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Linux Software

Humanoid Powered by Linux 92

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-why-not dept.
lems1 was among the avalanche of people who submitted this Linux powered Humanoid. The website has pictures and videos if you're curious. We're not exactly worrying about him seeking out the blue fairy or anything, but its nifty.
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Humanoid Powered by Linux More

Humanoid Powered by Linux

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  • It would seem to me that they would want to use a Real Time OS, such as QNX. Last I checked, I don't remeber of being able to make Linux Realtime.
  • They may be running linux on the controller, but I wouldn't call it linux powered. Unless there are robot-control drivers built into the linux kernel, it isn't really "powered by linux" -- it is "powered by xyz robot-control code".

  • Big Deal (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A great many of the Japanese humanoid robots are powered by Linux. For example, the PINO [jst.go.jp] microhumanoid from the ERATO Kitano Symbiotic Systems Project runs on RT Linux. I saw that one at IJCAI [ijcai.org] this year, very nice. Of course, the most famous of 'em all, Honda's P3 [honda-p3.com], runs on Solaris. I hung out at the P3 facility at Honda in north Tokyo for a while while staying at Sony. They have a bunch of SPARC rackmounts stored in their backpacks, and run off a remote radio link controlled by UltraSparc stations sitting on a table a ways away.

    I am constantly amazed how Slashdot can get its underwear bundled up in a wad over almost trivially insignificant, highly redundant facts.

  • Already done. (Score:3, Funny)

    by small_dick ( 127697 ) on Saturday October 27, 2001 @10:49AM (#2487278)
    The cubicle next to me has been occupied by a linux-powered humanoid for the last two years.
    • The cubicle next to me has been occupied by a linux-powered humanoid for the last two years.
      Hell, that's nothing, my marriage has been Powered By Linux for the last three and a half years... ever since Windows ate her regsitry twice in as many weeks...

      --
      You know the marriage is gonna last when you finally get the house network the way you both want it.

  • Anyone else reminded of ROB the Robot [robots.net] from the old first American Nintendo release?

    :^)

    Ryan Fenton
  • Curiously, there's a photograph of Bill Gates on the same page, in the lower left corner. Coincidence?
  • It looks like a silver Pusher/Shover robot. does it protect you from the terrible secret of space?
  • This opens up a few more option for all that Microsoft bashing that's going on...
  • please ignore the man behind the curtain pushing a dolly of computers.

  • Since the H7 page is already Slashdotted, perhaps some information on its direct ancestor, the H6 [u-tokyo.ac.jp] would shed some light.

    Humanoid Robot H6 page [u-tokyo.ac.jp]

    ~chris

  • From the article:
    The robot contains batteries and can communicate to a network via a wireless Ethernet connection.
    Ye gods, I hope they didn't rely on WEP to secure that connection. I'd hate to see one of those things get 0wnEd...
  • In short, the prelude to those horror movies like Brazil and 1984, with droids sitting in front of some totally network controlled 'bland looking, quasi dumb x-terminal', camera, keyboard & mouse monitoring every humanoid action. Sound like innovation to you. You guys make the Redmond crowd look like choir boys, from where I sit.
  • ... but unhelpful - sure, the movement's natural-looking, but how good is the software at analysing its environment to adjust its walking pattern, and so on; also, it evidently needs an in-built fusion pack to keep it going, or something - trailing wires is no fun in difficult conditions :-)

    Basically, how useful is this prototype; IANAE, but I'd guess that this technology still has some years to go before being useful.

    But I /still/ think it's cool.

    PS: Of course, given it's running (RT-)Linux... "How about a beowulf cluster of these?" ;-)
    • PS: Of course, given it's running (RT-)Linux... "How about a beowulf cluster of these?" ;-)
      I think that is the plot of Star Wars epII

    • how good is the software at analysing its environment to adjust its walking pattern


      This robot design is actually several years old; there have been several slashdot stories on it already. When I was in college taking a class on robotics and computer vision (3 years ago), one of the videos we were shown was this robot in action (it was a demo video). Some of the aspects we were seeing:


      - It was finding its way around objects as people moved them, without slowing down

      - If it's goal was to get a certin object, and that object was in motion, it could track that object, and follow it around without hitting/tripping over anything

      - It could walk up and down a flight of stairs as easily and natural-looking as a human


      I think the specific video we were shown was the predecessor to this one. As I understand it, this one has a wireless ethernet connection; the one I saw had a wire attached. However, that only means this one's actually BETTER than the one I saw.


