Category: Robotics

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Can and Should We Use Robots in Prisons?

Tamara Siegmann and Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel carried out the “Robots in Prison” project in June and July 2024. The student, who is studying business administration at the FHNW School of Business, came up with the idea after taking an elective module on social robots with Oliver Bendel. In his paper “Love Dolls and Sex Robots in Unproven and Unexplored Fields of Application”, the philosopher of technology had already made a connection between robots and prisons, but had not systematically investigated this. They did this together with the help of expert interviews with the intercantonal commissioner for digitalization, several prison directors and employees as well as inmates. The result was the paper “Social and Collaborative Robots in Prison”, which was submitted to the ICSR 2024. The International Conference on Social Robotics is the most important conference for social robotics alongside Robophilosophy. The paper was accepted in September 2024 after a revision of the methods section, which was made more transparent and extensive and linked to a directory on GitHub. This year’s conference will take place in Odense (Denmark) from October 23 to 26. Last year it was held in Doha (Qatar) and the year before last in Florence (Italy).

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HeidiBOT as Host of the ESC 2025

The ESC 2025 in Switzerland could be hosted by HeidiBOT, a humanoid robot connected to GPT-4o. The head could be commissioned from Hanson Robotics, RealDoll, or other companies. It would be worth considering whether a Figure 01 or similar model could serve as the basis. This would allow HeidiBOT to move naturally on stage and be part of a performance itself. Using GPT-4o or comparable language models, she would be able to speak a Swiss-German dialect, High German, English, and French. Rhaeto-Romanic should also be audible, as was the case with @llegra, a chatbot for Vallader. Switzerland could thus present itself as a country with a high level of scientific expertise, innovation, and a sense of tradition. Critics will miss the human touch and commitment. But this could be taken over more by the musicians, who are often just caricatures of themselves. They could have their say on stage and talk and discuss with the audience. A human co-host could also absorb this criticism. Another possibility would be to realize HeidiBOT as an avatar or pseudo- or quasi-hologram, similar to the ABBAtare in London. HeidiBOT could – in whatever form – look like Heidi from the booklet “AMERICAN SMILE” by Oliver Bendel. At her side would be a goat, of course. And Peterli, if he’s well-behaved (Image: Ideogram).

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A Change in Design

The last few years have seen the creation of a large number of quadruped and bipedal robots. Many have been inspired by Spot and Atlas from Boston Dynamics. These, in turn, can be traced back to Sparko and Elektro, which became famous around 1940. Atlas paved the way for the so-called general-purpose or universal robots that are now conquering the market, from H1 to Figure 01. They are not yet truly universal, but they are getting there. Most robotic quadrupeds don’t have a real head. A few talented hobbyists have produced their own with a 3D printer. This can be referred to as robot enhancement. Most robotic bipeds have a head that looks creepy or repulsive. This will be a key design problem in the coming years. It may be that people will quickly get used to ugly heads. But it would probably help with adoption and acceptance if the heads were nice to look at and had convincing facial expressions. After the huge technological advances that have been made in recent years, with new approaches to motor skills and the integration of speech models, what is needed most is a change in design.

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The Six-legged Robot

Laptop manufacturer Lenovo launched the Lenovo Daystar robot in 2020. The design of the machine, with four wheels and a cobot on the back, was less than convincing. The latest development is different. The website ifdesign.com reports on the award winner: “Step into the forefront of industrial automation and public services with Lenovo Daystar Bot GS. The groundbreaking six-legged design guarantees unmatched stability and maneuverability that surpasses traditional robotic platforms, allowing it to traverse diverse terrains with ease.” (iF DESIGN, 2024) The six legs are indeed unusual and a real eye-catcher. There is disagreement about the advantages. Perhaps the six legs provide more stability on stairs and very uneven terrain. The article continues: “Boasting an advanced control system, cutting-edge perception algorithms, and IP66 robust protection, GS outperforms in unforeseen scenarios, enabling comprehensive data collection at any location and time. In our unwavering pursuit of excellence, GS stands as a testament to innovation, efficiency, safety, and the boundless potential of automated exploration.” (iF DESIGN, 2024) Interestingly, Lenovo itself has nothing to say about the product. However, the media are now reporting intensively. The next few months will bring more clarity about the Lenovo Daystar Bot GS (Image: Lenovo/iF DESIGN).

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Figure 01 Goes into Automotive Production

Figure, a California-based company, announced a partnership with BMW Manufacturing in a press release on January 18, 2024, to introduce general-purpose robots like Figure 01. These robots are intended to take on complex, dangerous, or monotonous tasks in automobile production to improve efficiency and safety, and allow employees to focus on more challenging tasks. The implementation will begin at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, after the initial phase of identifying suitable applications. This location also pioneered the use of cobots in automobile production, for example, in the insertion of door seals. Universal robots or general-purpose robots are not yet truly existing, but there are precursors to them. For instance, the Unitree H1 will be available in Germany from February. It is marketed as a general-purpose robot, although it certainly does not meet these requirements. In a similar vein is Elon Musk’s Optimus, which is not even available as a serious prototype yet. The pace-setter in this field is still Boston Dynamics with Atlas. Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel has been extensively involved with general-purpose robots and gave a presentation on this topic at the Developer Day of the SBB on November 30, 2024 (Image: DALL-E 3).

