This robot is named Cody, and he’s from the Georgia Tech’s Healthcare Robotics Lab. I don’t know why the robot is called Cody… It kinda seems like it should stand for something. You know, as in, C.O.D.Y. Anybody got anything? No? Okay then.

Anyway.

Cody is sporting one of those Segway RMP bases with the nifty Mecanum-type omnidirectional wheels. The vertical axis is taken care of by a linear actuator, and Cody has a pair of 7 DOF arms that are able to open things like doors, cabinets, and drawers.

While the capabilities of the arms are certainly impressive, I especially like the intuitive way that Cody can be led around by hand:

It’s way easier than using a gamepad controller, and much more precise than vocal control, minimizing the operator learning curve without sacrificing capabilities. Most of Cody’s code is compatible with ROS, which (ideally) makes it simple for other mobile robot developers to use the clever bits of code that were written to make Cody so intuitive to control.

[ Georgia Tech Healthcare Robotics Lab ] VIA [ Hizook ]

Thanks Travis!

Remember that one bot that we poked fun at for its price tag? Okay, maybe that’s a bit too broad a description. Remember the MobileRobots MT400? Still not ringing a bell? It’s the one that can bring you beer.

Now that we’ve got that settled, it seems CCS Robotics has taken an interest in the MobileRobots MT400, and is collaborating with Swisslog Healthcare to create bots that can roam hospitals and perform such important tasks as carrying medicine from one point to another. Wait a second. Isn’t that the same thing that our beer bot did, except that now the beer is medicine and hospital supplies? Well… yes. As far as we can tell, CCS Robotics has strapped a plastic bin on top of the MT400, and called it an innovation (though by all means, correct us if we’re wrong).

Yes, new research is important. Sure, the spatial mapping robot that MobileRobots also designed has merit. But really guys, really? How can you justify a cost in the tens of thousands of dollars for a kit that has arguably less versatility than a $279 LEGO kit?

[ CCS Robotics ] VIA [ Smart-Machines ]

Here’s some good news for the medical robotics industry: while in 2001 only 5,000 men had robot assisted prostate cancer surgery, in 2009 that number was up to 73,000 people- or about 86% of the total number of surgeries. Why the jump? People are actually requesting surgery via robot now. Or maybe I should say demanding:

But now, patient after patient was walking away. They did not want [conventional] surgery. They wanted surgery by a robot, controlled by a physician not necessarily even in the operating room, face buried in a console, working the robot’s arms with remote controls.

“Patients interview you,” said Dr. Cadeddu, a urologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. “They say: ‘Do you use the robot? O.K., well, thank you.’ ” And they leave.

The strange thing about this sudden interest in robots is that there’s no real evidence that the robots do a better job than the humans do. There’s one Medicare study that suggests that the robot surgeries turn out slightly better in some ways and slightly worse in others, as well as some amazing anecdotes. As you might expect, the surgery itself comes with trade-offs… While the robots can reach into much smaller spaces using smaller incisions, the doctors don’t get the same degree of tactile feedback, and the surgery can take up to twice as long. Also, patients pay a substantial premium for robot assisted surgery- anywhere from $1500 to $2000 extra.

So what’s the deal? One thing to consider is that the robots themselves (da Vinci surgical robots from Intuitive Systems) cost $1.39 million a pop (plus $140k a year for service), and the hospitals need to pay them off somehow, which gives them an incentive to advertise the robotic option. But without any convincing statistics, it seems like “it’s a robot” has to be the primary argument, and it appears to be working.

It’s interesting that people show so much faith in robots operating on them, and often such dubious faith in robots elsewhere. Or maybe when I say “faith” I really mean “trust.” And even that is a funny thing to consider, because the da Vinci system is teleoperated, just like Predator drones. The real question is going to come up when both medical and military robots (and I guess you can throw consumer robots into the mix too) start incorporating some degree of autonomy and decision making more sophisticated than a Roomba. It’s a tricky thing, though, especially when it comes to surgical robots, and military robots as well, since the stakes are so high. And I think that surgical robots illustrate the point even more vividly than military robots do: would you be more or less comfortable having a robot operate on you without a human in the loop?

[ NYT ] VIA [ Robots.net ]

I’m not entirely sure why this robot is a robot, but it performs a useful purpose and looks fierce while doing so. Built by students from J T Engineering College in Gujarat, India, the robot is connected wirelessly to sensors embedded in the ground and can somehow detect impeding earthquakes about 3 hours before they actually hit… Something about soil and water temperatures and vibrations and stuff that I don’t entirely buy. When it gets a signal of impending doom, it’ll send out warnings over the internet, which is a good thing since I wouldn’t count on it to run around looking for you.

[ Oneindia ] VIA [ Gizmowatch ]

This innovative robot from the Tokyo Institute of Technology uses two sets of… Honestly, I don’t know what to call them… Lifting stair things (?) to slowly and steadily burrow under obstacles. Steadily is the key to this process: as it moves, the robot maintains support under the obstacle and doesn’t cause any jerking, which is important if you’re dealing with heavy and unstable things like you might find in the middle of (say) a collapsed building. LEDs and a small camera on the front of the bot let controllers see what it sees; the primary use for the robot will be searching for survivors in the aftermath of earthquakes and explosions.

