Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Since the birth of Frankenstein, the first science fiction novel, mankind has been addicted to creating another humanoid creature. With the development of technology, a variety of intelligent AI and humanoid robots began to appear in science fiction and movies one by one. From Tmur800 in Terminator to Sonny in me Robot to all kinds of steel armor in Iron Man, humanoid robots grow up with each generation. But in the real world, the development of humanoid robots is not as smooth as in movies and novels.

Is robot a good business after all? over the past few decades, countless enterprises have poured into the track of humanoid robots, but failed to return. People have to wonder whether it is a good business in the end.

The first humanoid robot in history, Herbert Televox, was built by Ron Wensley of WestingHouse in 1927. This robot is essentially just a circuit board. Initially, the circuit board, called Herbert Televox, could operate specific switches according to different sound codes.

It can be said that this product has no selling point, and even advertising companies are not willing to promote it. Ron Wensley had commissioned the company's advertising department to promote it, but it was refused. So he added a rough head and limbs to the robot, drew a face of Washington, and sold it as a "robot". Such promotions have successfully attracted the attention of the public and even the US military.

The birth of Herbert TelevoxHerbert Televox brought Ron Wensley to the attention of the company and was transferred to the electrical department in Ohio in 1929. With the help of department engineers, Wensley began the development of a new generation of robot projects, and Elektro was launched. Compared with the single-function Herbert Televox,Elektro, which has more practical voice control function, it can be said to be the "first humanoid robot in history".

ElektroElektro can perform 26 different actions, such as walking, smoking and counting, according to the operator's voice instructions. However, due to the limitations of the technology at that time, this kind of voice instructions can only be carried out according to a fixed script.

Elektro has more features than Herbert Televox. But its essence is still a machine dominated by internal control units, but commercial promotion by developers by adding limbs and heads to make them look like people. After all, robots that can act and perform all kinds of tasks like human beings were enough to amaze people at that time.

In the 21st century, humanoid robots seem to be different. Honda launched the first generation of humanoid robot Asimo in 2000. This robot has the general mobile ability of human beings, and can walk, run and jump.

After its official debut, Honda embarked on the research and development of the second-generation robot while touring the country with the first-generation Asimo to attract the attention of the Japanese public. Gradually Asimo also began to engage in reception, performance and other formal work, such as IBM and other companies hired Asimo as a receptionist. But the intelligence of Asimo is not high, this robot does more display and teaching, and can not replace real people in practical work.

ASIMOAldebaran Robotics, a robot made by Honda, also launched a social robot, Nao, in 2006. Different from other robots, Nao can be visually programmed through ready-made instructions, which makes it convenient for users to explore different areas of use. The robot is used in more than 50 countries and regions around the world as an educational tool and caregiver to help take care of autistic children. Like Asimo, Nao's usefulness does not make it a commercial robot, but more as a research tool.

Since 2010, artificial intelligence technology has become a tuyere, humanoid robots finally have a "brain" and can begin to deal with certain professional tasks. NASA launched the exploration robot Robonaut 2 in 2010. The exploration robot boarded the International Space Station with the space shuttle Discovery in 2011, where it helped astronauts do some dangerous work.

Robonaut 2, developed jointly by NASA and General Motors, has advanced control, sensing and imaging technologies that can help humans do more work, such as building factories, producing cars and even space exploration.

In 2013, Boston Dynamics released the humanoid robot Atlas, which took several years to develop into a highly coordinated parkour robot, and joined the AI system to allow Atlas to continue to learn and evolve, with the goal of helping humans complete a variety of high-risk explorations.

In 2015, Softbank Corp. 's French team launched the humanoid robot Pepper and launched the humanoid robot into the social field. Pepper has voice recognition technology and emotion recognition capabilities, and can communicate like human beings. Pepper has the opportunity to enter the financial, retail, education, nursing and other industries, can do a variety of jobs like human beings.

The development of PepperAI technology has made a qualitative leap for humanoid robots, but when the progress of AI technology slows down, the development of humanoid robots gradually slows down, even difficult. Because of the huge R & D cost, many robot companies are in financial crisis.