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Zulu and Charlie at Zurich Airport

According to an announcement on December 14, 2023, Zurich Airport is adding Zulu and Charlie to its 300-strong building cleaning team for test purposes. The two service robots are from LionsBot, a Singapore-based company (www.lionsbot.com) and belong to the LEOBOTS. Oliver Bendel writes in the Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon: “Cleaning robots are (partially) autonomous service robots for cleaning surfaces, objects and water sources. They usually have a tangible design and resemble flat cylinders or cuboids. … There are hardly any approaches among the cleaning robots that would turn them into social robots. However, some can communicate with the owners or operators, either by means of text and images on the display or by spoken language.” (own translation) … According to Zurich Airport, Zulu and Charlie can do more than just clean areas. “They can also interact with passengers. If you scan the QR code on the device, you can select questions that the robot will answer.” (Zurich Airport, December 14, 2023) It goes on to say: “Zulu and Charlie have various sensors. These can recognize outlines, but do not create video footage. The test phase of the devices will run until mid-February. The robots are autonomous and will clean the areas on their own after a short initial phase.” (Zurich Airport, December 14, 2023) Further information is available at www.flughafen-zuerich.ch/newsroom/en/flughafen-zuerich-ag-relies-on-robot-support/ (Photo: Zurich Airport).

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After the Social Robotics Conference

What can you do in Qatar after a conference on social robotics? So much that you might want to add a few days to your trip. It doesn’t just have to be camel riding, dune bashing, or the inland sea in the south. There is much more to do: 1. walk along the Corniche in Doha Old Town and admire the palm-frond street lamps and the wooden boats. 2. take a cab up the Corniche and marvel at the skyline of West Beach and Jeff Koons’ DUGONG. 3. hire a boat and go out into Doha Bay at night to see the skyscrapers light up and one of the drone fireworks displays. 4. visit the Souq Waqif in Doha Old Down and head to the restaurant Parisa, where you can try the delicious Veg Khorak. 5. visit the National Museum of Qatar and enjoy the light installation by Pipilotti Rist (until 30 April 2024) and lunch or dinner at vegan Thataltheen Café. 6. take a walk in South Hills Park and enjoy the view of the city from the highest point. 7. visit the sustainable inner-city district of Msheireb Downtown Doha and ride the tram. 8. take a chauffeur-driven jeep to the area southeast of Shagra and swim in the Persian Gulf. 9. take another jeep to the northwest of Qatar and admire the Al Zubarah Fort in the evening light. 10. go to B12 Beach Club Doha, the hippest beach club in town, where you can wear your Speedos and Brazilian bikini and enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine (Photos: DUGONG, Parisa, and skyscrapers: Nihan Karataş; all others: Oliver Bendel).

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The First General-purpose Humanoid Robot

Starting from February 2024, the biped H1 from Unitree Robotics will be available at Generation Robots. It is “the most powerful and cost-effective humanoid robot on the market, measuring 1.80 meters, weighing 47 kilograms, and capable of walking at a speed of 5.5 km/h” (Generation Robots website). Until now, the Chinese company has been particularly noted for its quadrupeds, which are able to compete with the products of Boston Dynamics. Entry-level models like Go2 are unbeatably affordable, although it remains to be seen whether prices will increase after the initial surge. Unitree itself markets the H1 as the “First General-purpose Humanoid Robot”. The price is expected to be under 90,000 dollars. A video demonstrates how the robot moves confidently on two legs and remains stable even when attacked, without stumbling or falling (Image: DALL-E 3).

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Ingenuity on the Hunt for Records

On 19 April 2021, Ingenuity successfully performed an experiment on Mars (Photo: NASA). The little helicopter flew vertically into the air, took a selfie with its shadow, and landed safely back on the ground. There are many expectations and aspirations associated with the red planet. Its surface is currently being explored in an unprecedented way. In a few years, humans are expected to travel to Mars. According to Digital Trends, Ingenuity arrived as a technology demonstration, “with the team keen to see if such a contraption could become the first to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet” (Digital Trends, 26 September 2023). The platform reported on September 26, 2023: “Just a week after setting a new altitude record on Mars, NASA’s impressive Ingenuity helicopter has just flown faster than ever before, reaching a speed of 17.9 mph (8 meters per second) during its 60th flight. Its previous record was 15 mph (6.5 m/s) in a flight earlier this year.” (Digital Trends, 26 September 2023) It can already be said that the deployment of the small helicopter on Mars is a complete success.

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Autonomous Trains in Switzerland

According to various Swiss media, such as the Tages-Anzeiger and Watson, the Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS) will start test runs with an automated or autonomous train in October 2023. This will be “only on routes where there are empty runs” (Watson, September 13, 2023, own translation). According to the media, this would meet the required level of safety. “The test runs were preceded by extensive clarifications and studies – among other things, to clarify this question. At present, it is also being examined whether spatial monitoring of the level crossing is necessary, which is located on the route between Bätterkinden station and the turning track.” (Watson, September 13, 2023, own translation) Worldwide, many subways operate driverless and largely accident-free. Shuttles that travel at low speeds on virtual rails have also been used successfully for years – in Switzerland, the SmartShuttle was a pioneering project. It makes sense to automate rail traffic in this country. There is no doubt that in a few years, passenger transportation will also take this form.