HRP-4 Humanoid robot unveiled-- will sell for $300k | Hacker News Reader

HRP-4 Humanoid robot unveiled-- will sell for $300k

robotzeitgeist.com

27 pointsericb17 comments

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Impressive.

Still I'd have loved to see this robot actually do something beyond, well, light aerobics.

I think this is targeted at people who are trying to make that happen. :)

This is what I looked forward to when I was 5. Finally.

We're truly living in the future, now.

It will cost 1/10 the price in 10-12 years and be a lot more functional. So goes progress.

Only if it sells.

eg. electric cars were in production around 1900 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car#1890s_to_1900s:_Ea...

This robot is skinny enough that I feel like it could be 'skinned' and made to look almost human with just a little work.

And then you will run into the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

Somehow the first application that comes to mind is a fashion model. Could end anorexia, perhaps.

The first application I thought of was robbing banks... but I guess that would have to wait until there was more than one of these otherwise it would be fairly obvious who did it.

Imagine for a moment... An autonomous robot that robs banks until it has enough money to order another copy of itself... while avoiding detection and putting some of the money into hiring coders to improve it's code.... kind of a cross between these 3 things: http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/ http://news.discovery.com/tech/fooled-you-robots-learn-how-t... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo

It's only a matter of time before one of these kills a person.

The first time a robot killed a human was all the way back in 1979.

What happened?

An industrial accident at a major Japanese company close to here, if I remember my history correctly. Someone stood somewhere they shouldn't have and a robot crushed them.

I know that, I'm afraid I was making a joke.

Aw, come on! You went through all that, made an awesome robot, and it doesn't do The Robot?

* sigh * we have so far to go.

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