 |
Toyota Robot Maid Learns From Mistakes
This robot maid designed by Toyota and engineers from the University of Tokyo is a general-purpose household robot. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this robot is that it can analyze mistakes (like running into a table) and then learn to avoid the same errors in the future.
This robot is able to pick up clothes from a chair (or even from the floor), and then carry them over to the washer, open the door and put them in. It is able to run for about an hour on its battery charge, using wide-angle stereo cameras, stereo telescopic cameras, omnidirectional cameras and ultrasonic sensors to determine its position relative to other objects.
The robot is able to create a three-dimensional model of its environment and then operate within that environment. It is able to detect when it fails, and then rework the operation to work around failure. Once a correct method is determined, the robot can then repeat the corrected sequence of steps.
(Toyota robot maid does the laundry)
Toyota's robot maid is also able to clean floors, once everything has been picked up.
(Toyota robot maid cleans the floor)
Heinlein fans have been thinking about a general-purpose household robot that can learn and adjust since he described Flexible Frank in his 1956 novel The Door Into Summer. This robot had Thorsen memory tubes to allow it to learn by doing.
...the point is that you can hook a Thorsen tube into a control circuit, direct the machine through an operation by manual control, and the tube will "remember" what was done and can direct the operation without a human supervisor a second time, or any number of times.
(Read more about Thorsen memory tubes)
From Toyota Robot Maid Designed to Learn from Past Failures; see lots of great pictures and videos of Toyota's robot maid (translated from Robot Watch); thanks to Winchell Chung for the tip on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/29/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'- Neal Stephenson, 1992.
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'- Philip E. High, 1968.
Bartendro Robot Bartender
'He sipped the cognac that the robot bartender handed him...'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13
'Hello, computer!'
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
CARMAT Bioprosthetic Total Human Heart Replacement
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'
Physical Exam? We've Got Apps
See the future of handheld, personal medical devices.
The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
'This was the center of Interplanetary Communications.'
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
Japan's Nursing Home Robot Plan
Let's make the Roujin Z-0001 Robotic Bed!
Samsung Smart TVs With Gesture Control
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
Swiss HCPVT Giant Photovoltaic 'Flower'
'...leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector.'
Mini-Livers Made By 3D Printer
Organleggers may experience an employment downturn.
Smartphone Sensor System Tracks Gunfire
'Sound trackers on the roof could zero in on weapons action...'
Bacteria Now Make Biofuel Like Oil
'They have ... germs that eat pretty near anything, and produce oil as a waste product.'
