SUIDOBASHI HEAVY INDUSTRY has introduced their fully configurable Kuratas robot. Designed by artist/ironworker Kogoro Kurata, along with Wataru Yoshizaki (controls/electronics) and Yusuke Kitani (engineer), the Kuratas robot stands 12 ½ feet tall, weighs in at over 4 tons and features roughly 30 hydraulic joints which enables the robot to move its arms, 4 legs (each with its own wheel) and torso independent from each other. Powering the mech is a diesel engine (unknown as to what engine, or drive-train for that matter) that has a top speed of just over 6 mph, which may be slow but I doubt that anyone driving behind you will be honking their horn in a fit of road-rage. The company can outfit the Kuratas, based on your preference, with multiple ‘less-than-lethal’ weapons systems that include dual Gatling guns, Iron-crow grip claw, Iohas rocket launcher, Kuratas hand-gun and Pilbunker rifle. Each weapon fires either plastic bio-degradable BB’s or water bombs, so don’t expect to do much damage to your target. This is intentional. The designers meant to do as the robot is actually a piece of art rather than a war machine. However, you could probably replace those with actual weapons platforms and weaponry if you so desired.
Transformers assemble: The 13ft, four ton,
super-robot is going on sale for £900,000 - but you have to pay extra
for the cup holder
Kuratas, made by Suidobashi Heavy
Industry, can be controlled either through the one-man cockpit or from
the outside using any smartphone connected to the 3G network. The robot, which is set will go on sale for £900,000, has around 30 hydraulic joints which the pilot moves using motion control.
As it is made to order the style conscious buyer will not have to worry about sticking to the
grey exterior - it comes in 16 colours, including black and pink, and
for an extra £60 they will sort you out with a cup holder.
Simple touch: All you need to remote control the robot is a 3G connection and works particularly well with iPhone's touchscreen
If
you are not the piloting kind of millionaire, Kuratas can be operated
using what Suidobashi calls the ‘Master-Slave system’ where you control
the robot’s movements from outside using any device with a 3G network
such as an iPhone.
‘Automatic alignment allows you to
lock on your enemy target. Kuratas will not allow any targets to escape. 'With the alignment set appropriately the system will fire BBs when the
pilot smiles.’
A Russian research project aims to bring
immortality to humans by the year 2045, and a team of 30 scientists are
working on the project called Avatar with hopes to transplant brains
into robot bodies. ”This project is leading to immortality,” says Dmitry Itskov, the
Russian entrepreneur who heads the hi-tech ‘Avatar research project.
“You have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to
immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of
such technologies: it’s not a sciencefiction fantasy. It is in your
power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime,”
Itskov told Forbes magazine.
He has contacted a list of billionaires with a proposal for funding
his quest for immortality – which Itskov refers to as “cybernetic
immortality” and the “artificial body.”
The initiative is opening its San Francisco office this summer, and
will be launching a social media project connecting scientists around
the world.
“The 2045 team is working towards creating an international research
center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and
development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems
modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of
transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and
achieving cybernetic immortality,” Itskov stated. “Such research has
the potential to free you, as well as the majority of all people on our
planet, from disease, old age and even death.”
Itskov envisages surgically ‘transplanting’ a human consciousness into a robot body within 10 years.
He hopes to then ‘upload’ minds without surgery, leaving human bodies as empty husks as their owners ‘live on’ inside robots.
The project is called Avatar after the James Cameron movie, set far
in the future, where human soldiers use mind control to inhabit the
bodies of human alien hybrids as they carry out a war against the
inhabitants of distant world.
What's the Latest Development?
Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov is courting the world's
richest individuals to help him in conquering death. Itskov, a 33
year-old, can afford to wait but the billionaires he approaches have an
average age of 66, meaning they may be looking for shorter-term
solutions to living longer—much longer. "Itskov expects the
first fruits in about a dozen years, when a human brain is to be
transplanted into a robot body. The resulting 'avatar,' as he calls it,
will 'save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly
damaged.'" Called the 2045 Initiative, it recently held a meeting in
Moscow and opened office space in San Francisco.
What's the Big Idea?
Preserving the brain and placing it in a host container, so
that the spark of consciousness could outlive the body's organ failure,
may be "just a way station to Nirvana, which would ultimately involve
downloading the brain’s contents into a computer." The concept of
melding man and machine, and thereby preserving consciousness past
physical death is known as the Singularity. "A brand new body can get
crushed by a 500-pound anvil that may fall on it, as anvils are wont to
do. Once it’s downloaded into a computer, your mind is safe from anvils,
pandemics, and even planet-destroying asteroids (as soon as its
mirrored onto interplanetary networks)."
2045 Initiative's Vision for Further Development of Humankind
The world is on the verge of global change. The rate of globally
significant events, and that of discoveries and crises, is growing
exponentially. We are facing the choice: To fall into a new Dark Age --
into affliction and degradation – or to find a new model for human
development and create not simply a new civilization, but a new mankind.
PR2 from Willow Garage
is now able to help people with disabilities
to perform everyday tasks such as manipulating objects shaving and more.
The video below illustrates the scope and the results of the Robots for
Humanity project that Willow Garage, the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech, and Henry and Jane Evans are pioneering.
Assistive Mobile Manipulation for Older Adults at Home
Motivation
There is a growing need in society to enable older adults to remain in
an independent living environment. Many older adults fear losing
their independence and being required to move to an assisted living
facility. From a societal perspective, it is cost-effective to
support older adults' preference to age in place. The economic
implications of transitioning to full-time residential care settings
are substantial, both to individuals and to society. Given current
demographics, these costs are projected to increase exponentially.
Older adults living in their own homes may be faced with situations in
which there is a mismatch between the demands of their daily
environment and their capabilities. These situations generally result
from both increased demands (e.g., use of new medical devices) and
deficits in the capabilities of the individual (e.g., age-related
changes in cognition, perception, or movement control). There is
great potential for robotics to support the needs of older
adults --
either directly or by supporting the activities of professional
caregivers (e.g., nurses or physical therapists) who work in the homes
of older adults.
Approach
The proposed research will consist of two closely integrated thrusts:
one devoted to human-robot interaction and the other focused on
software development. Both thrusts will be directed toward the
development of assistive capabilities for the PR2 robot, with an
emphasis on home care for older adults. These two thrusts are highly
synergistic. The human-robot interaction (HRI) thrust will help ensure
that the software development is closely connected to real-world
needs, and the software development thrust will provide capabilities
that both inform and enable cutting-edge studies of human-robot
interaction.
An Interdisciplinary Team
Prof. Charlie Kemp, a leading researcher in the area of assistive
mobile manipulation, will serve as the PI for the overall project and
thrust leader for software development.
Prof. Wendy Rogers,
who is a leading researcher on technology and human factors
for older adults, will be the thrust leader for human-robot
interaction. They will lead a cross-disciplinary team of 17
researchers. Each of the four Co-PIs brings important
expertise to the project.
Prof. James M. Rehg
is a leading expert in computer vision and machine learning,
and is the Associate Director of Research in the Center for
Robotics and Intelligent Machines.
Prof. Andrea Thomaz
is a pioneer in HRI and socially guided machine learning.
Dr. Tracy Mitzner
has almost a decade of experience
conducting research on human factors and aging, with the
goal of finding ways that technology can support aging.
Brian Jones,
the Director of the
Aware Home Research Initiative,
will provide supported access to the Aware Home, a
free-standing home on the Georgia Tech campus that will
house the PR2 for two 3-month periods so that we may conduct
HRI studies and software evaluations in a realistic home
environment.
