If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: San Francisco Hosts Robot Invasion

June 18th, 2007 Davis Posted in Robots, Technology |

This weekend I had an opportunity to check out the RoboGames in San Francisco. I had a great time looking at all the different types of robots and watching the games. They had robots that played soccer, a lego robot that doubled as a pooper scooper, even an R2D2 unit that just seemed to beep a lot. Before the event, I had never realized just how many different types of robots there really were.

Before I attended the games, I had been expecting a more stuffy type of event. I figured that a lot of businesses would use the Robogames to show off what they’ve been working on and it would be more trade show, than fighting robots. I had even hoped to meet the iRobot team, so that I could try and use my Jedi mind tricks on them, in order to figure out what they might be working on . . . Unfortunately, iRobot didn’t show up and while there were a few robot companies there, most of the robots seemed to be built by proud hobbyists, instead of the pros. This didn’t make the machines any less impressive, but it did mean that most of the robots featured were more for cool factor, than useful. (I’m still waiting for the robot that knows how to get me a beer, right before I finish the one I’m holding)

The Robots Turn On Each Other

I can’t think of an exhibit that I didn’t enjoy, but the highlight of the show, had to be the battlebots. Watching two robots fight to the death (or 3 minutes whichever comes first) is about as exciting as you can get. I still can’t believe that Comedy Central pulled the TV show. John Stewart liked to make fun of it, but the show used to be one of my favorites.

One of the things that impressed me about this year’s RoboGames, was the great array of battlebots that they had. It seemed like there was an endless supply of fighting robots willing to step up to the each new challenger. Just about every five minutes, two new robots would go at it, smash each other into pieces and the crowd would cheer as someone picked up 6 months of their life’s work, off of the charred wooden floor. There was one that actually caught on fire, but unfortunately I was stuck in the hot dog line and I missed it. (the refreshments were such a disaster it was comical, I have never seen someone iron a hot dog before)

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Of all the exhibits, the android had the biggest wow effect on me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the name of the company that created it, but they had built it to be an identical twin of one of their researchers. I’m not sure what the practical implications would be, but this was no country bear jamboree robot, it looked just like a real live human being. A little freaky really. When I first saw them standing next to each other, I could immediately tell that the living person was real, but it took me about 30 seconds, before my eyes were convinced that the robot wasn’t a real human. If they could figure out a way to put a brain inside, we may all be out of work pretty soon.

Jim Henson Would Be Proud

Another robot that I really liked was Animal, the drumming robot. I’m pretty sure that it would be a lot cheaper to buy a drum machine and lay down your own music over the tracks, but having a robot play the drums is pretty impressive. I’d love to see a band use one for a live show. I’ve seen artists fool around with drum machines on stage, but a drumming robot would be wild. I bet a crowd would go nuts over it.

Robots Learn To Get You Drunk Before Starting Laser Attack

I didn’t find any robots that knew how to get me a beer, but I did find a pretty cool cocktail robot. You press a button and choose between three drinks that it’s programmed to mix. It wouldn’t be good for a regular bar because it’s too slow, but so much of bartending is in the presentation and this would be a pretty cool way to serve cocktails at a dinner party.

The device works a bit like a Rube Goldberg machine. It uses a conveyor belt to load the glass and then uses a spinning mirror to move the glass under the ice and the liquor. At the end of the presentation, they asked if anyone wanted the drink, by the looks I got, I may have spoken up a bit too quickly. It could have used more a little more ice and some garnish (and scotch instead of that fruity stuff ), but overall it’s was pretty good, even if I’m not a big fan of a Campari Orange.

I had never seen cocktail robots before, but it turns out that this sub-genre has a bit of a following of it’s own. There is also a drinking robot convention, that they hold in Vienna each year. The name of the event is RoboXotica and it sounds like it’s more of a party than a convention. Last year they had a Mojito robot that would smash the mint before serving you the drink. Very cool and tasty. It would be a lot harder for me to get to Vienna, than it is to check out robots in San Francisco, but I liked the cocktail robot so much, that I’m tempted to go to Vienna in November, in order to cover this year’s event.

When I was a kid the RoboGames didn’t exist. It was probably a good thing because I would have gone into sensory overload from all of the gadgets, but even though I didn’t get to see the RoboGames until just this year, there were still plenty of kids who were enjoying the event. It’s definitely a family type of event. Whether you are 10 years old or 100, robots are something that everyone dreams about. I’m not sure why a talking, moving hunk of metal is so cool, but watching these machines evolve, sure is exciting. While I didn’t see a lot of practical robots at the event, it was still exciting to see the various contraptions that hobbyists have been building and watching them destroy them in the battlebot events.

*For more coverage of the games, you can check out Zedomax’s blog, Snarkolepsy’s two part coverage, Laughing Squid’s great photographs of the event or the Robogame photos on Zooomr.