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special robot

Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a robot that asking people for help if they get stuck. This has many advantages.

Visitors to the computer science professor Manuela Veloso at the University in Pittsburgh, PA, met at the reception was very polite and a wizard to help guide guests in his Office.

Something peculiar though: these people will stop at the elevator and asked with electronic sound that is heard, do quick times visitors can push buttons for seven-floor "and then asked me" Finish "when we have reached the stage".

Verlosos maid at Carnegie Mellon University is of course not a human, but rather a special robot, called Cobot.
The device looks like a laptop attached along with an array of sensors on a scrolling bar stools.
It has no arms, hands and the vocabulary is somewhat limited. But this circumvents the limitations of Cobot technical with the help of a trick is very effective.

Every time a problem arises that Cobot can't solve-to call the elevator to lift an object or to find people who can not just robots asking people nearby.
And no one in the hand, he just sent an email to the entire Office.

"I worked for a long time in the field of autonomic system," Veloso said, "but it's just difficult to program a robot to understand any language and can take any object, even if he has a weapon.
"Therefore, they have found that a robot that really should be fully autonomous, a" call for help "mode needs.

Some Velosos Cobots moves through the Institution of computer science, delivers packages between the lab and the Office or lead guests around.
Together, they have tens of thousands of hours of operation.

The robot looks a little odd, sometimes disturbing (Veloso acknowledged that some employees questioned the constant annoying).
But they show how a simple form of human-machine collaboration can help an autonomous machine to take new roles at home and at work.
The robots are programmed so that they ask for help if needed, much easier than voice recognition system can be enhanced to the point that they completely understand everyone.
And not only must the gripper arm can lift any object in 100 percent of cases.

"This is a very good idea," said Bilge Mutlu, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who explores the interactions between humans and robots.
"This is a process that is flexible and adaptable to everyday life."

Collaboration between humans and robots are becoming increasingly cultivated in the industrial sector.
Velosos approach can now push forward with final consumers to develop a novel robotic service.
"I am absolutely convinced that today we have robots in our homes when people will accept the limitations of the current system," he said.

Some of these robots are already on the market. The Tug of Aethon moved from Pittsburgh Medical equipment to the hospital.
This system does not require a special radio station for navigation or other special techniques: this procedure is a robot, he contacted members of the humans from the support team at Aethon, which then directs her from a distance on the right track.

According to Veloso the next generation Cobots alone can know when the human-assistance needed-when the specified scenario is cancelled.

Previous experience shows that open here both for research and for the company's key areas.
"Even if we do not reach 100 percent autonomy, should not prevent us from installing the autonomous system," said Mutlu. (Will the Knights)/(bsc)