What benefits are there to giving a robot a humanoid shape?
Well, if the only thing I wanted my robot to do is mow my grass, then I could just stick a radio-controlled receiver on it and drive it around. But the whole idea is that if we design a robot that has a human form, then it can use tools and navigate stairs and buildings and do things that we have designed for the human form. I remember we were demonstrating our robot to a bunch of Japanese school children and they all came in and bowed to our robot – which isn’t something you’d normally do and we weren’t ready for that. But the important thing is that this humanoid form allowed our robot to interact in a specific emotional way. Part II features a discussion with Matt Denton, who heads Micromagic Systems, an animatronics company that supplies film studios with robotics: What would a ‘bot like C-3PO be good for, anyway? I think there would be countless situations where a C-3PO-like robot would be at least as good if not better than a human. For example, so many people who need care for v
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- What benefits are there to giving a robot a humanoid shape?
