions. I'm thinking of covering BigDog next, what do you think?
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I am a engineer but my carrier is in seamanship, and going on voyages as a deck officer.
I studied and wrote some papers about a robotic arm for my master degree.
So I can say that although I am not a scientist I have a passion in robotics and genetics as well because I belive we can improve our human body.
In my blog I did not yet start to write about robots and designs because..well.. I was afraid that that content will be boring for some BUT you made me more confident now and I will post too some ideeas and designs as well for building a robot .
And yes BigDog is awesome and I would love to see it in your post.
It is awesome that here on Steemit I can see such type of good content!
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Asimo was tired on that day :-)
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ha ha! I was thinking of adding the fails, but figured someone else would do it! Thanks!
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Would you buy one of these?
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I buy very little, only enough to survive actually, so the answer would be of course: no.
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Smart answer.
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would you?
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One day maybe.
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I would buy them ...but they are very expensive !
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It would be fun to a robot collector!
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I want one! But I don't think they are for sale in the US yet, or maybe anywhere. Seems they are for lease, and the only reference I saw online to a price is $2.5 million. A little costly for a lower middle class Steemer like me!
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excellent congratulations
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A robot should be "a helpful assistant to humans". Very Eastern Industrial-Philosophy
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I would like a giant 10 foot tall Asimo just for fun.
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I would like to translate your post in french. French is my first language, english is my second. Would you allow me?
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Yes, of course.
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Here it is:
https://steemit.com/robots/@heroic15397/yo-robot-asimo-a-french-translation-of-stellabelle-s-article
Just tell me if there is something I should have done differently and I'll edit it.
I enjoyed doing this, thanks.
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Oh, thanks, you did a great job. I appreciate your efforts. Sorry I couldn't vote earlier. I had to take a day off.....
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Dear @stellabelle, here the spanish translation of your article:
YO ROBOT: Asimo
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