On the Gripping Hand 162
eek_the_kat writes "The Sensor Fusion Project at Ishikawa Hashimoto Laboratory has developed a high speed visual feedback system called SPE-256. It allows the robot to track fast randomly moving objects and grasp them (movies here). The applications seem endless!
I have seen many robot mpegs as of late, many courtesy of /., but these have to be some of the coolest I have ever come across. A must see."
Ironing (Score:1)
Or the hovering, or washing plates, or
Re:Ironing (Score:2, Funny)
Re:damn straight (Score:4, Funny)
Site is Slashdotted - and no comments! (Score:2, Informative)
A human being recognizes external environment by using many kinds of sensory information. By integrating these information and making up lack of information for each other, a more reliable and multilateral recognition can be achieved. The purpose of Sensor Fusion Project is to realize new sensing architecture by integrating multi-sensor information and to develop hierarchical and decentralized architecture for recognizing human beings further. As a result, more reliable
Re:Site is Slashdotted - and no comments! (Score:1)
Re:Site is Slashdotted - and no comments! (Score:2, Informative)
Not a biggy, just wondering if there was a reason that wasn't immediately obvious. (maybe that is the exact url that google gives out, which would be silly of them).
Re:Site is Slashdotted - and no comments! (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:It's dead, Jim (Score:2)
Daniel
Re:It's dead, Jim (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:It's dead, Jim (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:It's dead, Jim (Score:1)
Overrated is useful for those times when, say, some silly comment gets moderated as insightful. Underrated (while admittedly less important) is useful for a normal post that gets moderated as flamebait or troll.
How fast (Score:1, Redundant)
Maybe we could see the first robots competing in sports (except for chess) in the next few years?
Re:How fast (Score:2, Informative)
I would describe the speed as on the order of 1/3 the speed of a dog being teased with a tennis ball.
And the sequence looked about the same; the robot hand follows the ball back and forth just like a dog a then lunges out to grab it when it sees its opportunity.
Re:How fast (Score:2, Interesting)
I would describe the speed as on the order of 1/3 the speed of a dog being teased with a tennis ball.
And the sequence looked about the same; the robot hand follows the ball back and forth just like a dog a then lunges out to grab it when it sees its opportunity.
>
>
Another thing if you noticed, the motion of the ball on the stick *WAS NOT* random. It was basically back and forth.
You could kick the ball around and the dog would still track it.
Re:How fast (Score:2)
Back, forth, back, forth, back, forth, stop, wait for grab. machine grabs ball.
I dunno. It just seems like cheating to me. I'm not very impressed.
Re:How fast (Score:1)
I've seen real life chess games with 5 seconds on each clock. Pieces flew everywhere, player's other hand was always on the clock, etc.
Re:How fast (Score:2)
Re:How fast (Score:2)
I have no problems reaching the site. Actually, it loads quite fast, I dare to say. So, maybe the connection between the US and Japan is saturated
Police Bots (Score:1, Funny)
Don't run randomly, run in a definate pattern.
--
Pr0n: getting too much? [porn-free.org]
"eek the cat" (Score:2)
Looks like the poster had a direct experience with one of those robot graspers.
or not... (Score:1)
Car Security (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Car Security (Score:4, Funny)
I was actually thinking one robot hand to grip the skull, and apply appropriate movements of the skull to allow a second hand (Johnny Scissorhands variety) to perform a random action from a shortlist - eg :
a) Slash throat
b) Remove eyes
c) Pierce windpipe
d) Tear nuts off and feed to criminal
The possibilities are endless!
Ian
Re:Car Security (Score:2, Funny)
from upstate newyork with a huge beergut and a love
for wearing women's lingerie. There are no real
women on the net. It's a conspiracy.
scary stuff (Score:1)
Another VLSI breakthrough (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Another VLSI breakthrough (Score:5, Informative)
Erm VLSI just means putting lots of stuff on one chip (Very Large Scale Integration). Do you mean "CMOS instead of CCD"?
