Tomorrow is Today

Japanese Augmented Reality Robot Lets Users Physically Interact With Avatars

U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi is a “virtual assistant” that is actually a green-clad humanoid robot. Users look at her using virtual reality goggles and instead of seeing a mildly creepy, ninja-like blog they see an actual face and body. You can reach out, touch the body, and even shake hands with your robotic pal.

Made by a Japanese company called Different Dimension Inc., the robot uses a program called MMDAgent to interact with users. An initial prototype looked like a ‘tween in footie pajamas and a full-face hood. The newest version consists of half of a body and a much smaller profile. The pre-order price will be about $5,000.

via Gizmag (via This Augmented-Reality Robot Is The Closest Thing You Can Get To A Real-Life Hologram | TechCrunch)

Experts Say Telepresence Will Drive Next Wave of Integration of Robots in Society

These machines have a built-in screen and camera and are essentially mobile video-chatting terminals that can be controlled from thousands of miles away. Soon, Mr. Cousins said, these gadgets will be given more functional bodies, including arms, so they can interact in a physical space.

“Today’s telepresence robots let you be somewhere,” he said. “When you add arms to these things, they will let you act somewhere, too.” He added, “I think these robots are going to be huge as they let people warp space and time, letting them be somewhere that they’re not, without the cost and time of a flight.”

Robert S. Bauer, an executive director at Willow Garage, pointed out that computers were once seen as exotic machines. In the early 1970s, he said, Xerox Parc developed a series of sophisticated computers that cost several hundred thousand dollars. But these innovative machines paved the way for today’s personal computers. “Now, 40 years later, everyone has a PC and smartphone in their home and office,” Dr. Bauer said. “The same is happening now with robots.”

He predicted that the first wave of robots would most likely become “the body for people with physical disabilities.” Wounded warriors, quadriplegics and people with Lou Gehrig’s disease, a degenerative nerve disability, will be able to interact with the physical world by controlling a robot, he said.

(via Robotics Companies Look to Near Future - Disruptions - NYTimes.com)

ANOTHER Remote-Kissing Appliance Revealed

The lips contain pressure sensors and actuators. When you kiss them, the shape changes you create are transmitted in real time over the net to a receiving Kissenger. There, the actuators reproduce the mirror image of the pressure patterns you created– magically transmitting your smacker to your partner.

“People have found it a very positive way to improve intimacy in communications with their partners when they are apart,” claims Hooman Samani of Singapore-based Lovotics, which developed the device. The device is a prototype and Samani says it will not be commercialised until “all the ethical and technical considerations are covered”. He adds: “I am not interested in sexual uses for it.”

(via Kissing device lets you send a long-distance smooch - tech - 19 July 2012 - New Scientist)

Japanese Telepresence (“Telexistence”) Avatar Transmits Touch, Temperature and Vibration to Remote Operator

The TELESAR V’s hands and fingers are equipped with a number of sensors to capture and relay tactile information to its operator through special gloves.  The primary sensor inside each fingertip is a vision-based force sensor which is comprised of a wide-angle camera that looks through a gel-layer mixed with thermochromic ink.  When the gel compresses, the thermochromic ink becomes denser, which the camera interprets as force information.

Microphones underneath the robot’s fingertips convert low to mid level vibrations; when pouring marbles from one cup to another (as the robot), the operator feels the tactile sensation from doing so.  Furthermore, the operator is able to sense changes in temperature at the robot’s fingertips, thanks to thermoelectric peltier devices which reproduce warm and cold temperature inside the operator’s gloves.  Now even an object’s texture can be relayed to the operator.

(via TELESAR V Avatar Transfers Touch, Vibration, Temperature)

Robot Avatar in France Controlled by Thoughts of Operator in Japan

The scanner works by measuring changes in blood flow to the brain’s primary motor cortex, and using this the team was able to create an algorithm that could distinguish between each thought of movement. The commands were then sent via an internet connection to a small robot at the Béziers Technology Institute in France.

The set-up allowed Shapira to control the robot in near real time with his thoughts, while a camera on the robot’s head allowed him to see from the robot’s perspective. When he thought of moving his left or right hand, the robot moved 30 degrees to the left or right. Imagining moving his legs made the robot walk forward.

To test the extent of his feelings of embodiment, the researchers also surprised him with a mirror.

“I really felt like I was there,” Shapira says. “At one point the connection failed. One of the researchers picked the robot up to see what the problem was and I was like, ‘Oi, put me down!’”

(via Robot avatar body controlled by thought alone | KurzweilAI)

Healthcare Industry on the Leading Edge of Robotics:

In the years ahead, robots could operate in homes to care for elderly people, helping with tasks such as dispensing meds or running virtual doctor’s visits.

Already, other forms of robots, such as droid-like machines in hospitals or prosthetics, are starting to make a mark in health care. Many robotics companies are gravitating toward health care which they see as a potential high-volume consumer market for robots.

The primary hurdle is finding solid business plans for getting robots in the door, say experts.

“Extending independent living at home (for the elderly) will ultimately turn out to be the killer app for robots,” said Colin Angle, the CEO of iRobot, at an event organized by the MIT Enterprise Forum this week. “The challenge is that robotics is so exciting, you have massive companies investing millions of dollars building cool as opposed to building value.”

(via The robodoctor will see you now | Cutting Edge - CNET News)

RoboBonobo - A Weaponized, iPad Controlled Telepresence Robot for Captive Great Apes:

the seven or so bonobos at the research facility already work with specially designed touchpad-like keyboards to communicate with humans via symbols called lexigrams.

Now Schweller and Co. would like to create portable versions of the keyboards so the apes and researchers can communicate on the go, be they, as Schweller puts it, “across the room, across the country, or, you know, perhaps just up a tree.” The app will also automatically translate human speech into lexigrams displayed on the keyboards, as well as convert lexigrams into speech. And the program will let the apes bust out the RoboBonobo and give select visitors a soaking with a water cannon. (Schweller has already developed video-game-like games for the bonobos.)

As of this writing, Schweller has raised less than $1,000 toward his $20,000 goal. So, check out the video, see what you think, and decide if you want to put your money where your monkey is. Those who pledge $500 or more get to use the app to engage in a Skype session with one of the verbose bonobos. Besides, it’s not every day you get to say you contributed to an app for apes — or to the development of an ape-headed, ape-controlled, cannon-equipped robot.

(via Ape-headed, ape-controlled, cannon-wielding robot is for real | Cutting Edge - CNET News)