A humanoid robotic that may drive a automobile may in the future be used as a chauffeur, although its creator concedes that this may occasionally take at the least 50 years.
Most driverless automobiles work very in another way to a human driver, utilizing synthetic intelligence and customized mechanical methods to straight transfer the steering wheel and pedals. This method is far more environment friendly and easier than utilizing a humanoid robotic to drive, however it’s also bespoke for every explicit automobile.
Kento Kawaharazuka on the College of Tokyo and his colleagues have developed a humanoid robotic, known as Musashi, that may drive a automobile in the identical means as a human. It has a human-like “skeleton” and “musculature”, in addition to cameras in every of its eyes and pressure sensors in its fingers and toes. Synthetic intelligence methods work out what actions are wanted to drive the automobile and react to occasions equivalent to visitors lights altering color or an individual stepping in entrance of the automobile.
The robotic can solely carry out a restricted vary of driving duties at current, equivalent to going ahead in a straight line or taking a right-hand flip, shifting at speeds of round 5 kilometres per hour on personal roads. “The speed of the pedal or the velocity of the car is not high. Also the handling of the car is not fast compared to human beings,” says Kawaharazuka.
Musashi is a humanoid robotic that controls a automobile in the identical means as a human
Kento Kawaharazuka et al. 2024
Nonetheless, Kawaharazuka hopes that after the system improves, it is going to be in a position to work in any automobile, which might be helpful for when humanoid robots are routinely produced. “I’m not looking 10 or 20 years in the future, but I’m looking 50 or 100 years away,” he says.
“This study is potentially interesting for people developing humanoid robots, but doesn’t tell us much about autonomous driving,” says Jack Stilgoe at College Faculty London. “Self-driving cars don’t and shouldn’t drive like humans. The technology doesn’t have to rely on limbs and eyes so it can find other, safer, more useful ways to move through the world, relying on digital maps and dedicated infrastructures.”
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