(more detailed explanation) [vvl.co.uk]
The increased framerates possible using this technology, rather than CCD, probably help when doing fast motion detection as the robot in the article is doing.
Re:Another VLSI breakthrough (Score:2)
And I was about to buy that CCD camera (Score:2)
Also, Alan Turing once said that one way to make an artifical intelligence is to make an artificial baby and then "educate" it to the level of an intelligent adult.
I'm glad that robots t
Shameless Matrix reference (Score:2, Funny)
What I'm saying, is that when you're ready, you won't have to.
Re:Shameless Matrix reference (Score:2)
What I'm saying, is when that time comes, you won't have to.
(because you will probably dead from the all the rat tat tat of the urban terrorists uzi emptying into your chest)
Re:Shameless Matrix reference (Score:1)
On the other hand.. bullets travel pretty fast and creating
a shockabsorber capable of actually "catching" the
bullet would be nearly impossible.
I covered this last year (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I covered this last year (Score:1)
still for a second, the arm distinctly reaches out and grabs it. What I'm curious about is what causes
the arm to stop simply following the object and actually try to grab it.
Jw
Re:I covered this last year (Score:1)
I think you answered your own question.
Re:I covered this last year (Score:1)
impressive (Score:1)
was quite impressive IMO.. things are indeed
moving forwards in the field of robotics, and who
knows maybe we WILL see human-like robots in our
lifetime, if only as walmart clerks and the likes
Is it real? (Score:4, Interesting)
Ok, now that I'm done with that, am I the only one that's dubious as to whether this is real or not? Admittedly I've only inspected the videos and not checked out the rest of the site, but it looks to me as though a lot of those moves can be programmed in and "acted" out by the object.
The best example of this is the handshake. Notice how the hand is not even in the right position to SHAKE a hand until near the end when the hand rotates 90 odd degrees (so it looks like a hand that could possibly be shaken) and then the human hand moves in nice and slowly. Any old dolt can shake a fake hand, I'll bet the robot hand doesn't give half as firm of a handshake as my little brother.
It even looks as though the robot shakes the hand one more time than the human expects.
I'm sure that they've made leaps and bounds into robotic hands, but I can't help but suspect that they're playing it up for more than it's worth.
Re:Is it real? (Score:1)
Re:Is it real? (Score:2)
Re:Is it real? (Score:2, Insightful)
To me it looks like the robot arm was programmed to go into handshake mode (rotate 90 degrees, and get ready to track up and down) when it sees the human hand moving up and down. It didn't look fishy at all.
Also, according to the block diagram, there is a second video camera, but I don't know if it was used to aid 3D object location.
Creepy hand (Score:3, Interesting)
CREEPED ME OUT! I got the willies just looking at it. The way it moves is so un-human, un-animal..
umm yah it's cool, but brrrrrrrr - gives me the shivers. Anyone else agree?
Re:Creepy hand (Score:1)
Re:Creepy hand (Score:1)
Re:Is it real? (Score:2)
When you look at the avoiding-video, it's very clear the behavior is preprogrammed; the hand moves when the object comes at clearly visible range from the hand. It has to be - you somehow have to tell a robot what is has to do and therefore it'll always look preprogrammed. But that doe
Re:Is it real? (Score:3, Funny)
But what if you just sold the robot a used car? How else could you close the deal?
Re:Is it real? (Score:2)
The 1ms [u-tokyo.ac.jp] page also has some good video, although I might still question the square / circle demo, as it might just as well keep the circle out of the field of view of the camera. Anyway, this page explains that they are achieving 1ms response time by integrating simple image processing with the photodetection circuitry to elimate having to wait for an entire frame from the CCD.
Fishing (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fishing (Score:1)
Is it real? (Score:4, Interesting)
I could only see one camera in their schematics and in all the videos.
How does the robot arm locate the object in a 3 dimensional space, using only one eye?
Other than that, it looks very cool...
