Why would you want to make a humanoid robot? I mean, I guess for making movies, they're good. If you want to have a robot companion, maybe it should be humanoid. But other than that, most tasks are best tackled by designs that are not constrained by trying to look like a person. I mean, balance and walking are incredibly hard things to do.I'd say this is an issue we are all struggling with, and it's important not take a stubborn viewpoint. In my opinion, I think humanoid robots in general may not be that useful for some time. But I most certainly believe that what we learn by building and studying them will be very useful in the future. In particular, I am a strong believer that intelligent prosthetics and orthotics, such as exoskeletons, will benefit from our work. But mostly, I just think it is an extremely challenging problem that we don't fully understand yet.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
iRobot CEO Slams Humanoid Robots
iRobot CEO Colin Angle, in an interview with CNET News, attacked the practicality of humanoid robots:
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The general argument used by humanoid researchers is that, humanoid robots are the most able to "survive" in human designed spaces. Plus, humans are actually humanoid robots, and by studying and developing humanoids, humans are able to understand better their own mechanisms and reflexes. Just like you showed in your "Integral Control of Humanoid Balance" paper, which is great and influential work by the way.
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