Forbidden Planet’s Robbie The Robot Can Be Built Today
I’m hoping for a joint project from OpenAI and Boston Dynamics
By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
Robots We Wish Were Real
Remember Robbie The Robot from Forbidden Planet? Of course, we all know C-3PO from Star Wars. Here’s a link to Isaac Asimov’s classic robot novel, The Naked Sun where you can read about detective Elijah Baley and his robot partner, R. Daniel Olivaw
I don’t think we have to wish for humanoid robots much longer. It occurred to me that robots that act like Robbie can be built today.
Separate The Body From The Mind
The first thing you have to understand is that the robot’s “intelligence” and its physical body will not be in the same place.
The intelligence will reside in a computer someplace that is connected to the Internet which will be accessed by a local router which will communicate with the robot’s body via wifi.
The body will be a “dumb” machine while the “intelligence” will reside in a large, power-hungry system hundreds or thousands of miles away.
Making A Robot That Can Walk Like A Human
Two years ago Boston Dynamics posted a video of untethered, human-shaped robots dancing.
The software and hardware required to create walking, dancing, robots was there two years ago, so the secret of the construction of and the mechanical control of a bipedal robot has been solved.
Hearing, Seeing, & Speaking In Real Time
We already have real-time voice recognition software, language translation software, and voice creation software that will allow the robot to hear, understand and talk to humans in a wide variety of languages.
Intelligently Interacting With Humans
The last part of the puzzle was the general-intelligence coding that would allow the system to parse what the human says and formulate a useful response in real time.
With Chat GPT and similar programs, we are now in a position to supply that final piece of the puzzle.
Suppose we tie Chat GPT’s abilities to hear, “understand”, and respond to humans to the microphones, cameras and speakers in a remote, “dumb”, robot body.
A Robbie The Robot Sales Clerk
You enter a store. The cameras on one of Boston Dynamics’ robots see you. Chat “tells” the robot to approach you. Through the robot’s speakers, Chat says, “Good day, sir. I’m your robot assistant, Robby. What can I help you with?”
You tell Robbie that you’re looking for a new shirt. Through Robbie, Chat says, “Yes sir. Long or short sleeve?”
You tell Robbie the kind of shirt you’re looking for. Chat has up-to-date data on all the shirts currently in the store’s inventory so it tells Robby to take you to the various tables, shelves and racks to view the available products.
In that process you tell Robbie, “No, I don’t like yellow” or “I like that one but I need the shirt to have a pocket.”
Chat “hears” your comments and uses them to narrow the list of potential products that it has queued up for Robbie to show you.
Do you see how this would work?
Mating CHAT With Boston Dynamics’ Code
The only part of this puzzle that is possibly missing is the integration of the Boston Dynamics software that tells the arms and legs how to move with the Chat software that will issue the high-level command, “Go to the second rack from the back wall in the sports department” and when it gets there CHAT tells Robbie to “Point to the blue golf shirt at the far end of the rack” or “Go to the second rack from the back wall in the sports department” and when Robbie gets there Chat sees and recognizes the blue shirt on its list and tells Robbie to point to it.
Designing A Specialized, Light-Weight Humanoid Robot (HR) Body
Boston Dynamics would probably want to build a specialized model of its human-shaped robot. I would envision one with mostly plastic parts, only using aluminum or titanium for the sections needing high structural strength.
Hydraulic Operation Of Legs, Arms, & Fingers
I would guess that it would have an electric motor coupled to a high-pressure hydraulic reservoir with hydraulic lines powering pistons in the arms and legs with movement controlled by opening and closing various valves.
Battery
Its battery should be capable of supplying at least fifteen or twenty minutes of power for this hydraulic pump and the cameras, microphone, speaker and wifi receiver. A high-voltage charging station should be able to take the relatively small battery from 10% to 80% power in maybe five or ten minutes. Robbie would always be plugged in to top off its charge except for those times when it was “on the floor.”
Seriously, I suspect that if OpenAI partnered with Boston Dynamics they could build a functioning Robbie-like robot in a year or less.
General Thoughts
Think about that for a second. A customer walks into the store, restaurant, hotel, whatever and says something in German or Chinese or Arabic. Robbie quickly translates the words and replies in the same language.
Sure, maybe it would take a few years to add software that would give Robbie’s hands the control and dexterity needed to perform common tasks, but even today Robbie could point to an item on a shelf or pick an article of clothing from a rack.
Getting Robbie to the point where it could successfully chop chives, slice mushrooms, beat eggs, cook and plate a perfect omelet might take three or four years of both mechanical and software engineering, but we’re close, I think.
So, OpenAI and Boston Dynamics, I think you guys should talk.
— David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website)