      One of the neat things about it is how well they've gotten bipedal locomotion down (translation for the linguistically impaired: "walking on two legs"). The first thing we saw was this thing walking toward us. My first thought was "Why would they show us a video of a guy is a plastic box?" Then it turned sideways. It's thickness (I think it was maybe as think as my outstretched hand) made it impossible to be a human. My next thought was "Wow!!!" They've got the walking thing down good; it looks EXTREMELY natural.


      weylin

  • He twists her knobs, she watches his antenna rise.
  • Imagine a linux-powered humanoid in a penguin costume knocking at your door...
  • What I wouldn't give to be able to "unwatch" the last half of that stupid movie!

    On the other hand, if only they could make the batteries in my cellphone or laptop last even a fraction of David's power source, it might be worth it. (How long did he and that bear sit watching that damm fairy?)
  • After all, hasn't ESR been a linux-powered humanoid for quite a while now?
  • Single white male seeking Female Linux-Powered Humaniod Companion.

    hey... It can get cold over her in New England during those long Winter nights!

  • Motors and Gears (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Reality Master 101 ( 179095 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .101retsaMytilaeR.> on Saturday October 27, 2001 @12:25PM (#2487520) Homepage Journal

    Whenever robots like this come up, the actuators always seem to use motors and gears. I've often that using that method is rather limiting, since they are very bulky.

    Are there any good methods for more of a muscle-type actuator? Something very narrow that contracts. It seems like if you had something simple and cheap enough, you could use lots of them to give much better mobility.

    I'm guessing there isn't anything really good, otherwise people would do it that way. Still, could you have some telescoping rod kind of thing with a coil to contract it? You wouldn't even need to go both directions -- just do what a muscle does, and wait for the opposing actuator to move it back out. It seems like there has to be something simpler that works better than motors and gears.

    • I saw a documentary about robots one time. Some Japanese company spent a lot of money and developed a hydraulic robot modeled on the human body. If they had tried to use it in a Hollywood movie it would have been rejected because it looked and moved so much like a cheap effect of a man in a robot suit.
    • Here [shadow.org.uk] is a good site that gives a good reference on what are, and how they work.

      The are electric linear actuaters as well, that work on a telescoping lead screw rod type system, as well as solenoid based, and SMA (shape memory alloy) actuators - however, none of these have as fast response times, and waste more power.

      Even air muscles aren't perfect, but they are interesting...
  • How long until there's a female version?
    Beware of the linux powered sex godess!
  • Maybe you find my 100Mbit/s .fi link faster than the original .jp site...
    http://shakti.tky.hut.fi/slashdot/h7outside.mpg [tky.hut.fi]
    http://shakti.tky.hut.fi/slashdot/h6homepage2.mpg [tky.hut.fi]
  • Come on guys, if we are going to make a robot, why not make a really cool robot that can pick up chicks? Instead, this robot just looks like one of us nerds. We have failed to create our saviour "coolio chick-pickin-upper" robot that will help us get dates.
    ...and God created manbot in his image... as a nerd.
    • Come on guys, if we are going to make a robot, why not make a really cool robot that can pick up chicks?

      What the heck are YOU talking about?

      They need to make one that LOOKS like a chick! I want a hot and sexy chrome plated busty robo sex slave! Boo Yaa!

      If they keep making robots that look like THAT they're never going to make it into the adult toy business!

      How can that home robot market ever take off without backing the pr0n industry?

      *snicker*
  • Hmm wireless ethernet, dual P3's eh? how bout a beowulf cluster of these.

    But seriously, I didnt see anything but im assuming its possible to use that wireless to allow 2 of these robots to work in coordination and send data back to a controller. Anyone got any more info on that aspect?

    • Re:i cant resist (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Take a look at MIT's Kismet robotics project.

      http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/sociable/baby-bit s. html

      Run by a cluster of 9 QNX computers (400 MHz CPU on each computer) for all the important primary systems, a dual 450 MHz NT computer (for speech synthesis and voice affective intent recognition system) and a 500 MHz Linux computer (for speech recognition).

      It really tells you how far advance QNX is in the "realtime" business.

  • Humanoid picture (Score:3, Funny)

    by sela ( 32566 ) on Sunday October 28, 2001 @02:03AM (#2489049) Homepage
    Funny ... when I first got to this page [yahoo.com], the first humanoid picture I've seen was the one above "gates unveils XP". I didn't know he was running on linux after all ...
  • ...of hacking it would be using one of these (www.realdoll.com) . Commands such as 'grep' and 'touch' would have a totally new meaning.
    .
  • ...but does it transform into a motorcycle and know kung fu?

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