Robothespian. Source: National Geographic

Narrator ‘RoboThespian’ (borrowing the voice of Simon Pegg), takes us on a whistle-stop tour of what’s going on in robotics labs around the world, where researchers are putting robots through their paces. We’re party to the successes as well as the failures of a menagerie of humanoids including CHIMP, ATLAS, PR2, Herb the Butler, iCub, and others.

Introducing them one by one, the film highlights how the vast majority of robots featured must focus on achieving just a single, specific task. This is intercut with footage showing just how nimble, adaptable and all-round amazing the human body is, and how robotics struggles to emulate this. Take Herb, for instance; the robot butler’s current level of success in clearing a table is remarkable only for its comedy value. Rollin’ Justin, developed by the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Germany, fares somewhat better with its 90 per cent success rate in catching balls. It’s notable that it has taken Honda more than 15 years of development to get ASIMO, dubbed “the world’s most advanced humanoid robot,” to the stage where it can perform multiple actions such as running, jumping and recognising voices.

Directed by Mike Slee and produced by Jini Dürr (both National Geographic documentary veterans) and enhanced with a dramatic soundtrack, Robots 3D provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes. What comes across with searing honesty is just how hard it is to recreate the most basic human actions such as walking, catching a ball and clearing up after dinner. So, while the movie tells us how we as a society might benefit from robots, we also see them failing the most simple of tasks.

Robonaut. Image: National Geographic

They’re impressive nonetheless and the film brings out some strangely likeable personalities. There were also a few robots I’d not yet encountered, including the highly dexterous Robonaut, used to help astronauts on board the International Space Station. It can handle the same tools as humans and perform tasks such as changing an air filter. And COMAN, a headless wonder with flexible joints that refuses to be knocked down.

We saw Robots 3D at London’s Science Museum, where it’s showing at the IMAX cinema. The kids in our party pronounced it “mind blowing” and “dead interesting” – surely the highest accolades for a movie that is just as much about how far the science of robotics still has to go as its recent progress.

NAO and iCub both scored highly in the cuteness stakes, but it was ASIMO that emerged as the kids’ overall favourite in the show.

The children also declared themselves impressed by HRP-2 (a bipedal bot that can crawl, as well as walk), Rollin’ Justin (of ball-catching fame), and CHIMP (for its ability to scan its local area using laser light and sending out pulses that bounce back). They were intrigued that some of the robots could upload information to the cloud for others to share.

The ATLAS rescue robot, designed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for use in emergency situations, is also featured in the movie, as was footage of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) trials. But, somewhat tellingly, despite DARPA’s efforts to stress their humanitarian applications, the kids wanted to see “a bit more of the military robots.” Perhaps ATLAS needs to take on some of iCub’s cuteness to dispel these kinds of conceptions.

In fact, the kids wanted to see more generally and weren’t satisfied by the 40 odd minute length of the film. They also wanted the robots to do more dancing and climbing.

However, as a vehicle for changing public perception towards robotics, Robots 3D is without doubt a great success. It’s a way for people to learn about humanoid robots from the scientists who make them, rather than from movies like iRobot and Terminator, where they’re portrayed as violent and terrifying.

At Robohub, we’re also proud of our own small contribution to the Robots 3D project, in providing some of the educational material to supplement the documentary.

Robots 3D is a refreshingly realistic take on the current state of humanoid robotics, without minimizing the great strides that have been made to date. But although the movie introduces viewers to some of the most incredible humanoid robots out there today, like any snapshot of a fast developing technology, this portrait won’t be state-of-the-art forever. So go out and see it while it’s fresh!

Actor Frank Langella on the left; robot analyst Frank Tobe on the right.

Finally, a few days ago, a group of us went to see it and, although it was sad and sweet, and generally a fun and entertaining movie to watch, it was a disappointment to me on many levels.

The story is about an older guy living alone in a rural area. His son drives a long distance to check up on him once a week and the visits aren’t pleasant. His daughter is off in some foreign land taking photos. His ex-wife is long gone. Frank is grumpy, slovenly and abusive except — with the local librarian whom he likes.

The story brightens when the son gives Frank a robot to help take care of him. It is purposed to lead him away from his curmudgeon state (which we later learn is dementia) toward a more healthy life. Frank, who at first hates the idea, finds that the robot is trainable and can do some things better than he can, like pick a lock or crack the combination on a safe. This excites him to once again do what he used to do: be a jewel thief. It’s a mundane Robin Hood type plot but the two principal actors (Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon) make it a better film because they played their roles so convincingly. I don’t want to tell more of the story because the movie is worth seeing.