Due to lack of commercial value, Honda gradually stopped the research and development of humanoid robots in 2018, and the once-popular Asimo robot also began to retire, no longer performing and exhibitions. The reason for stopping research and development is mainly due to the lack of commerciality of humanoid robots, and their huge research and development costs make it unable to earn enough profits. For most people, humanoid robot shows have lost their freshness, and watching humanoid robots is not even as interesting as watching virtual idols.

Boston Dynamics also changed hands several times because of poor robot sales, until the commercial model of the probe robot dog Spot was established. But Hyundai, which eventually acquired the robot company, also said it hoped Boston Dynamics would return to the R & D studio model and use its robotics capabilities to help Hyundai's robot project succeed.

Softbank Corp. also announced the suspension of production of the humanoid robot Pepper in June this year and began to lay off robot development teams in France and Japan. Pepper, which has entered many fields, has since withdrawn from the market. Although Softbank Corp. still retains the possibility of focusing on starting the Pepper production project, it will pay a high price, and the profits that can be brought after restarting Pepper may not make up for it.

From a commercial point of view, humanoid robots are more like a science fiction dream pursued by humans.

02 the emergence of alien robots humanoid robots have been mired in the quagmire of technology, but alien robots have made great strides forward and began to be commercialized. Boston Power's Spot has begun mass production and has been put into use in freight transportation, mountain transportation, disaster relief and other fields. AIBO, Sony's companion robot dog, has also been revived in Japan, starting to provide companionship services for the crowd, and has made a figure in industries such as medical care.

These alien robots are also equipped with a high-level AI operating system, which can independently accept commands from users and complete corresponding accusations. At the same time, in different application scenarios, these special-shaped robots can also be transformed into different shapes at will, which can better adapt to different environments than human shapes. A variety of bionic components can make them travel through the air, mountains, oceans and other different scenes like animals.

There are various styles of Boston dynamic Spot special-shaped robots, and the robotic arm also belongs to its category. When JD.com was listed in Hong Kong last year, he took part in the bell ringing ceremony with a robotic arm. This kind of robotic arm has been arranged by JD.com in a number of different positions. Sorting, transportation, inventory management, these non-human machine tools can be used in each position to use their AI ability to cooperate with employees to complete all kinds of work.

With the help of AI, some machine tools have even completely replaced human workers. Xiaomi opened its unmanned factory in 2020. the 18600-square-meter black light factory is equipped with only more than 100 maintenance personnel, and its usual production work is done by a variety of robot arms, which produce millions of mobile phones a year.

More and more manipulators with AI capability have been put into actual production. Although they do not have the humanoid appearance of robots, from a practical point of view, they are no different from robots. Even because they focus on certain functions, these intelligent machines have higher productivity.

Picture source: whether the network 03 looks like a person or not is not the most important thing. The main battlefield of humanoid robots is in the fields of medical treatment and education. They can provide education and companionship services similar to human beings and reduce the workload of human beings. This kind of companion robot can take care of the disabled elderly or young children, provide some convenience for their lives, and reduce the work burden of guardians.

Compared with cold industrial robots, companion robots are usually designed to be cuter, making it easier for people to accept these "robot companions". With the blessing of AI technology, these robots can constantly adapt to the habits of users and meet the corresponding needs of these users like real people, and the increase of voice learning ability can also enable robots to better communicate with users and meet the communication needs of users. For users who need more company, humanoid robots can better meet their emotional needs.

Of course, with the current AI technology, these robots can not completely replace human communication, they still need more learning and technological improvement. There is still a long way to go for companion robots to provide the same companion services as humans.

Figure source: the network is subject to the current technical means, humanoid robot for the market, is still a product of early development, can not help human beings to complete a variety of services more efficiently. For the current mainstream industrial market, efficient alien robots are still the mainstream. The value of robots lies in helping human beings complete all kinds of difficult tasks, but it is not the most important thing whether they are like people or not if they want to finish all kinds of tasks efficiently.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:pinwancool, author: Lu Ke

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