New robot to do jobs unsafe for humans

[SunWuKong]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/DL21Dh03.html


New robot to do jobs unsafe for humans

TOKYO - Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, Tokyu Construction Co and the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Technology have publicly demonstrated a jointly developed humanoid robot that can operate a hydraulic excavator.

This robot, based on Honda Motor Co's Asimo, is rainproof and can work in places too hazardous for human operators, such as tunnels, cliffsides and nuclear reactors, as well as in the presence of dust and poisonous gas.

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry invested 4.5 billion yen (US$37 million) in development over a five-year period.

Measuring 160 centimeters tall and weighing 117 kilograms, the robot is equipped with a camera that lets a human operator see things from its perspective in real time so that he or she can remotely control the excavator.

The companies hope to continue improving the robot so that it will be able to operate other kinds of equipment.

A protective suit lets the robot work even in a downpour of 200 millimeters an hour. The suit is specially designed to efficiently disperse the heat generated by the robot.

[angel nympho]

While it's a good idea for people not to have to do jobs where they'll be exposed to dangerous and harmful substances.... don't you think people these days are getting a little... lazy?

[Hanuman]

Hmmm, think about this. Before too long robots are going to start doing jobs that aren't even too dangerous, but just many mundane tasks.

Imagine a robot that picks produce in the fields, say goodbye to migrant workers. Or robots that fly planes, or cook for us, or install our cable etc. This gives the term "job security" a whole new meaning.

[SunWuKong]

eh, well those particular robots are really no different than all the other machineries that we already use and have been using for decades.

[wylin]

exactly ur cars made by a robot, rarely if ever things are human hand manufactured out side the textile industry.

[angel nympho]

I saw this thing in a movie once. Robots working in shops selling groceries and crap like that. Give the world about 1000 more years of so-called progress, and we're all going to be obese and rarely have contact with the outside world. We won't even have a mailman or kid working a checkout stand to chat with on a day to day basis.

[ism]

Sorry, can't really feel sorry for the migrant workers. That's the price of progress. Besides, didn't the same thing happen en masse during the Industrial Revolution? People still have jobs today, and are continuously being replaced by robots and software. In many cases, it has created jobs. Someone's gotta maintain the robots. In the case of service economies, helpdesk software enables the less skilled to perform the job of the more skilled.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 23 2002, 11:16 PM
I saw this thing in a movie once. Robots working in shops selling groceries and crap like that. Give the world about 1000 more years of so-called progress, and we're all going to be obese and rarely have contact with the outside world. We won't even have a mailman or kid working a checkout stand to chat with on a day to day basis.
hahah we're already getting obese! well in the US anyway... :P

but hey by then we'll all mostly be programmers and mechanical engineers.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Dec 24 2002, 05:28 AM
hahah we're already getting obese!  well in the US anyway...    :P

but hey by then we'll all mostly be programmers and mechanical engineers.
Or just fat kids laying on a couch.... with a robot working the remote and feeding us potato chips.

[ism]

In the future though, there will still be things left to discover, knowledge to maintain and propagate, and others to entertain. People will still be valued by what they contribute to society. I think instead of a gap between the rich and poor there will be a gap between the leeches and the contributors. I'm pretty sure some day calling someone fat will be considered hateful speech, but they will still be looked down upon as they are associated with the leech lifestyle.

Or there could be a nuclear holocaust and we'll all just fight Mad Max style.

[BaiginLong]

my guess is that the fat ppl will keep dying early of high cholesterol and that they won't be in high demand as spouses
and thus only the true blue health freaks (i.e. me) will remain so we won't really have fat ppl covering the earth anyways
:P

but on an even wackier note
Yay we'll have mechs soon!!!!!!
at this rate I think we'll be heading in the direction of the labors from Patlabor

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by BaiginLong@Dec 25 2002, 08:55 AM
my guess is that the fat ppl will keep dying early of high cholesterol and that they won't be in high demand as spouses
and thus only the true blue health freaks (i.e. me) will remain so we won't really have fat ppl covering the earth anyways
:P
well there's always liposuction and stomach stapling.

[BaiginLong]

damn them
must find a way to have natural selection pick off the the lazy and ignorant ppl

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by BaiginLong@Dec 31 2002, 06:16 PM
damn them
must find a way to have natural selection pick off the the lazy and ignorant ppl
As long as we have little robots doing all our work for us, that'll never happen.