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Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car

Still waiting for your automatic (autonomous) car? How about a robot that can get in the front seat and drive for you?


(Autonomous Car from 'Paradise and Iron' by Miles Breuer)

Scientists at the University of Tokyo, led by Dr. Kento Kawaharazuka, have taken a novel approach to this problem. Instead of creating a fully autonomous vehicle, they've developed a robot that can drive a regular car.

Enter Musashi, a musculoskeletal humanoid robot designed to mimic the human body and control a car just like a human driver. This innovative approach could potentially allow non-autonomous vehicles to be driven by a robotic chauffeur.

Musashi isn't your average robot. It's designed with a musculoskeletal structure that closely resembles the human body, featuring 74 "muscles" and 39 joints, excluding the hands. Its hands have five fingers each, and there are pressure sensors in both the hands and feet.

(Via Fox)

Of course, sf fans anticipated this development, thanks to Philip K. Dick writing in his 1954 story A Present for Pat about a robot cab driver.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/10/2024)

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