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Raucous Robots
Techno Talk
I’ve been seeing robots on TV and in movies since I was a kid, but
I doubted I would get to see humanoid models in factories, homes
and care facilities in my lifetime. Then, when I least expected it…
“I’ve seen things you people
wouldn’t believe”, as Roy Batty (played
by Rutger Hauer) famously said in his
“Tears in Rain” soliloquy towards the
end of the 1982 movie Blade Runner
(https://youtu.be/NoAzpa1x7jU). This
movie, now considered a masterpiece,
featured groundbreaking visuals, complex themes and a thought-provoking
exploration of humanity and identity.
I know how Roy felt. I also have seen
things you people (well, certainly any
younger readers) wouldn’t believe. For
example, I hail from the days before
anyone we knew owned a washing
machine or a clothes dryer.
When I was around nine years old, I
spent most of the weekdays during the
summer holidays hanging out at my
aunt’s house with my cousin Gillian,
who was one year younger than me.
Monday was “washday”; that is,
the day that all the ladies did their
laundry. My aunt had a massive mechanical device called a ‘mangle’ or
‘wringer’, featuring two big timber
rollers and a large handle. Turning the
handle made the rollers rotate, pulling the clothes through and squeezing
any water out.
It was Gillian’s and my job to crank
the handle on the mangle. We took
turns. We mangled and mangled until
our arms ached, and then we mangled
some more.
Later, in the afternoons, we used
to watch the Jetsons on TV. I used to
wish we had a robot maid like Rosie
who could do the mangling for us. Of
course, I knew Rosie was only a cartoon character. She wasn’t real like the
robot (simply called “Robot”) in Lost
in Space, but he wouldn’t have been
of much use either. The best he could
do was wave his arms around and say,
“Danger, Will Robinson!”
So, what’s our fascination with
humanoid robots? It actually makes
a lot of sense. First, human environments—like homes, offices, and
factories—are (unsurprisingly) designed for humans. This means that
robots with humanoid shapes can
better navigate things like stairs and
doorways, and can use tools, operate
machines, and manipulate objects
meant for human hands.
There’s also the fact that humanoid robots can interact with humans
more naturally, using familiar gestures, expressions, and speech. This
facilitates their use in diverse roles
such as being companions, caregivers, receptionists, and tutors, where
human-like interaction enhances the
experience.
Developed nations are increasingly grappling with the multifaceted
challenges of ageing populations, necessitating comprehensive strategies
to address economic, healthcare, and
social impacts.
A major application for humanoid
robots would be aged care, either
in the home or in dedicated facilities. They could also help disabled
people by performing tasks, providing companionship and aiding in
rehabilitation.
My own dear old mum
will be 95 this year. She’s
finding it increasingly
difficult to move around
her apartment. My brother lives nearby, and he
visits her several times
a day, but it would be
fantastic if she had a humanoid robot to help by
doing things like making
cups of tea and preparing simple meals.
Why humanoid?
Not in my lifetime!
Robots come in all shapes and sizes
and can do all sorts of things. For example, I recently saw an industrial robot
replicating the actions of a Japanese
master swordsman (https://youtu.be/
O3XyDLbaUmU). I also saw a video
on LinkedIn of two-armed robot on
a wheeled base happily unpacking a
dryer and folding the clothes (https://
pemag.au/link/ac52).
54
Way back in the mists
of time we used to call
the 1980s, when I became
an engineer, I began to
appreciate the problems
involved in building a
self-powered (that is, not
tethered to the wall by
a power cable) humansized humanoid robot.
Max the Magnificent
There are multiple aspects to this, including the robot’s physical body, the
advanced sensors and control systems
required for it to perceive and interact with the world, and the ‘brain’ that
tells it what to do.
I read a lot of science fiction, and
I certainly believed that humanoid
robots would be possible one day,
but I also assumed that day would
be a long time in the future—quite
possibly long after I’d shuffled off
this mortal coil and headed out to
the next plane of my existence. How
things have changed!
Several robot companies seem to
have popped up over the past couple
of years. A good example of the sort of
thing I’m talking about is provided by
the folks at 1X. They have a robot called
EVE Industrial (https://1x.tech/eve).
Although EVE has a head and two
arms with hands that can pick objects
up and manipulate them, it’s not humanoid in the full sense because it’s
mounted on a single leg that’s attached
to a mobile platform. Still, EVE can
crouch down, reach up, and is well
suited to working in factories and industrial facilities.
However, the robot that took my
breath away is the recently announced
NEO Gamma (https://1x.tech/neo).
An old-fashioned clothes mangle for drying wet clothes.
Source: www.pinterest.com/pin/457467274621825135/
Practical Electronics | June | 2025
Techno Talk
Max the Magnificent
This is a fully bipedal humanoid robot
intended for use as a household assistant. “Oh, my goodness gracious me”,
is all I can say.
The Neo Gamma – 1X bipedal humanoid robot.
Source: https://youtu.be/uVcBa6NXAbk
The Life of (a boy called) Clive
In my April column, I mentioned
the fact that one of my hobby projects
is writing a book called The Life of (a
boy called) Clive that describes my life
growing up as a kid in Sheffield in the
1960s. Well, I’ve finished!
This has taken over two years to
complete, which is a lot longer than
I expected. The problem is that I had
so many adventures, like falling into
a water barrel, falling out of a sixthfloor window, and falling off a cliff (I
was a little scamp).
My next problem is to create accompanying images. I’m thinking
of simple pencil sketches like those
in Winnie the Pooh, perhaps with a
splash of watercolour, like those in
Into the Uncut Grass. The problem
is that I can’t draw.
Happily, the folks at Kinara (kinara.
ai) just sent me one of their Ara-2
USB modules that’s capable of supporting generative AI workloads such
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generator.
It literally arrived as I was writing
this column and I cannot wait to try
it out. I will, of course, report back
later on how it goes.
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Practical Electronics | June | 2025
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