Commentary: Build Your Own Robot

Mar 17 2002 @ 12:31 by Tormod Guldvog

The age of robots is upon us. Recently, a new company was launched in the US, offering an 'open architecture' for robot software. It will, the company claims, enable anyone to create robots performing tasks which transcend today?s simple and plain stupid industrial robots. But is it for real?

Anyone who has read Isaac Asimov?s incredible sci-fi robot novels, will recall a company called U.S. Robots from which a horde of intelligent robots were sent into the world. These robots, some of which even became true heroes and guardians of humanity in Asimov?s Foundation series, where built upon a 'positronic' brain which enabled them to think, learn, and evaluate their experiences. In other words, they became intelligent beings.

This vision was also the basis of the 1999 movie, 'The Bicentennial Man' (based on Asimov?s short story and later novel of the same title), in which Robin Williams plays a robot who wants to become human ? only so that he can die in peace. But what separates a robot from a human is in all essence what Asimov famously called the 'three laws of robotics', which basically says that a robot must obey human beings and protect them with its own, er, life, if necessary.

A company on a mission
Evolution Robotics, a Pasadena, California-based company, seems to have taken upon itself the task to realize the dreams of U.S. Robots. "The Evolution Robotics mission is to provide a common, behavior-based software architecture that will become the foundation upon which robotic products can be built.", the company states. "Companies developing robotic products will realize significant reductions in development time and cost by being able to use a standard robot software architecture. The result will be more robots and robotic products in our lives, in our homes, and in our businesses."

But then they get down to Earth. "The core software modules [?] consist of a broad range of ready-to-use components for developing robotic functionality and behavior-based applications. These modules include vision, personality, speech, behavior, obstacle avoidance and target-following."

Wot? No Brains?
So far, so good. Perhaps not too far from Aibo, Sony?s robot dog, then. But the vision here is somewhat different from that of U.S. Robots, and Sony's, as well. Instead of building the robots themselves, Evolution Robotics wants to enable anyone to build them. They provide the software and useful parts, you put everything together and add your own twist, if you like. The result is that anyone can build a robot, experiment with various tasks, tweak this part a bit, add some software routines here. Running on Linux, and later on Windows, this will be available to anyone who owns a computer.

Will That Be Chips or Cash, Sir?
And who, of course, has the cash. The basic package comes at around $1500 US dollars, with the most expensive kit around $8000. The product levels are differentiated, though, and aimed at personal users, educational organisations, and commercial and industrial customers. Although the prices may seem steep to any student and home user, the price ranges show that this technology should be readily available to anyone with a keen interest in robotics. The company even offers a pre-configured laptop computer running Linux, with all the necessary software to get started programming your robot today.

Although skills in C++ is required for the time being, it is interesting to note how the company compares its ideas and business model to those of Lego (the toy manufacturer), Intel, Sony and Nec, and even to the vacuum cleaner technology of Electrolux.

Now it?s up to you
Because the success of Evolution Robotics will probably rest upon one main factor: that someone actually manages to put their kit together and create something worthwhile. Robot dogs are already available, so we need to see some real applications put forth. The company itself offers a gallery of ideas and will publish details of your robot when you complete it. Perhaps this is the start of a new genre of computer history ? the home robiticist? It is an exciting vision, indeed.

And for this vision to become real, prices will have to come down for the entry level kits, even all the way down to packaged gift kits which proud parents can give to their prodigious ten-year-olds for Christmas. If building a robot can become as natural as blowing up your first chemical reaction on your bedroom desk, then perhaps, one day, someone will come up with a robot that actually thinks.

Well, who knows, it might be you! Better read those Asimov novels again to freshen up on the three laws of robotics. Because they are completely absent from Evolution Robotic?s philosophy.

Because, as we all know, machines never make mistkaes.

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