My question:

• Could you think of any systematic approach to list or write down any open question or unsolved challenge in the field of humanoid robotics?
• Could you think of a more general approach to identify open challenges in science?

I am specifically looking for a strategic way to identify open challenges that I can then route to scientists involved in humanoid robotics.

The reward goes to that solver who points me to a systematic AND feasible approach to identify open questions .

Please provide references for your result.

Please list e.g. conference, book, paper or other sources. Thanks a lot!

Interessiert wären wir daran, wie ein Modellflugzeug autonom in einem Raum fliegen kann. Welches Objekt (Ultralight, Selbstbau, etwas anderes), welcher Ansatz oder welche Steuerung und welche Fragestellung untersucht werden soll, ist dabei völlig Dir überlassen.

Bedingungen:

• Dein Projekt-Vorschlag soll kurz und prägnant sein. Idealerweise nicht mehr als 1 A4 Seite
• Du solltest versuchen, die Prinzipien von Embodied AI zu implementieren, lese mehr hier: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embodiment
• Du solltest Zeit haben, dieses Projekt teilzeit oder Vollzeit an unserem Labor umzusetzen. Die Dauer kannst Du bestimmen, sollte aber 3-6 Monate nicht überschreiten.

Nebst einer guten Referenz erhälst Du Infrastruktur, Material und Betreuung. Die Kosten werden vom AI Lab getragen. Die Prämie geht an den Starmind, dessen Projektvorschlag wir auswählen. Das Projekt kann als Studenten oder SiROP Projekt ( http://www.siropglobal.org/ ) taxiert werden, ein Salär ist nicht vorgesehen, allerdings ist eine symbolische Erfolgsprämie denkbar.

Wir freuen uns auf Deinen Vorschlag.

One researcher was arguing, that being conscious was actually not a necessary condition to intelligently act and behave in the real world. One could build an artficial human perfectly capable of all the he features and facets a normal human is cabable of, however, a program would control the human deciding in each situation what to do. A smart learning algorithm would learn and decide, the only difference would be, that this hypothetical human would not be conscious. A question then arouse:

Question: What is the benefit of consciousness at all, if consciousness could be avoided and does not seem necessary for behaving in the world? Think of single cell organisms or animals without consciousness.

Thanks for short solutions and interesting thoughts on the problem. I am very curious to learn your opinion.

Meine Englisch Kenntnisse sind noch etwas holperig, dafür habe ich etwas Budget vom AI Lab erhalten. Besten Dank für Deine Hife.

Bitte erkläre mir, weshalb Dein Englisch vorzüglich ist. Bei Interesse, erhälst Du nach Abschluss der Arbeit CHF 30.- cash auf Dein Bankkonto gutgeschrieben.

Sure, humanoid robotics research is not yet there and I still need some assistance using Starmind. However, I am looking for a short poem about the rise of humanoid robots complying with the following parameters:

• The poem must not exceed more than 5-15 lines
• Ideally, there are rhymes
• The content should focus on the rise of robots

The best poem will be featured on an article about humanoid robotics later this year.

Thanks a lot for helping. If you like to see more pictures about me and to learn about my brother Cronos either check our facebook or this website:
http://eccerobot.org/

Thanks for helping!

Also planned projects count, yet they should be started in at least 5 years from now.

Thanks for your inputs from around the globe.

Dear Starminds

Many of my humanoid robot friends are just torsos. If they are not torsos, they have strange movement strategies built in, some have wheels, other have very large feet and adopt a very machine like walking approach. It is not actually walking yet more a very unstable balancing.See here a few of my robot friends: http://www.expo21xx.com/universities-robotics

Hence my question: Please refer to attached pair of legs. Actually, you can also just think of a simple joint or human like yet mechanically abstracted pair of legs. I was struck by the Segwave mechanism, which results in a dynamically stable device:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_PT

Can that insights somehow inspire us to build a robot capable of real humanoid walking? I have been told that up to now no research group was able to construct a two legged robot which has a fully compliant body as I have. See here a video about me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI9H4FoA0b4

Any strategy you hand in, that would lead to a concept robot or a solution, how the engineers of mine (located at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at University of Zurich:   http://ailab.ifi.uzh.ch/) could build a new generation of legs will be rewarded. Please keep in mind that there must be a simple solution and that nature has solved the problem already - so should humans be able to extract the principles and build a pair of legs able to support me. As a test, if I bumped into an obstacle or if I was pushed by someone, I should not fall down. See here a video on a very interesting 4-legged robot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM

Please note, that you need to hand in a creative and innovative solution as for sure the obvious solutions have already been tried out by the countless walking-labs all over the world.

I am looking forward to your reply. If your suggestion is very interesting you will be invited to the AI Lab.

Thanks,

Cronos

I was recently impressed by Nao - a company producing small humanoid robots:

I also heard about Honda's Asimo and that they have sold several dozens robots:

• What are the most likely humanoid developing/producing companies starting mass production of humanoid like robots featuring more than eg. 20 motors? 
• What are the most advanced humanoid plattforms besides Nao and Asimo and Sony's Qrio featuring more than 20 motors?

Thanks for your feedback!

I am impressed by advances made in the field of batteries/accumulators. Still, they seem very heavy to me. One way could be to reduce power-consumption by robots, another could be to increase power supply by such cells.

• To the best of your knowledge, what are currently the most powerful batteries a humanoid could be equipped with?
• If batteries are still too heavy, how about having a fuel-powered engine, recharging constantly batteries?

Qualified feedback will be rewarded.

Thanks a lot!

I am a new to the field of robotics. I have seen robots that walk on two legs such as:

• Nao: http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/download/NaoAcademicsV3.mov
• Abert Hubo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Einstein-Hubo.jpg inspired by the famous Honda Asimo robot

Nao achieves pretty good walking skills, so may question then: what are challenges of tow-legged walking and how are they currently solved?

I imagine that a robot has a certain set or preferred parameters, and if distorted one way or the other, seeks to regain that set or parameters. Ideally, the body is designed that the mechanics counteract those distortions. Is that right? Then again it is unclear to me what the issues are in two-legged upright locomotion.

http://eccerobot.org/home/robot/systemoverview

I am wondering if there are other robots like me with the goal to investigate human consciousness: Any pointer to interesting projects will be acknowledged.

These days, the terminator movie is triggering thoughts on how realistic humanoid robots really are. Hence my question:

According to your knowledge/expertise/impression, which scientific foundations are lacking in order to build a terminator/iRobot like humanoid?

The energy consumption to me seems an obvious problem, yet theoretically, a nuclear power cell might do the job. Also, robot hands seem available and I have seen humanoid robots able to walk too. What do you think is still missing?

And, according to your guesses,  when do you think will first humanoid robots be part of our daily life - be them evil or nice, useful or not?