Muon the humanoid robot is our ideal best friend
By Laura June 
posted June 19th 2010 4:59PM
posted June 19th 2010 4:59PM
We don't speak German, and machine translation continues to be an intermittent and annoying bundle of failure, so bear with us on this one as we try to cobble together what exactly is going on here. This is Muon, the humanoid robot who is apparently being developed in Berlin by Frackenpohl Poulheim at the ALEAR Laboratory of Neuro Robotics at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Like other humanoid bots, Muon is about the size of an eight year old child so as not to creep out his human companions by being too threatening, and his design, while reminiscent of previous robots we've seen, is pretty original. It's actually hard to tell what stage of development Muon is in -- certainly many of the photos we have spied were concepts -- but we're going to keep our eyes peeled for him moving into the future. If you hit up the source link, you can check out a video of Muon's development. There's one more amazing shot after the break.
next thing you know it has a gun and shoots at people
@mikmik111
that's a respectable scientific observation, sherlock.
@mikmik111 It has to learn how to press the elevator button first (and then the gun trigger). But I think this one will never learn :)
I was just kidding jeez, how come it was so cool when Josh is joking about it
@mikmik111 Or a fleshlight for an eye-socket.
Its about the right height.
I though a muon was a subatomic particle with the size (mass) of a proton and charge of an electron.
@10nisman94 M_{Muon} = 104 ish MeV (~200x the mass of an electron)
M_{proton} ~ 1GeV (1000MeV) : - )
@Brynnigan Oh, I knew it was bigger :P
Ha, no opposable thumbs means it cant effectively hold and shoot a bun; best design decision ever.
@Professor Hubert J Farnswort
Yes; I shoot buns, I take immense pleasure in disguising weaponry as food.
@Professor Hubert J Farnsworth
He's clever though. He'll pinch the butt of some big Harley guy standing next to you, and then hide.
That guy in the picture looks a lot like Steve Jobs from the neck down. Some sort of iRobot army, perhaps?
@Dante of the Inferno
it's sad you made that observation. really.
@samisax
Umm, hasn't there already been a Dress like Steve trend?
@musicssound can't be...the guy in the pic is not using white snickers lol
@Dante of the Inferno
The fact that you have memorized the lower half of Steve Jobs body puts you a step above the average Apple fanboi.
@serge White snickers always satisfies.
@Ducman69
Which is ironic, since I hate Apple.
@Ducman69 who wouldnt memorize that half of steve jobs, isnt that where all fanboys dream of being??? ^_^
The beta will be named "gluon," the RC "quark," and the final "atom"?
Does it also speak binary language of moisture evaporators?
And I thought my ideal best fiend was someone who was honest, brave and nice to me. Damn it!
The source says it's called Myon.
Looks promising, but vaporwarish.
@TheAmazingWJV That's not a y, it's the Greek letter mu (μ).
@dougdirac
If it's the Greek letter Mu (μ) then why is it backwards in the source like a y?
Looks like the geth
It's saluting its German robotic furor.
@DM85
Don't. And it's Führer.
Puts a whole new meaning to grammar Nazi, doesn't it?
@musicssound
It does. And it is.
Its head kinda looks like a turret from Portal.
Interesting how robots are being made short so as not to frighten humans.
I think devs have missed something.
We should have a poll on what's going to wipe us out first, cept most of the options boil down to..
a) something we made
Let me know when they're a little bit taller, softer and have titts...
^_^
In the video, he said something about the fact that a robot that resembles an 8 year old child "makes a special arousal when you sit in front of it." Just what is the project all about anyway? Whatever floats your boat, i guess.
@GeneralThade A robot that can give a hj (handjob)? Lol look at tha hand hahaha and u said "when u sit in front of it" lmao
and it does look like a geth from mass effect
humanoids are boring.. make this >
http://www.unsayablejazer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/image_09.jpg
NO DISASSEMBLE!!!
Looks like the Automator robot.
http://john.whelans.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/automator-icon.png
I wonder if it can convert all my photos to png and then scale them by 50%?
The retail version comes in Chucky skin! Also, it's size is reduced to about a 5-year old child to make it look less threatening.
Wanna know what the German text says?
Robots for Research
Frackenpohl Poulheim has designed the humanoid Robot „Myon“ that has been developed by the european research project ALEAR in the laboatory for neurorobotics at theHumboldt university in Berlin. Myon represents the M series which consists of five similar robots that are based on a innovative and exiting module building priciple. As additional partner for the development of Myon's appearance, Bayer MaterialScience could be won.
Already very early in the creation process of the robot, we could work together with the laboratory of nero robotics, where in a multi day workshop Myon's character was defined. After this goal has been set, the proportions for his figure were to be found and to be discussed with, with the constructing engineers. [...bs...] „robots can easily look intimidating, if for example their shoulders are too wide. But Myon should look friendly, so in addition to his size of an 8 year old child, should not radiate danger." , says Poulheim.
Besides the design-symbolic functions, the casing of the robot should fulfill technical-practical functions. If „Myon“ falls over, the "skin" protects the sensitive interior. Together with Bayer MaterialScience a specialized material was developed, to fulfill both design and technical requirements. The transparent coating made of Makrolon provides the expected feel of depth, fiberglass re-inforced polycarbonate provides the required stability.
__
So only the design is by Frackenpohl Poulheim.
ALEAR is a research european project.
And the Laboratory of Neuro Robotics at the Humboldt University in Berlin is the Project owner.
Yeah, size asnd shape are to make it look nice and cuddly, instead of threatening. We know how THAT idea worked for Gismo... ;) So lets wait for the mutations.
Status of the project is unknown, but the Myon has already been built, as said here: http://www.neurorobotik.de/robots_de.php
World premiere for seeing Myon in "real life" is July 9-13th at the International Design Festival in Berlin, see: http://www.academics.de/wissenschaft/live_zu_sehen_der_humanoide_roboter_myon_37532.html
Enjoy.