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Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

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Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#61
post #58
post #18

Here's a use case that seems more science fictional to me (as the parent of a 2yo) than warp drive: a robot that can gently restrain an uncooperative human baby while changing its diaper, with everything that entails: identifying and eliminating all traces of waste from all crevices, applying diaper cream as necessary, unfolding and positioning the new diaper correctly and quickly, always using enough but never too m…

I don't see why that would be so hard. This is potentially easier than reliably shooting guns at people. That machine will look like a bean bag couch in rough shape of a giant human hand, with few of cooperative work robotic arms. The couch part hugs and secures all limbs of the baby to into the party escort submission position, then the cobots move in to find the disassembly markers on the diaper to tear it open to…

How many diapers have you changed, out of curiosity? I've changed maybe 5,000 diapers (4 kids non-primary caregiver), and I feel confident that a shower head + hair dryer is not going to be safe or in fact work at all in many circumstances.

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#63

Hey Hacker News. Curious if folks feel like I'm missing categories of challenge.

Making a bed. You need to manipulate a large sheet, and you probably need to move around, bend down and lean over to reach all the corners. Bonus points for neat hospital corners on a flat sheet. Putting pillows in pillowcases is another fun one. Usually pretty easy, probably a bronze medal. Gold medal: put a UK super king size duvet inside a duvet cover. It's huge and awkward, there are buttons, and it's almost but…

I think this is my favorite suggestion. All of them are super hard, but - Bronze: pillow in pillow case - Silver: Make a bed with fitted sheet, flat sheet and blanket - Gold: put a duvet in a duvet cover

Feels like it would be a good option for a round 2...

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#64
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

something requiring navigating stairs while holding something full like a laundry basket. bronze - straight stairs, silver - one 90deg turn. gold - spiral. something requiring co-ordination between 2 robots. think relay race which the olympics has. So say, moving a couch together. btw love the idea and the silver body suit. good stuff.

Ooh. I like full body manipulation. Humans use hips & elbows to move laundry baskets. Two robot collaboration is good too. I wonder who I can convince to wear another silver suit.... :)

if you find yourself in montreal, message me - i will do it, for science!

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#65
post #58
post #18

Here's a use case that seems more science fictional to me (as the parent of a 2yo) than warp drive: a robot that can gently restrain an uncooperative human baby while changing its diaper, with everything that entails: identifying and eliminating all traces of waste from all crevices, applying diaper cream as necessary, unfolding and positioning the new diaper correctly and quickly, always using enough but never too m…

I don't see why that would be so hard. This is potentially easier than reliably shooting guns at people. That machine will look like a bean bag couch in rough shape of a giant human hand, with few of cooperative work robotic arms. The couch part hugs and secures all limbs of the baby to into the party escort submission position, then the cobots move in to find the disassembly markers on the diaper to tear it open to…

> This is potentially easier than reliably shooting guns at people.

I suspect the shooting guns robots will be used against populations the owner considers sub-human, and reliability (accuracy in this context) is not a concern as long as it doesn't turn around 180degs.

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#66
post #50

Hey Hacker News. Curious if folks feel like I'm missing categories of challenge.

Something I still struggle with as a human: Cracking an egg into a bowl. No making a mess and no egg shell in the bowl. Gold Medal: Separate the egg white from the yolk!

Crack it on a flat surface not an edge

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#67
post #50

Hey Hacker News. Curious if folks feel like I'm missing categories of challenge.

Something I still struggle with as a human: Cracking an egg into a bowl. No making a mess and no egg shell in the bowl. Gold Medal: Separate the egg white from the yolk!

> Gold Medal: Separate the egg white from the yolk!

This is done now by using a bowl that does the job. Is that supposed to be an additional challenge for the robot?

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#68
post #38
post #18

Here's a use case that seems more science fictional to me (as the parent of a 2yo) than warp drive: a robot that can gently restrain an uncooperative human baby while changing its diaper, with everything that entails: identifying and eliminating all traces of waste from all crevices, applying diaper cream as necessary, unfolding and positioning the new diaper correctly and quickly, always using enough but never too m…

Why? There's nothing particularly special about this problem. I would bet a year for an alpha version, and production version in 5 years. We are not exactly limited by mechanical engineering here, there's nothing particularly unique about the human hand that can't be replicated. Tele operated surgical robotics have been a thing for decades. Give it a few months for the multimodal robotic VLM/LAMs to catch up. In many…

The point is that the success rate needs to be 99% and safety needs to be 100%. You're not allowed to take shortcuts. That's what makes it difficult.

Also VLMs/LAMs aren't going to cut it. You're going to need something like TDMPC.

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#69
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a baby some robot neglects to prevent from falling off the changing table that is when we think about 2 handed robots. 6 handed robot can easily have 2-3 hands assigned to tightly keeping the baby. Humanoid robots are handicapped by their similarity to humans which is really an artificial constraint. After all we aren't building airplanes using birds as the blueprint. On the similar note - while not about baby, was…

won't the baby feel dis-abled by only having two arms?

Are you suggesting baby exoskeletons?

Re: Benjie's Humanoid Olympic Games

#70
> If you sit down and write out what you might want a robot to do for you: a lot of tasks end up being kind of wet.

yes, but i thought this wasn't that kind of article.

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