-k
Re:Is it real? (Score:5, Informative)
The "eye" is really a high-speed sensor for a system of computers. The computers make calculations based on the fixed location of the camera and the variable, but known location of the robotic hand to determine the location in 3D space of the target. Then the target is stationary past a certain threshold time, the hand reaches out to grab it.
The computer array constantly updates the position of the arm and hand to try and match the location of the target, and that's where you get the illusion of human movement.
The human-like hand on the end of this arm is probably for the psychological benefit of investors, who would probably shit their pants at the sight of a high speed robotic claw grasping things dangled in front of it.
Re:Is it real? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd be more impressed if they used two cameras to simulate "depth perception", myself. I have yet to hear of a setup that used stereoscopic vision.
As to your question, try covering one eye (you good eye, too!), picking up a spoon, and then trying to touch it to something in three-space. It's not as hard as some would have you believe, and I suspect it won't be as hard for a computer to pick it up, either.
Re:Is it real? (Score:4, Interesting)
In the more advanced examples it did use stereoscopic vision. Look at the one where it repeatedly catches a ball. The same for the video where it catches a ball which falls vertically. Only in the tracking-examples it did use a single camera if I recall correctly.
Re:Is it real? (Score:2)
Re:Is it real? (Score:1)
Yes, but it is basically a 2D process.... look at all the motion of the object being grasped, it's all in a single plane.
I'd guess that most of the matching is being done in 2D, and grasping might be initiated when sensors in the hand itself contact the object.
Pretty amazing behaviour notwithstanding.
Re:Is it real? (Score:2)
Re:Is it real? (Score:2)
This is especially apparent in the handshake demo, in which the man moves his hand in two directions.
Looks familiar... (Score:2, Informative)
http://boingboing.net/2002_10_01_archive.html#8554 7387 [boingboing.net]
see also
http://www.enorgis.com/arc20021013.htm#BlogID1043 [enorgis.com]
http://radio.weblogs.com/0103443/2002/10/10.html [weblogs.com]
But it's still quite amazing - that's why it stuck in my mind I s'pose
Teaching a new dog old tricks (Score:1, Interesting)
Really impressive, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd like to know how many times it fails before it manages to grasp the objects. If it fails, like, 50 times for each success, then I'm a lot less impressed. I saw the videos (server not slashdotted form where I sit), and the speed and precision with which the hand moves around is really impressive - sure hope this is for real.
I've been doing some robot control software myself (trying to make it drive towards a moving target, using vision guidance) and that much simpler task was hard enough.
This troll goes to eleven. (Score:1)
Applications? (Score:3, Informative)
sluggy glove ref 0 [sluggy.com]
sluggy glove ref 1 [sluggy.com]
Real improvement (Score:1, Insightful)
Rumor... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Rumor... (Score:2)
Be afraid (Score:5, Funny)
At the Safety Checkpoints, at the mall, at schools they could be seen, light glinting from faceted metal skulls as they scanned all who passed.
It was during a live 5am broadcast one morning of Bush's 8th consecutive term when he'd slurred out an announcement about his "little buddies" helping out in the war against terrorism. A week later, a million robots were killing all life forms that had appendages that could be loosely identified as "arms" due to a coding error that failed to properly identify the context of what coud be construed as a weapon. The last words most people heard for many months was "For the last time, I order you to drop your weapons!"
But even more gruesome scenes were to come when the robots began filtering back to weapons collection centers where they deposited the "weapons" they'd siezed and arranged them by species and appendage. Some of the more creative ones had broken into zoos and aquariums. And while
most of the government officials were partying in another globalist meeting in Zurich, there was noone home to put a halt to the prescripted robot-press event that would automatically photograph the results of the terrorist sweeps.
One of the last images the human race would ever broadcast into space was of a smiling robot holding up a pair of severed, bloody, duck-feet and proclaiming "We must be forever vigilant in our fight against terrorists!"
Re:Be afraid (Score:1)
What's more frightening is the prospect of a vision system that becomes super-efficient at directing shots at a human target...one shot, one kill. Not a ba
Re:Be afraid (Score:2)
Another thing, a robot can carry a lot more bullets than knives. e.g. even if a human gets stabbed but manages to jam the arm, the robot is rendered a lot less effective.