From a robot enthusiast’s point of view, however, the movie left a lot to be desired. First, and I hate to break this to you, the robot wasn’t a robot after all. It may have looked like Honda’s Asimo, but it was really Rachael Ma dressed up in a robot costume made by a Hollywood effects company (Altrerian). She walked and moved just like Asimo and moved her head empathically during periods of dialogue but it wasn’t even a speaking part for her; a male actor read the lines that were the robot’s voice.

Regarding the robot’s voice, the director ended up printing out all of the robot lines in sequence and just having Peter Sarsgaard read them straight through without watching the scenes. It yielded the best balance and consistency for their goal of robot-like speech. If it ended up sounding a little inhuman, that was fine.

The real issues about ethical, psychological and social concerns of a robot providing assistance and life coaching for a person with serious aging and psychological issues, or about a robot assisting or participating in illegal activities with that person were only lightly touched upon. Instead the issues were defined by the paradigm of living alone or in a residential care facility.

When asked by a reporter from The Christian Science Monitor about the ethical question of having robots take care of the elderly and replace human caregivers, director Jake Schreier replied:

I don’t have an answer for that. I mean, we certainly touch on it. I think the key for [screenplay writer Christopher] Ford and I was to sort of make it … you could call it a “future agnostic” movie. This is in the sense that it’s not saying that robots are going to kill us, and it’s not saying that they’re the answer to all our problems. I think there are some issues with them, and there are some amazing things that they can do—and the future is like that. I think it’s important to not be reflexively afraid of the future, to try to take in what’s coming and try to look at all sides of it and see what the positives and negatives are. Hopefully the film lets you have that distance and form an opinion or let you have your own ideas about it, but it isn’t leading you too strongly down one path or the other.

In another interview that appeared in The Huffington Post, the reporter asked Schreirer and Ford how they decided on the simple design of the robot, who looks a lot like Honda’s walking ASIMO robot, and whether they ever considered other designs that were more futuristic and high tech.

JS: The segment of robot design aimed at elder care seems to be oddly focused on these little white spacemen. It’s not just the ASIMO, Toyota has a similar one too, and there are others. We just felt it made sense to stay in that vein. I think they benefit from their simplicity — it allows us to project more emotion onto them.

CF: The robot always had that kind of design, even from the original short I did in film school. I was taken by the image of this tiny little space suit-looking man walking around through a dusty old cottage. I know Jake always liked that image and it was the kernel that we tried to stay true to when we expanded it into a feature.

At the finish of the movie, as the credits rolled, there were cameo videos running alongside the credits showing many service robots doing bits and pieces of home care or assistive tasks. Some of them were caring for the elderly, or interacting with real people playing chess, or cleaning up and doing various tasks. Each video clip was known to me for its limited present-day capability but hopeful for a more efficient and flexible near-term future similar to the futuristic robot in Robot & Frank

The most famous humanoid robot, Honda’s ASIMO has a new version. A few days ago Honda presented a more advanced model and performed a small display of its new capabilities. Meanwhile the robotics sector of Honda is now an official entity under the name Honda Robotics.

The new ASIMO is lighter and faster. It weighs 48kg (6 less than the previous version), it can run faster, reaching 9km/h (instead of 6km/h) and it has improved dynamic stability. It can hop, move over uneven surfaces, kick a ball and even compensate to small perturbations like an accidental push. It may not be yet as stable as for example the robots of Boston Dynamics, but we shouldn’t forget that they are either tethered prototypes or multi-legged robots while ASIMO is a biped that moves freely.

Advancement of its intelligence capabilities allow it to acknowledges data from its surroundings and act autonomously. It takes into account other people’s movement and adjusts its path according to where they are and also where it predicts they go. Additionally it has advanced face and voice recognition and can interact when multiple persons address to it.

The new version has 57 degrees of freedom, 23 more than before. This increase is mostly due to the much more advanced fingers. As displayed in the photos above and in this video, ASIMO can perform elaborate movements and handle a variety of objects with advanced dexterity.

For the first time in its long history, ASIMO is available in three different colors. At first this looks like a minor detail (considering the color variations are very discreet) but it may well be the most important new feature as a hint to a future production version. With the establishment of Honda Robotics as a separate division that covers all robotic research, and product applications the day when ASIMO or other robotic products will be commercially available becomes closer. Honda has the resources to pursue this goal and can endure the extremely steep process of developing an elaborate product for consumer use.

You can read the official press release by Honda:http://world.honda.com/..All-new-ASIMO/..
Videos from the presentation:http://moriyama.com/archives/3122 (via PlasticPals)

(Images & Video : Honda )