Humanoid construction robot installs drywall by itself
If Japan's Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute has its way, construction workers might be a thing of the past. Researchers have built [original] HRP-5P, a humanoid bot that can handle a variety of construction tasks when there's either a staffing shortage or serious hazards. The prototype uses a mix of environment detection, object recognition and careful movement planning to install drywall by itself -- it can hoist up boards and fasten them with a screwdriver.
The design doesn't have as much freedom of movement as a human being, but makes up for that with numerous joints that flex to degrees you wouldn't see in real people. It won't always look the most natural when doing its job, but it'll be effective. It can also correct for slips, and it's not deterred when it has a limited field of view.
Also at The Verge and TechCrunch.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday October 03 2018, @02:51PM (9 children)
AKA preventing immigration. Good for them!
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @03:09PM
ED-209 disagrees.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday October 03 2018, @03:44PM (7 children)
Putting up sheetrock seems like a bad choice for an immigration reducing robot. If Japan's population is shrinking why build more houses?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @03:49PM
They can no longer shrink the houses to match. [realestate.co.jp]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @03:50PM
because the old ones fall down (earthquakes).
apparently in japan the price of a house only goes down with age.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @05:17PM (2 children)
In Japan, it is normal to tear down and replace houses that would be perfectly acceptable in America or Europe. Moving into a previously used home would be like buying used underwear or even a used sex toy. It's disgusting.
I'm not sure how that makes hotels acceptable, but I guess there is no choice with that.
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday October 03 2018, @07:18PM (1 child)
Subtle Japanese vending machine joke; very subtle
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday October 04 2018, @02:39AM
Sniff, sniff....yes, subtle. And fishy!
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 03 2018, @10:54PM
Japan's population is getting older, with fewer builders.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/604424/median-age-of-the-population-in-japan/ [statista.com]
Building, rebuilding and remodelling require builders. Also, this is Japan - robots are cool.
And, they tend to rebuild alot:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusable-housing-revolution [theguardian.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday October 04 2018, @02:38AM
One word: Gojira!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:09PM (7 children)
This robot moves like an old man, and has poor aim when it comes to screwing down the sheet rock. It's like a new trainee who doesn't know how to get it right (yet).
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:21PM (3 children)
True but look at the bigger picture; what is the TCO compared to a Mexican?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @04:46PM
Any skilled laborer is worth more than a single-task robot, no matter what their nationality may be.
Now, if this robot company wanted to invent a "supervisor" robot who just hung around and didn't do squat, I would buy several for my projects. But you're not going to ask about the TCO compared to an unproductive American, are you?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @05:21PM (1 child)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enoGpIziJTk [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday October 04 2018, @04:45AM
Yes...and hanging the drywall is only about 1/5 of the task. The hung rock has to be taped and then feathered smooth, and textured, all before being ready for paint. Also notice that the drywall is supposed to be hung horizontally, not vertically (it makes for a stronger wall). and the ceiling rock has to be hung first.
That robot wouldn't last 15 minutes on a construction site before the boss would fire it.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday October 03 2018, @07:27PM
The world is full of video game playing NEETs who have no spot in the modern economy to fill; which makes the whole "we got no people to put up drywall" story look VERY suspicious; anyway that massive labor surplus we have makes the endless drive to AI things like car driving sound really weird. Just put that shit on Amazon Turk and drunken college students will click the exact pixel perfect spot to drill a screw (plus or minus how many screwdrivers they drank before turk-ing) and it'll only cost like one cent per hole. If they get drunk enough hell they'll do it for free. If you don't want the guys from 4chan messing with your bot and making it drill screws into the wall in swastika patterns, labor is cheap online so have 51 people vote on where to put the screw and best match wins, and or worst outlier is kicked off the team.
Meanwhile as per books like "The Barbell Prescription" the best thing old people can do is lift weights once in awhile, so ironically this is a useless robot. You want to help old people, invent a robot that changes remote control batteries and programs the universal remote to work the TV and cable-box. Old people don't need less exercise at all, already too fat.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @08:05PM (1 child)
So the sheetrock robot and the sex robot walked into a bar and got plastered.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday October 03 2018, @10:44PM
Sheetrock robot went mad. Everything *but* the sheetrcok robot got plastered.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Interesting) by iWantToKeepAnon on Wednesday October 03 2018, @08:01PM
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @04:33AM
robots are cool. now i havent mounted drywall panels (yet?) but rendering a brick wall and then painting it is massive upper body strength exercise ... and seems to lend itself more to be robotized?