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Can now serve tea and wash the cup
A Tokyo University team this week showed their latest Robots which can perform more complicated daily tasks, but the machines still have a learning curve. In a model living room equipped with robotics items including two humanoids, Professor Tomomasa Sato plopped himself down on the sofa, prompting a reading lamp to turn on automatically. He then raised his hand and the HRP-2W humanoid - wearing an apron and kitchen gloves over its metalic frame - rolled over and asked: "Do you need help?"
"I'd like a cup of tea," he said.
The wheeled Robot dutifully turned around and went to the kitchen counter, where a two-legged fellow humanoid grabbed a plastic bottle to pour tea into cup. "The focus used to be on making Humanoid robots walk with two legs, but now the point is to shift one step beyond to make it do a varity of pratical movements" Prof. Sato said.
"There is no script in this demonstration," he said. "These components of information systems react to my actions and create an environment to assist me." The robots can also serve drinks and then collect the empty glasses. They are also designed to open a faucet and place objects beneath it.
Prof. Masayuki Inaba, who heads the team that designed the humanoids, said the next challenge was to make machines that can handle unexcepted situations, such as accidentally dropping cup. "They will need to memorise information from different situations," Prof. Inaba said. "They need to learn and expect what will happen next, making their own judgment using an accumalated memory of what causes what kind of results. That is an ability necessary for them to learn - that when a wet cup slips from their hand, then they have to grap more firmly when picking up a wet container"
