Acro-Bot
The Acro-Bot originated in Japan by a Japanese roboticist Masahiko Yamaguchi. Although he is better known as Dr. Guero. He has successfully done and been working on many projects that involve balancing robots. To name another famous one would be the humanoid bicyclist, as well as challenging others by putting them on stilts or shifting their centers of gravity. This Acro-bot resembles a tightrope walker. The bot uses its arms as it makes its way across the 4-milimeter-wide steel wire by, like humans, using its arms for stability.
I believe this new robot invention could be useful in the future. The first thought that came to me when reading this article was why do we need a balancing robot? After thinking, what came to mind was a circus of robots! Although I don't at all see a circus as a necessity, this could be a very interesting concept. As of right now the robot moves at an extremely slow pace across the rope, which could be a problem and a bore, and should be looked into. Other than that, with this robot as well as others that could possibly also be made to do circus stunts could be entertaining. The down side that I see with this idea is the same as with many new technology advancements- taking away human jobs. This could happen here even more than others. The circus is where people with extremely special talents go to get a job (not many people can stick a sword down their throat, walk on something as small as a tight rope, etc). Making robots to do this would take away from these people and take them out of work. I understand that this video only shows a tightwalking robot and not anything else that could be integrated into the circus (yet), but this could very well be just a small step into a much larger accomplishment.
A solution for this at this moment could be a circus with both humans and robots together. Although this could begin to be a problem if robots are being created that can do other stunts. This works at this time because of a now there is only a tightroping robot, and a very slow one at that. As the years go on and advancements come I can very well picture a robot circus and the way people think, this would be the greatest thing when it comes out. Meaning it would put the human circus' out of business because they would be old news. This is a worry for the future, but as I have stated I don't see as a problem for the time being because of the slowness and simplicity that this robot can do right now.
I believe this new robot invention could be useful in the future. The first thought that came to me when reading this article was why do we need a balancing robot? After thinking, what came to mind was a circus of robots! Although I don't at all see a circus as a necessity, this could be a very interesting concept. As of right now the robot moves at an extremely slow pace across the rope, which could be a problem and a bore, and should be looked into. Other than that, with this robot as well as others that could possibly also be made to do circus stunts could be entertaining. The down side that I see with this idea is the same as with many new technology advancements- taking away human jobs. This could happen here even more than others. The circus is where people with extremely special talents go to get a job (not many people can stick a sword down their throat, walk on something as small as a tight rope, etc). Making robots to do this would take away from these people and take them out of work. I understand that this video only shows a tightwalking robot and not anything else that could be integrated into the circus (yet), but this could very well be just a small step into a much larger accomplishment.
A solution for this at this moment could be a circus with both humans and robots together. Although this could begin to be a problem if robots are being created that can do other stunts. This works at this time because of a now there is only a tightroping robot, and a very slow one at that. As the years go on and advancements come I can very well picture a robot circus and the way people think, this would be the greatest thing when it comes out. Meaning it would put the human circus' out of business because they would be old news. This is a worry for the future, but as I have stated I don't see as a problem for the time being because of the slowness and simplicity that this robot can do right now.