Robo Development Conference in pictures

Know thy roboenemy

By Austin Modine in San Jose • Get more from this author

Posted in Rise of the Machines, 26th October 2007 03:07 GMT

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Robo Developer Robots. Sure, they're evil, but are they a threat to us yet?

The Register takes a look at the show floor of Robo Developer Conference in San Jose to see how the coming war with machines may play out.

Monty the robot

Our first stop is a robot named Monty, from Anybots. He stands at about 5'7" and has one fully articulated hand, driven by 18 motors and one gripper. Monty is remotely controlled by a man behind a curtain, who is wearing various sensors that let Monty mimic his movements. According to Anybots, Monty can perform a wide range of manual labor tasks. For instance, his publicity shot shows Monty washing dishes — which I would assume is a fantastic way to electrocute yourself and loved ones.

And would you trust a filthy robot with The Heirloom China?

Would you?

Dexter the robot

Anybots also has a walking automaton named Dexter. This robot quickly showed its true sinister nature by repeatedly spasming violently before it pitched headfirst into the crowd. Those bungee cords are not for show.

I was told by several vendors that getting a robot to walk is one of the hardest things to do. This doesn't come as a surprise. The constant chatter on the show floor was regularly accented by the dull "thump" of robots hitting the floor. Take any robot demonstration — what so often is just beyond the frame of sight is two engineers, poised nervously at the sidelines like ball retrievers at a tennis tournament.