I think the real issue, like most design issues, is the purpose of the humanoid robot. It might be a good thing if it is being sent into a dangerous situation where no human could go to rescue somebody since it might help to, say, comfort a scared child if it looks human rather than industrial. On the other hand, if it's just clean your floor for you, I have no use for all the extra "stuff".
Putting humanoid features on a robot is like slapping lipstick on a pig. The basic reason someone would want to do so is to do "human" things to the robot (i.e. FOA, dancing, etc. >;-D). Other than that we already have six billion expert humans out there being human so why compound the problem by adding even more "humans". Leave robots looking like machines so they can be functionally simpler and humans can enjoy the luxury of beating one into scrap with a baseball bat when it makes us angry.
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
On April 21, NASA launched a novel project, putting into orbit three satellites that employ an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone as the control system.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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