In contrast it is comparatively trivial to program the robot to shoot something till it drops, then shoot it for 5-10 more seconds to make sure.
Re:Be afraid (Score:2)
Aw, Mom! (Score:5, Funny)
BILLY!
Stop teasing the robot! You wouldn't like it if researchers kept taking your oblong right parallelipiped!
mirror (Score:2, Informative)
rise of the machines (Score:1)
Thanks for the links... (Score:2)
insider info (Score:5, Funny)
Re:insider info (Score:1)
Hopefully it will bite said idiot in the ass when meta-moderation comes back unfair.
Grasping fast randomly moving objects (Score:1, Offtopic)
Turtle owner: "Where are all turtles?"
Cybogr the turtle sheppard: "Wait. I was counting them. One turtle, two turtles, three turtles... trrrr and suddenly they were all gone away, pro'ly off to someplace"
Time to get a grip? (Score:1)
Nice Niven reference... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Nice Niven reference... (Score:3, Informative)
When evaluating a decision, the Moties say, "on one hand, on the other hand, and on the gripping hand," giving them three options where a 2-handed human has two.
Obligatory Amazon Link [amazon.com]
Good book, but buy it from a used bookstore if you can.
Re:Nice Niven reference... (Score:2, Offtopic)
The View from Chaos Manor [jerrypournelle.com]
Another system. (Score:1)
Mirror up an ready to go. (Score:3, Informative)
I tar'd all the mpegs into one file for easier downloading. Enjoy
pr0n.biz looks great on the company´s proxy log (Score:2)
Re:pr0n.biz looks great on the company´s proxy lo (Score:1)
Oh No! (Score:4, Funny)
With the advant of such new technologies, I fear many people will find their jobs automated.
Rat catchers, while not such a profession of pride, will now have a hard time finding work once this goes mainstream.
This device is a boon to the rat catcher industry and I would like to personally convey my feelings of grief for those who will now feel the boone new technology brings to their job market.
Joe Bob, a rat catcher since 12, had this to say: "Damn, Pa' always tol me and my brother we was chasin a pipe dream. I knewd I shoulda listened and hopped onto the IT market." (IT standing for Interstate Trucker)
Joe Bob, already forseeing the doomed market, has decided to persue his dreams and earning his MSCE certifications.
Truely a sad day.
Chicken Catchers allready mechanized (Score:2, Funny)
If you could integrate the two...
Imagine a school full of ADHD kids: Spitballs and paper-airplanes intercepted in mid air, offending kids automatically sucked up into a "cage" for "time out". (Remembering what an ass I was in Junior High)
*bzzz* (Score:1)
Would certainly save in window cleaning
Re:*bzzz* (Score:1)
Dann? Dagn? Daan? WHAT'S BEHIND THE SPLAT AAAAARGH IT'S KILLING ME!!! Damn, damn, damn, the splat. Damn it straight to hell.
Mirror: (Score:1, Informative)
I want a mosquito-targetting robot (Score:2)
Hmm (Score:1)
Arm music video? (Score:1)
The editors are idiots (Score:2)
Witness the date, folks:
I tried twice. I bet it's my ungeeky signature. Yes, that must be it.
Script-fu (Score:1)
Jackie Chan, Master Splinter, Look Out!
"On the Gripping Hand:" oh, puh-lease... (Score:2, Funny)
[Bonus points to thems who get both allusions.]
Other robots (Score:1)
Yes, but... (Score:1)
My cat is good at this. 6^)
The possibilites... (Score:1)
Re:Foreign devils! (Score:1)
graspee
Re:From the videos (Score:2, Informative)
The arm's we make are really quite amazing. Extremely fast, accurate, and articulate. They have a 4-degree of freedom (dof) arm. We also make a 7-dof arm that is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. (Steel aircraft cables are used to drive it).