BEST ROBOTS AT CES 2017
"Technology is part of the conversation and it affects all aspects of the fashion ecosystem"
Mankind has dreamed of a robot who can help with every day tasks for quiet some time now. At at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, many new innovations were put on parade for our pleasure and like always, the robots stole the show.
Meet Pepper - the first personal and emotional humanoid robot. It is capable of recognising the principal human emotions and adapting his behaviour to the mood of his interlocutor. Pepper is much more than a robot, he is a genuine humanoid companion created to communicate with you in the most natural and intuitive way, through his body movements and his voice. Pepper can recognise your face, speak, hear you and move around autonomously.
Meet Lynx - the humanoid from China-based manufacturer Ubtech Robotics. Unlike the prominent wheel-based models on the market, Lynx has a nimble frame and is more than capable of walking and even cutting a rug on the dance floor. This robot utilizes Alexa integration to fulfill an array of helpful tasks. All of these functions are accessible by simply stating your specific commands. Lynx is compatible with Amazon Music and Spotify, and even set up reminders for your busy schedule. Lynx will do the work for you and even read your emails aloud to you. If taking up yoga is your New Year’s resolution, you’ll certainly enjoy Lynx. Simply ask Lynx about a particular yoga pose and the robot will actually instruct you on correctly positioning yourself.
Meet Curi - Mayfield Robotics product designed with three basic ideas in mind: mobility, awareness, and personality. And what a big personality it has. The 20-inch-tall Curi blinks, glows, and even chirps playfully once the unit is addressed by name. A series of built-in LEDs also change color to let you know what kind of mood it is in at a given time. Kuri is able to create and “remember” a digital, room-by-room map of your home down to the millimeter. Just like "Ok, Google", Curi is ready to roll once you’ve spoken the wake phrase “Hey, Kuri”. The robo-companion responds to 12 other voice commands as well. Curi can also be controlled remotely via the companion Curi app. As an added bonus, Kuri also doubles as a Bluetooth-connected speaker. The built-in camera can even record and save video. Using this camera, Curi is engineered to be able to identify individuals it has come in contact with. This allows the robot to perform correlating tasks such as alerting parents when their children are home from school.
Meet Yumii with Cutii - French Startup known as Yumii with Cutii.
This helper bot has been designed specifically for at-home elderly care. The unit can respond to verbal cues and can also assist in an array of daily activities including setting up reminders and assisting with cooking. Yumii with Cutii can also allow individuals to contact members of their families and even make doctor’s appointments. This device can roam completely autonomously around the house or be simply controlled via a remote. Yumii has some pretty serious on-board software. However, the startup laid claim to some rather illustrious hardware as well when it was selected as a CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Tech For a Better World category.
Silicon Valley A.I.
The beginning of the Star Wars Era
The new shiny thing for Silicon Valley today centers on artificial intelligence and robots and it does not require a "like" buton.
As much as human kind avoids accepting the fact is computers are starting to speak, listen, see, do, move. The world is changing.
The shift was evident as you enter Stanford shopping center. Standing at 5 feet tall and weighing 300 pounds, Knightscope K5 looks like it came straight out of the sci-fi film Stars Wars. But the crime-fighting robot is actually a new breed of security guards roaming Silicon Valley.
Or this Bossa Nova Robotics silently glides through the aisles using computer vision to automatically perform a task that humans have done manually for centuries. It move out of the way of shoppers and avoids unexpected obstacles in the aisles, alertss people to its presence with soft birdsong chirps. Gliding down the middle of an aisle at a leisurely pace, it can recognize bar codes on shelves, and it uses a laser to detect which items are out of stock.
Not to forget and mention this Boston Dynamics creation by the name of SpotMini ( mini version of the Spot robot) designed by the company.
Financiers and entrepreneurs from Silicon Vallery are digging into artificial intelligence with remarkable exuberance. Without noticing, we are entering the Star Wars Era. Let's just hope that this new technology works with us and not against.
Soon We’ll All Love Robots
TODAY JAPAN, TOMORROW THE WORLD
If to you robots seem eerie and creepy, Japan seems to love them despite all the imperfections and faults. They have a long ongoing love affair with humanoid robots. So what you ask. Well, like it or not, robots are a glimpse of the future.
The more human-like, the more positive we'll respond right? The robots get more and more human-like and soon our acceptance will rise. Japan moved into a robot valley a while back.
Let's take a look at a couple of present-day examples of robots in Japan. Take a look at the Toshiba’s Aiko Chihira, which has worked as a receptionist in Tokyo department stores.
Here is another example where Dr. Yoshio Matsumoto presented a test involving putting their Actroid F twin androids in doctor’s offices as support for patients during consultations. The results showed that patients generally felt their doctor was more sympathetic, better understood what they were being told, and generally felt less anxious when the android was in the room with them.
Japanese people are generally more exposed to robots today than anyone else on the planet. The exposure is partially why Japanese people in general find robots acceptable, including the eerie ones. People living in Japan encounter robots and other kinds of automated systems — in their day-to-day life way more than most people. It seems robots are viewed more positively there. Japan is busy deploying robots for many different tasks. It is, in fact, an initiative that the government believes will help revitalize the Japanese economy. Robots are already used in health care and in elder care. One interesting fact is that elderly people, sometimes happily use the robots as conversation partners.
While Japan is aging rapidly the same can be said for many parts of the rest of the world. Silicon Valley investors are catching up. How about Anybot? Virtual Presence that utilizes the Internet to transmit audio & video between the pilot and his QB avatar.
As history evolves and cultures change, exposure to robots will increase. Part of the reason why this seems to be going smoothly in Japan is that Japanese people have been exposed to robots more than most other people on planet.
The results indicate that once you get to know them, they really are not that creepy at all.
Canadian writer and producer Christopher Moloney takes us back to movie locations with this unique project.