VIA [ Diginfo ]

I’m not exactly sure what the point of a baby simulator is, to say nothing of a baby simulator that this one. Yotaro here only resembles a baby in the most basic ways, and I honestly can’t see how spending time with this thing could possibly prepare anyone for a real baby, except maybe in the sense that after your Yotaro experience, a real baby is going to seem that much cuter and more normal.

Oh, And just in case this is not clear to all of you prospective parents: no matter what Yotaro teaches you, if your baby is glowing in the dark, you need to call the hospital. Or the superhero academy. But for heaven’s sake, call someone.

VIA [ designboom ]

A couple years ago, Robovie and its horribly creepy eyes was stationed at a shopping center in Osaka, Japan to assist lost shoppers . Although Robovie hasn’t exactly climbed up the corporate ladder since then, it does have new eyeballs, and it’s now able to help you with your grocery shopping:

There’s actually a lot going on here. Robovie is part of an integrated system that starts at home and involves other robots and devices (like ApriPoko, for example). Specifically, the system is designed for the elderly, and includes health monitoring equipment. At home, you can make a shopping list with the assistance of ApriPoko, who might recommend dishes based on your health. The list is stored on your mobile device, and when you get to the supermarket, a Robovie will help you shop for what you need, autonomously following you with a shopping basket, reminding you what to buy and offering suggestions. Robovie can tell when you put something in its basket, and the robot will also make a little bit of conversation.

This experiment is part of a six month trial to determine how effectively a network of different robots can cooperate to assist the elderly with independent living, something that Japan specifically (but most of Asia in general) is very focused on due to their aging population.

VIA [ Robot Watch (Translated) ]

We first met Autom two years ago, back when she was a resident of the MIT Media Lab. Since then, she’s been significantly redesigned and her parent company, Intuitive Automata, is almost ready to unleash her upon the overweight world. Autom is sort of like your own personal weight loss coach, except she doesn’t annoy you by being human and in better shape than you are. Instead, she simply tracks your eating and exercise habits and talks to you about your daily progress. She’s able to figure out what works best for you and what doesn’t, adapting to your needs as they change. And she does a good job, apparently: people using Autom to help with their weight loss will keep to a diet and exercise routine for twice as long as people using more traditional methods.

Autom will be made available in a limited trial in Q2 of next year, and wider sales should start around the end of 2010. There’s no word on how much she’ll cost, but honestly, my guess is that it’s not going to be horrific like most household robots with heads (not that many of those are anywhere close to availability). Autom doesn’t really have any complicated sensors or moving parts (as is the case with mobile robots), which minimizes both hardware and software development costs. Also, the fact that she is twice as effective as traditional weight loss methods is good, but it’s not enough to justify a high price tag. So, we’ll see.

There is one other thing, though… I’m kinda left wondering what happens when Autom works well enough that you don’t need her anymore? Like, as a commercial weight loss product, if Autom is successful she also renders herself potentially unnecessary. Maybe she’s got some other tricks up her non-sleeve? With speech synthesis and an internet connection, perhaps she could read you news and weather in the morning, or act as a personal organizer. Just a thought.

Update- As the creator for Autom quite rightly points out in a comment below, Autom will also help you keep the weight off over time. I just think that while Autom’s focus is on weight control, as a platform, she is (potentially) capable of many other useful things.

[ Autom ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

Bandit here is a sort of friendly, sort of scary robot designed to help you exercise. And I mean, that’s what you want in a personal trainer, right? Somebody nice, but somebody who you’ll perform for ’cause you’re worried that if you don’t they’ll suck your soul out. Yeah, that’s Bandit.

Bandit is helping the University of Southern California Center for Robotics and Embedded Systems conduct a study on exercise training. 70 volunteers of all ages (including 20 people aged 60 or older living in retirement homes) will have either Bandit himself or Bandit on video as a trainer, and the researchers will try to figure out if the physical presence of the robot makes a difference.

I would say that Bandit isn’t quite human enough to set off those Uncanny Valley alarm bells, but come on guys, are eyelids too much to ask? It’s that creepy unblinking stare that really puts people off.

[ CRES ] VIA [ DVICE ]

Dear Paro,

My name is Evan, and I am a very influential and handsome robot blogger. I met you at CES last January and was very impressed with your warmness and softness and squishyness and general omgIwantone-ness. I especially like how you modify your behavior based on tactile feedback and can recognize greetings and learn your name. In order to educate the rest of the world on just how theraputic you can be, I would like to offer you the opportunity to come live with me. Also, you can spend time with my girlfriend, who could use a snuggly therapy robot… Plus, she is sort of a robot herself, so I’m sure you two would have a lot in common. I know you cost $6,000, but when you consider how very influential and handsome I am, I’m sure you will agree that visiting me would be awesome.

Yours truly,

-Evan
BotJunkie Editor, Influential, Handsome

[ Paro Therapeutic Robot ] VIA [ Robot Watch (Translated) ]