EDIT: Video (I forgot that wordpress.com doesn’t like YouTube embeds.)
I was waiting a while to see if English-language press would pick this up. Unfortunately, the only news I am finding on my searches from English langauge sources involves another robot in Mexico.
The robot in the video, however, was developed by Cinestav (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados / Center for Advanced Research and Study) in Guadalajara Mexico, and here’s the kicker (via Once TV):
La ligereza de su estructura y el bajo costo de su construcción lo hacen uno de los desarrollos más competitivos en el mundo. En él se han invertido apenas 100 mil dólares comparado con el millón y medio de dólares que han costado otros androides similares.
It’s light structure and low cost of construction makes it one of the most competitive developments in the world. Only 100,000 dollars have been invested in it, compared to the one and a half million dollars that similar androids have cost.
And if you’re wondering why it’s just a tourso, don’t worry, they’re building the legs in Boston.
Another interesting thing is that the robot has an advanced learning capability, and it seem that it can even dream (via La Cronica de Hoy):
Su cerebro son dos computadoras conectadas a un servidor inalámbrico que serán las procesadoras de información del robot incluso cuando “duerma”. Al desconectar el robot, este cerebro artificial podrá refinar el equivalente a miles de redes neuronales, optimizar parámetros usando algoritmos geométricos y encontrar reglas de inferencia que almacenen la información útil que acumuló durante su actividad, crearle memoria.
Its brain is two computers connected to a wireless server that will process information even when the robot “sleeps”. When the robot is disconnected, this artificial brain wil refine the equivalent of thousands of neural nets, optimize parameters using geometric algorithms and find rules of inference that store the useful information that it accumulated during it’s activity, creating memories.
Ok, this android may not be seeing images of electric sheep, but this is something like what our brains do when we sleep, and that makes us just a bit closer to building intelligent robots. The plan, according to reports, is to improve the robot through several successive versions to develop robots ever more intelligent. The engineers are already thinking of applications such as household servants and education.
Lost in my Mind, Exploring this World 