Robot Technology Making Strides (VIDEO)

The robots of yesterday's movies are today's reality. Some are modeled after men, some are fashioned like dogs, others are created to look like beautiful women. They walk, show facial expression, carry on conversations, and identify objects.

Courtesy: 2dayblog.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - The technology to build various types of robots has been around for a while, but ideas have emerged in recent years, along with micro technology, allowing some of the advanced models of today to have up to 60 different facial movements, and that is just the beginning.

The progress has been steady, particularly in the U.S., Japan and Korea. The various robot projects under development throughout the world are amazing.

The videos featured here show a variety of these new creations and they offer a clear idea of where this is going. Designers say extremely lifelike robots will soon be able to serve in numerous capacities that range from household duties to security.

One of the robots called Aiko, is capable of speech, reading, distinguishing color, recognizing faces and identifying objects.

It gets better. Aiko has the ability to report the weather, and she can carry on a conversation with a comprehension of more than 13,000 sentences. She can also solve math problems, and she can identify things like simple drinks and foods. Most importantly, Aiko has the ability to learn.

Another robot named Murata Boy, can ride bicycles unassisted. The robot is able to simultaneously balance the bike, pedal and and steer it around obstacles and around a course.

Big Dog

Possibly the most amazing of all so far is Boston Dynamics' four legged robot called Big Dog that runs on ice and snow, and steps easily over rugged terrain.

Big Dog is shown in their video walking with a 150 pound load on its back. The robot can walk and run and actually gallup. The developers also are shown kicking Big Dog to knock it over, but it sidesteps like an actual dog and totally stays on its feet.

This is really shocking to see for the first time as the female robots are incredibly lifelike and the one male human appearing robot is also very close in appearance to a human being, at least until he is turned half way around and you see there is no back of his head; just a maze of wires pouring out.

It is a new century and a new time for technology and it probably won't be long before these are walking down our sidewalks indistinguishable from people.

WATCH THE VIDEOS BELOW:

Akutoroi Do-er Speaks: Akutoroi Do-er a Japanese robot with human-like skin and movements. This video clip has been captured at the Robot Festival in Toyama, Japan.

Video

Boston Dynamics just released a new video of the Big Dog on ice and snow, and also demoing its walking gait (BELOW):

In this video, a human-like Japanese robot is displayed in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Presented by ReviewPublic.com (BELOW):

In this video, Hanson Robotics says good bye to Jules who will be transported to the U.K. Jules is the newest and most realistic humanoid robot yet from David Hanson and the team at Hanson Robotics (BELOW):

This video is about Aiko who can speak, read, tell color, recognize faces and objects and even tell the weather. She is able to have a conversation and can understand 13,000+ sentences. She also has the ability to learn. Simply amazing (BELOW):

Murata Boy is a robot capable of riding bicycles unassisted. Balancing, pedaling and directing the bicyclee, turning the bike to avoid obstacles, etc. For more information you can visit: http://cyclesantamonica.blogspot.com. Here is the video (BELOW):

Aiko is the brainchild of robotics developer Le Trung and the first Canadian android to make a public appearance. The android visited the Ontario Science Centre November 10th, 2007. Thank you YouTube Canada for the feature. Hopefully the attention will help get this poor girl the support she needs to get up out of that wheelchair and learn to walk. You can learn more by visiting: http://www.projectaiko.com. Here is more on Aiko (BELOW):

This video shows the amazingly realistic female android, named Actroid DER 2. She was demonstrated at the AKIBA Robot Festival in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. For more information visit Robots Dreams at http://www.robots-dreams.com. Here is Actroid DER 2 (BELOW):

Here is a video for a U.S. design named Eva the Female Robot (BELOW):

This video shows a female walking robot from Newlaunches (BELOW):