
Humanoid construction robot installs drywall - mavci
https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/01/aist-humanoid-robot-installs-drywall/
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TaylorAlexander
It’s a cool demo. We’re definitely getting better at making humanoids. I would
guess this is a pretty “hard coded” demo designed to work for this exact room
setup only.

It’s going to be some time before we have the machine intelligence necessary
to do enough for this robot to find a toolbox on its own, retrieve the
necessary tools, unload the drywall from a truck, carry it to the room in
question, install it, and complain about OSHA all autonomously.

Still, I’ve never seen this before. We are making progress. Just keep in mind
that an actual robot that would do this commercially is probably 20 years
away. Someone else said 10-20, and I’m inclined to think 20+ is more
realistic. As in, you hire robots for your construction because it’s
cheaper/better.

~~~
sandov
>It’s going to be some time before we have the machine intelligence necessary
to do enough for this robot to find a toolbox on its own, retrieve the
necessary tools, unload the drywall from a truck, carry it to the room in
question, install it, and complain about OSHA all autonomously.

I don't think it's necessary to develop machine intelligence to do some of
those tasks. The toolbox could could emit EM pulses so the robot can find it,
the tools could be put in a specific order and put back the same way by the
robot, the drywall could have easy-to-remove arrow stickers so the robot knows
how to find it's borders, etc.

~~~
phs318u
Two and a half years ago I wrote a paper on "robotic automation" for a big
financial services company. One of the conclusions was that, while the world
of things was heretofore designed with humans in mind, in "the near future"
(i.e. about where we are now), "stuff" would be designed for "machine-first"
use, rather than "human-first" use.

This isn't surprising. We've seen this before in the transition from "animal
engines" to "steam engines" (think - the whole infrastructure around the care
and feeding of the animals etc transitioning to manufacture, fuelling and
support for steam engines). We're starting to see it now in the (slow)
transition from "carbon-fuel transport" to "electric transport".

~~~
geezerjay
> One of the conclusions was that, while the world of things was heretofore
> designed with humans in mind, in "the near future" (i.e. about where we are
> now), "stuff" would be designed for "machine-first" use, rather than "human-
> first" use.

This.

Just to provide an example, humanity already has self-driving cars for
decades, and they are deployed and are extensively used in public
transoortation. The trick to solve this problem was to not force human-
designed solutions to an automation problem.

Thus, instead of trying to automate vehicles to run on roads, we have vehicles
running on railway tracks.

Problem solved.

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ofrzeta
Doesn't make much sense to me. Apart from the fact that a humanoid could walk
to the workplace – which it probably can't. For the actual task it would be
much easier to use a non-humanoid with a carriage and several axes.

Also it is a bit of a hoax because the whole humanoid reporting kind of
suggests the robot is autonomous while one the image you can see a camera
mounted on top of the wall and there's probably some huge computer in the
back.

EDIT: Here's some actual information about the project:
[https://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2018/pr2018092...](https://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2018/pr20180927/pr20180927.html)

~~~
function_seven
> For the actual task it would be much easier to use a non-humanoid with a
> carriage and several axes.

True, but I think the idea is that you would be able to download the
TileSetter update and use the same robot to finish the backsplash in the
kitchen. Then, with the newly-released CoverWall module, you can put that
robot to work gluing and applying wallpaper with perfect, no-seam precision.

A carriage and several axes probably wouldn't handle the manipulation of wall
coverings that diverse.

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Animats
Very nice. I'd like to see the video with no breaks or cuts, though.

It's interesting to see this done as a job for which the robot does not have
enough manipulators. This would be easier with two hands to handle the board
and one hand to apply the fasteners. On a production line, you'd have some way
to keep the workpiece firmly in place while inserting fasteners. But they did
it the hard way, with a humanoid form and only loose control over the
workpiece. Which is what humans do. They often just push workpieces against a
fixed object for guidance rather than go for full clamping.

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felipemnoa
Slowly but surely we are getting there. This made me think of when digital
cameras first came to market. Nobody took them seriously at first.

I would not be surprised at all if within 10 or 20 years we have humanoid
robots like these, but improved several orders of magnitude, available on the
market.

It will be another technological revolution. If it can do chores I will
certainly be the first on line to buy my first model.

~~~
java-man
I hope to see robots like this - or not humanoid at all - at the recycling
centers sorting. There is no reason for humans to work there.

~~~
slapshot
Single stream recycling is largely solved. Unsurprisingly, humanoid form
factors aren't optimized for conveyor flows of materials.

Lots of gates, air puffers, filters, size categorizers, etc. Maybe you could
add an arm at the end, but there's no reason for the legs and torso of a
humanoid robot.

Example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu2kbpVSXg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu2kbpVSXg)

~~~
java-man
Thank you for posting this video! Very interesting.

As for robots, I was envisioning a sort of multi-tentacle thing that hangs
over the conveyor, with multiple cameras and manipulators that can quickly
extend, grab a piece, and drop it into an appropriate bin. No need to have a
humanoid form of course.

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yardie
Installing drywall is unsurprisingly easy. Just that just needs a driver, a
jack and a bucket of screws. And the sheets are large enough where you can
cover a room with just a dozen. What eats up time is the taping and mudding.
It's what sets an abject amateur from a pro.

~~~
crescentfresh
My god when I saw the title I thought how awesome it will be to see mudding
automated. I was disappoint.

I'm just starting on drywalling a repaired section of my basement. I'm only at
the "get the drywall from the hardware store to the basement" phase, already
that was hard enough and that was the easiest part. Ugh.

~~~
toasterlovin
Mudding is a fucking pain in the ass. There's no other way to describe the
utter frustration of what you are about to embark on.

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purplezooey
But can it apply skip trowel... that is the question

~~~
forgotAgain
Ha, ha and sand it smooth.

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stewfortier
Whenever I see humanoid robots, I’m always reminded of this TechLoaf joke:
[https://www.techloaf.io/2018/06/05/a-i-scores-sweet-
summer-j...](https://www.techloaf.io/2018/06/05/a-i-scores-sweet-summer-job-
as-lifeguard/)

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madeuptempacct
These things will be in prod in 5-10 years. Same with autonomous cars. Goodbye
5-10% of all jobs.

[https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employment-by-
industry-191...](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employment-by-
industry-1910-and-2015.htm)

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chiph
So humans aren't the only ones that have problems with collated screw guns.

(You need to apply firm pressure until the screw is driven. Which might not
happen if the bit is worn, or the screw in the plastic tape didn't get aligned
correctly, or one of many other problems that can happen)

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TallGuyShort
Ah - but can the robot exceed time and budget estimates, do a shoddy job and
then weasel it's way out of warranty obligations? Jobs are safe, everybody -
there will be a few more unions who will lobby for bans on robotic drywallers
because of some made up safety reason.

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gonzo41
If anything, it sounds like the solution would be every laborer gets a clip
board and gets to supervise a robot doing the job they used to do.

Obesity will be an ongoing issue for humanity.

