I’ve always had a fascination for automation and robotics. The last few years have seen some very interesting developments in Humanoid robots. Honda Asimo, Sony Aibo and Sony Qrio displayed some nifty capabilities early 2000s. Unfortunately Sony stopped the research on the duo in Jan 2006 and Asimo hasn’t seen a new version for some time now. Guess the research cost was trumping the benefits in foreseeable future for these Japanese manufacturers.
Anyway, there’s interesting work happening still. Aldebaran Robotics’ Nao caught my eye. Priced at €10,000, it’s still a research product and isn’t available to everybody. Here are some of my favourites in action.
Nao (by Aldebaran Robotics)
Qrio (by Sony)
Dancing – The steps are synchronized down to msecs!
Toyota’s Humanoid showcasing impressive stability
Motoman
(There’re also the AI/Facial-expressions focused robots. I just covered the ‘motor’ ones.)
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