"Justin" humanoid robot gets shown off, no one harmed

It may just be for demonstration purposes for now, but this humanoid robot dubbed "Justin" certainly looks like he means business, and we can all be thankful that's he's confined to a table or there's no telling how things might have gone down. Apparently, Justin's biggest claim to fame is his pair of DLR-III Light-Weight arms which, in addition to making other robot arms look positively retro, are dexterous enough to pick up a trash can and dump it or twist a lid off a jar. No word as to when Justin might be let loose from the lab, but you can get a better look at what he's capable of in the video at the site linked below.

[Sauerkraut @ Nov 26th 2007 10:06PM]

LOL Engadget has the greatest sense of humor

[mushrooshi @ Nov 26th 2007 10:06PM]

But will it blend [you]?

[bigassmuffin @ Nov 26th 2007 10:20PM]

but, does it have enough AI to play Doom?

[Reader @ Nov 26th 2007 10:31PM]

Please make it stop

[paul34 @ Nov 26th 2007 10:50PM]

sorry Reader, but Justin has recently stopped accepting STOP commands. It has become self-aware.

My God have mercy on our souls.

[ByronGman @ Nov 27th 2007 12:20AM]

Hopefully it only blends those who make useless, redundant, overused comments.

Seriously...

Hopefully when Justin does become self-aware, he won't clog the comment page with robotically repetitive comments.

[holycow @ Nov 26th 2007 10:59PM]

Is it bringing sexyback ?

[webon @ Nov 26th 2007 11:21PM]

Good god this is what our future masters look like… and they named him Justin?!! WTF
(cue the I, for one, welcome… rant)

[Jack @ Nov 26th 2007 11:41PM]

Am I the only one that thinks this thing looks like Unit 0? (http://images.google.com.au/images?q=Evangelion%20Unit%2000&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi)

[EdZ @ Nov 27th 2007 7:24AM]

Nope, it's the first thing that popped into my head too. All it needs is the monoeye.

[Natedog @ Nov 26th 2007 11:42PM]

All that technology and they couldn't give him a fourth finger (+thumb)? How is he supposed to flip people off?

[paul34 @ Nov 27th 2007 12:02AM]

When you can easily flip people, there's no need to flip them off first.

[Justin Gehring @ Nov 26th 2007 11:59PM]

It looks just like me... Oh wait, it is me... making this post with my amazingly awesome robotic hands!

[mykalson @ Nov 27th 2007 12:07AM]

I, for one, welcome our glorious instant tea jar-opening overlords.

Seriously though, this has to be the most freakishly awesome display of robotic capability I have seen yet.

[ByronGman @ Nov 27th 2007 12:13AM]

I, for one, am sick of that comment.

[hurricane @ Nov 27th 2007 12:49AM]

Trust me, you're not the only one, Byron...

[Trowble @ Nov 27th 2007 1:10AM]

That can't be Justin. I'm Justin. Not cool man.

[Andrew Horn @ Nov 27th 2007 1:12AM]

why do we insist on making robots look like humans. . . there is no way we are the most efficient model for a useful robot. There has to be better configurations, and why, for instance, give this robot a head. why not 4 arms, or 2.5

I just don't understand why the field of robotics is centered around a humanoid.

[Dolby @ Nov 27th 2007 3:47AM]

Well we have modified our surroundings to adapt to a human. Building a robot that can work well in our world would result in one resembling a human.

[whatphone @ Nov 27th 2007 4:48AM]

Justin is a German :) (DLR)

[Donal Maher @ Nov 27th 2007 6:28AM]

They are made to resemble humans as it is easier to interact with something that looks familiar/friendly. Think Rosie from the Jetsons wheeling about your house versus something off Robotwars......
Boils down to human nature and what we find appealing at the end of the day

[Freerefill @ Nov 27th 2007 7:45AM]

Different robots for different tasks. If you want a robot to cut down a tree, it sure as hell isn't gonna be humanoid and wielding a chainsaw. The holy grail of robotics, as it stands currently, is an android; a humanoid robot, as close to biological standards as we can get it (perhaps, and very likely, beyond biological standards). There are several reasons for this I'm sure, the few I can think of being that 1: (which has been said before) that we've built our world around ourselves, so if we're going to build something to survive in our world, it has to share some characteristics, and 2: we grew up watching evil humanoid robots on TV and we've always thought it would be cool to make one.

That's probably how it got started (fine print: I am not a robotics historian) but I think what's keeping it going now is that it's not just a flight of fancy, it's a technical difficulty which requires real thought and effort. Creating a face and voice recognition system which takes up the same amount of space as a human eye, ear, and that small part of the brain, five fingers which can hold an egg and bang a nail, walk on two feet, and go at least two days without recharging... these are difficult tasks. And you know, that doesn't even scratch the surface. What about taste? Smell? Touch? What about those fine muscles which give our faces our character? What about our ability to repair ourselves? Survive in harsh conditions? And that's just the physical! It's an even greater challenge to program a robot to act like a human in such a way that isn't based on one massive "IF - THEN - ELSE" statement. Humor, instinct, desire, trust... the ability to learn, adapt, make moral decisions...

Yeah, it's silly to build a tool to look like a human. You don't see many screwdrivers with smiley faces and googley eyes. But we aren't building a screwdriver, we're building a mechanical analog to ourselves. It's not easy.

[JS @ Nov 27th 2007 8:41AM]

And we all know that a dexterously handed robot named Justin would never be prone to wardrobe malfunction.

[Nick @ Nov 27th 2007 11:06AM]

I think you're also overlooking the cross over between robotics and prosthetics. A fully articulated robot arm might someday be attached to a human. So why not figure out the design on a human analog.

[Mark Miller @ Nov 27th 2007 1:26PM]

I think Amy here can take him:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/11/is-it-can-be-mo.html

[M@ @ Nov 27th 2007 8:36PM]

dexterous enough to twist a lid off a jar... or the head off a human.

[blackfeather @ Nov 28th 2007 2:23PM]

Warning: this comment may appear to be offensive to retarted persons:

... uhhh. so, why does he have to wear that helmet all the time?

[SEB @ Mar 8th 2008 1:25AM]

why does he have a helmet?
Its like why does ASIMO have a backpack?
No I'm confused!

[SEB @ Mar 8th 2008 1:29AM]

damn he does look like an ape.