Terrifying Humanoid Robot Plays Charades Using The AI Of GPT-4

Using GPT-4, the University Of Tokyo’s Alter3 humanoid robot can autonomously act out actions given to it as prompts in a style not unlike a game of charades. Alter3 uses GPT-4’s large language AI model to convert the human-provided prompts into code for its movement, and the result, while rather unsettling to watch, is quite impressive. And it’s certainly a nice change of pace from their development of flying spider robots.

In the video below, Alter3 pantomimes playing a guitar, pretending to be a snake, taking a selfie, throwing a ball, and pretending to be a ghost, with varying degrees of success. It also attempts to act out the prompt, “Enjoying popcorn at the movies when I realized I was actually eating the popcorn of the person next to me.” That was perhaps its magnum opus, and if Oscars were awarded to humanoid actors, it would have almost certainly received a nomination.

The University of Tokyo researchers behind the project hope that robots perfecting making human-like movements will make our interaction with humanoid robotics more lifelike. And, in the very near future, you might not even be able to tell if your charades partner really is a human at all! What a time to be alive!

[via LaughingSquid]

3D Printing Factory Mass Producing Humanoid Robot Body Parts

Korean 3D printing company Glück produces the Sculpia printing platform. And in this video, it demonstrates the platform’s capabilities by creating an army of humanoid robot body parts. “Finally,” I imagine Skynet thinking to itself while making plans to mass produce a whole line of Terminators. Obviously, there has never been a better time to consider a career in space travel and escape this planet.

Unlike extrusion 3D printing, these body parts are made via stereolithography (SLA), in which a thermoset liquid resin is cured using a UV laser for an extra smooth finish and high level of detail. I mean, they are making faces; after all, you don’t want them coming out looking like a children’s drawing.

Soon you won’t even be able to tell if the person you’re talking to is an actual human or a robot. And I, for one, don’t plan on being around to see that happen. I’ll be living on an earth-like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, some 4.25 light-years away from here. You have fun playing that guessing game, though.

Scientists Create Self-Healing Skin For Robots Using Human Cells

Researchers at The University of Tokyo have covered a robotic finger with skin created from actual human skin cells. It’s also capable of repairing itself when a collagen sheet is applied. And repair itself, it’s going to need to because I’m taking that Terminator finger down!

Professor Shoji Takeuchi believes realistic skin is the key to robots becoming human-like enough for society to accept them. I don’t know about you, but I feel like ultra-realistic humanoid robots are the opposite direction we should be headed. I think robots should all look like Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons. The key is non-threatening, not lifelike. That’s just creepy.

Takeuchi says that the current silicone skin used for robots just isn’t lifelike enough for humans to foster a kinship with our robotic brethren and plans on adding sweat glands, hair follicles, and fingernails to the robots in the future. And on the day that happens, I’ll be waving goodbye as my rocket blasts off far into space, away from all the hairy, sweaty robots on earth.

[via CNet]

Disney’s Humanoid Robot with ‘Lifelike Gaze’ Is the Stuff of Nightmares

Because sometimes you need to diversify your assets and Disney has decided it wants to add some nightmare fuel to its portfolio, they recently posted a video of a humanoid robot developed by its research division with a “realistic and interactive lifelike gaze.” Yikes. If that’s a lifelike gaze, I’m cool with a completely unrealistic robotic gaze from now on.

The purpose behind the development of the robotic system was to create “an interaction which demonstrates the illusion of life.” The humanoid bust is capable of perceiving people in its environment and identifying a person of interest to interact with based on their own actions. It then “selects an appropriate gaze behavior, and executes high, fidelity motions to respond to the stimuli,” using motors and mechanisms that mimic those in actual humans. I don’t know about you, but I’m terrified.

Obviously, Disney should have put some skin and lips and cheeks and eyelids and eyebrows and ears and a neck on this robotic bust first, because as lifelike as its gaze may be, it’s really hard to look past the rest of the killer robot to even notice the eyes, which, just for the record, I’m fairly certain never expressed anything but murder.

[DisneyResearch via BoingBoing]

Ubtech’s latest educational, dancing robot is bigger and more lifelike

There are plenty of educational coding robots, but few have moves like UBTECH's dancing robot MeeBot. UBTECH launched the JIMU build-your-own-bot kit for MeeBot in 2016. Today, the company unveiled MeeBot 2.0.

These Digital Characters Have a Full Musculoskeletal System

In a quest to make virtual characters more realistic, engineers have been working on ways to make their skeletal structures and muscles more like those found in living beings. Recently, a technology was shown off which takes those simulated biological components to the next level.

Engineers Seunghwan Lee, Kyoungmin Lee, Moonseok Park, and Jehee Lee published the paper Scalable Muscle-actuated Human Simulation and Control, which includes a humanoid digital model with a full skeleton and 346 muscles The digital characters can even learn to kick, jump, run, and even lift weights. Two Minute Papers provides a brief explanation of the tech in the video below:

The simulation technology also has real promise for helping to learn about people with disabilities, how factors like bone deformity, muscle weakness, contracture, and even the use of a prosthesis affect their gait, and possibly to help doctors predict what sort of prosthetics or even surgeries might improve their movements.

Code for the project, dubbed MASS (Muscle-Actuated Skeletal System) has been released on GitHub.

[via Reddit]

Ford and Agility Robotics Team for Package Delivery Robot

Ford knows that autonomous cars will be used in a big way for delivery services. People who buy stuff online don’t always have time or the desire to walk out to the road to get their packages off the autonomous delivery vehicle. So the automotive and mobility company is working on solutions for those last 50 feet to the door.

Ford recently teamed with Agility Robotics to create a robot called Digit. The ‘bot can carry up to 40 pounds to your door, though it will probably terrorize small children and pets whilst doing it.

Digit is a bipedal robot that can navigate the environment that most humans use every day. It’s made of lightweight materials for long battery life and can fold to store in the trunk of a vehicle until needed. The robot has minimal sensors using only stereo cameras and LiDAR to navigate. Ford says when needed, it can connect to bigger robots with more powerful sensors.

Ford hasn’t announced any delivery partners who plan on using Digit as of yet, but robot delivery people bringing packages to our doors could happen as soon as next year.

HRP-5P Humanoid Robot Now Has Screwdriver Capabilities

We haven’t heard anything about AIST Japan’s HRP humanoid robot line for a while. The new version, the very industrial-looking HRP-5P has some cool skills. It looks a lot like Boston Dynamics’ ATLAS, which sports a similar framework body. That’s good for us humans, because if we need to kill it, all of its sensors, motors, and electronics are exposed. That’s what I call forward thinking.

This version of the robot has some impressive tricks up its robo-sleeves. The ‘bot can walk over to a table, pick up a piece of drywall, and screw it to the wall thanks to its built-in electric screwdriver. The demo video below is basically the company saying, “Hello contractors. You will soon be out of business once our robot is mass produced, and doing a bunch of Bob Villa work inside homes.”

The robot weighs about 222-pounds, which is light enough to work in environments designed for humans to navigate without special accommodations needed for the robot’s heft. And hey, at least if this robot is fixing stuff in my house, I’m not likely to see his butt-crack as he’s bending over and fixing a pipe. Seriously, why don’t those guys cover up?

[via iEEE Spectrum via Gizmodo]