Japanese robot mirrors master’s movements
The Avatar headlines were inevitable, weren’t they? Japanese researchers have unveiled a master-slave robot that moves in synch with kit worn by the robot’s controllers. Telesar V of Keio University has a more serious purpose than entertainment, though: its developers hope it could be a precursor to robots designed to enter …
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Yeah, but...
...it's still not as good as the clown bot from F/X 2
That's no ROBOT...
... its a WALDO, as anybody who reads classic science fiction knows. The name comes from a story of that name written in 1942 by Robert A. Heinlein. The current term for it is telemanipulator: I prefer waldo because its shorter and more memorable.
The distinction is that a robot is capable of autonomous action while a waldo is not: its sole job is to do precisely what its operator causes it to do while providing real-time visual, audio and haptic feedback.
Call a spade a spade!
Thanks for putting me straight. I'd always thought that a Waldo was a powered exoskeleton. A quick read of the Wikipedia synopsis of the story has put me straight. I didn't start reading science fiction magazines until the '60s, which must be how I (incorrectly) learned the term Waldo.
Re: That's no ROBOT...
"I prefer waldo because its shorter and more memorable."
Yeah, especially after you've been searching for it in the last page of identical clones for the better part of an afternoon. Where is that bastard...?
Moon
Build one with hardened electronics and mechanics and something like a space suit to protect the parts from dust.
Send to Moon.
Do whatever it was we want to do there with people for 1/20th the cost.
Re: Moon
Don't forget to slap a Virgin Lunar-walk sticker on the side and then once you've done the important stuff you can charge people to "walk" on the moon. Done for -10x the cost!
Re: Moon
Big problem there is the delay, IIRC its about 4 seconds round trip.. Much better idea is simpler robots that are able to act independently to orders rather than need a driver/controller..
That is until someone invents an FTL/instant communication system....
Re: Re: Moon
Relay it to remove the delay. Have a satellite with a frikken las(z)er in it pointing at a receiver on the moon. It would still lag but not nearly as much.
I claim my patent!
Re: FTL/instant communication system
I believe CERN are working on it
@Martin Gregorie - beat me there
Am currently reading oath of fealty (Niven and Pournelle) who reference Henlein in 1981 and started wondering why we don't have this kind of thing yet and then this article came up. Read enough sci fi and nothing comes as a supprise any more.
Mines the one with the keys to the remote control moon digger in the pocket!
meh
Until someone can use it to play the cup and ball on a string game and catch the ball in the cup repeatedly in a live demonstration, I'm not interested.
Science. Answering the important questions.
For example: What does a robot doing the five-fingered shuffle look like?
Avatar?
This sort of stuff has been manga/animé staple for ages; pretty much anything by Masamune Shirow, for instance...
Hector?
Hmmmn, Hector from Saturn 3 when he was attached to Harvey Keitel.....
Good going
Now all they have to do is scale it up one hundred times.
Japan: for all your (giant) robot needs.
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