Article

Good Arm, You'll Be Breakdancing Next

Posted April 18th 2010 by in archive

Good day to you all. You may have been expecting a post regarding some interesting or useful tech released recently, or perhaps a game review or sneak peek, you may even have been expecting a crazy video that will inspire or amaze you.

But all three?
I know, I know.. Just click on the read more link below, while I go and get a mop to clear up that yellowish liquid around your feet.

Sorry to blackmail you into reading this but I stumbled across a video recently which genuinely amazed me. We all know that the advancements in prosthetic limbs and robotics in general have enjoyed great successes in the digital age, and that robots these days are capable of pretty amazing things. The software and hardware into something like an automated machined on an assembly line, or more intelligent AI’s such as Honda’s ASIMO is already astounding, and something I’m sure I could never truly comprehend; much like our existence and purpose of life on this earth.

Up to now though, machines have been somewhat ungraceful and rigid to the variables of the world around them; dexterity if you will. Admittedly ASIMO did walk with fluidity, and was able to climb stairs in seamless motions, though he did remind me of an incontinent Alzheimer’s pensioner who never quite knew where he was going. You would never expect a machine to dribble a basketball, spin a pen between its fingers or catch a mobile phone if one were to be thrown at him.

After seeing the video above, and getting over the fact I was unlikely to be able to afford a robotic hand which caught anything I threw at it, I realised all my preconceptions of a machine simply being unable to do anything as “mathematically random” as those things were simply wrong. Although obviously not perfect and certainly a long way from achieving anything straight out of an Isaac Asimov novel, this technology proves that ultimately, there is a strong possibility to create something that in physical form and movement at least resembles a human. Would it be foolish to dismiss applications such as automated tennis players, or baseball pitchers, capable of hitting specific targets within a decade or so? I think so.

Let your mind run riot, I certainly did, and ended up here. Ok I know, the trailer isn’t exactly new, but just think for a second.. those bionic arms with the speed and dexterity of something like the hand above? The future is coming!

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