Robots Are Great by William Lama, Ph.D.
Robots Are Great
by William Lama, Ph.D.
How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance - IEEE Spectrum
I recently became very interested in robots when orthopedic surgeon Dr. Philip Andrawis explained that I needed a partial knee replacement. The good doctor said that I should not be concerned as he would be assisted by a robot.
Robot-assisted surgery is just scratching the surface of robot capabilities. This video from Boston dynamics (owned by Hyundai) shows humanoid and “animaloid” robots dancing to the tune of The Contours’ hit “Do you love me.” Do You Love Me? - YouTube
The Boston Dynamics video has been viewed 24 million times, and its popularity is no surprise, considering the state-of-the-art in humanoid robotics, quadrupedal robotics, and whatever-the-heck-Handle-is robotics.” The humanoid bots are called Atlas and the doggie is Spot. Boston Dynamics sells Spot for $74,500 each. And he can do useful things. Spot's Got an Arm! - YouTube
After watching the video several times, my vision of robotic surgery was of Atlas brandishing a scalpel dancing around the “operating theatre.” Then Dr. Andrawis explained how the Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery works (no dancing). It begins with a CT scan of my knee to generate a 3D virtual model of my “unique” anatomy, and then “guides” the surgeon to an accurate placement and alignment of my implant. My fabulous anesthesiologist, Dr. Anthony Arellano-Kruse, eased my fears. Now it’s over and I’m glad for the gentle care of that little robot.
Artificially Intelligent Robots
For an autonomous robot to act precisely and robustly in its environment, it relies on continuous sensory feedback about its actions. This feedback loop is depicted in the following figure. The Robot & Environment block contains sensors that measure the robot’s motion relative to the physical environment. Signals from these sensors flow to the robot’s Controller that processes the sensor data, and computes new action commands to be executed by the robot. The resulting actions are again measured by the sensors and fed back to the Controller. This continuous feedback loop improves the robot’s capabilities to balance, walk, or even dance.
https://ei.is.tuebingen.mpg.de/research_fields/learning-control
Learning robots recognize if a certain action (moving its legs in a certain way, for instance) achieved a desired result (navigating an obstacle). The robot stores this information and attempts the successful action the next time it encounters the same situation.
When the robot’s tasks are known in advance and the environment does not change much, then well-known methods are used to design the control systems. “However, if the robot shall also cope with complex and unknown situations that cannot be pre-programmed, its control system must be able to adapt and learn from data and experience also during operation.”
The holy grail of robotics technology is a robot that behaves just like a living creature. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the key ingredient.
“Animals are great.” In captivity, robot animals are greater.
Next month I’ll tell you about the new robot dolphins that may take the place of captive dolphins in marine parks of the future.
Dr. William Lama has a PhD in physics from the University of Rochester. Taught physics in college and worked at Xerox as a principle scientist and engineering manager. Upon retiring, joined the PVIC docents; served on the board of the RPV Council of Home Owners Associations; served as a PV Library trustee for eight years; served on the PV school district Measure M oversight committee; was president of the Malaga Cove Homeowner's Association. Writes about science, technology and politics, mostly for his friends.
email: wlama2605@gmail.com