Dancing robot for autistic kids on sky news and link

[mantrid]

Saw this on sky news this morning. They look like the NAO RoboSavvy sells but configured to work with autistic kids.

It seems like a real use for what is otherwise really a development
technology (I'd guess?)
anyway - the dancing made them look fun if a little expensive at £15K GBP

I assume the link has the dancing (I dont allow flash to play online so havnt seen it)

http://news.sky.com/story/1008566/danci ... c-children

[limor]

thanks for sharing!
you don't allow flash to play ?
let me describe the videos: one of them shows autistic kids sitting and moving their legs as the robot dances and one of them says he like it when it dances to Michael Jackson. The second video is a well produced promotional video for Birmingham university showing the robot mingling with students in their lab, corridors and breaks and finally dancing with a whole group of them.

It is a good thing when UK mass media shows robots in UK (as opposed to other countries) because it drives more UK appetite for robots.

[mantrid]

thanks for sharing!
you don't allow flash to play ?

Never have. I told them when they first released it that it could never be made secure (same for java - because they asked me incidently). They finally accpted that last year and flash is now deprecated. People are still ignorant enough to use it everywhere.
It just demonstrates the ubiquitous lack of skills people calling themselves "professionals" really have (or don't have)

It is a good thing when UK mass media shows robots in UK (as opposed to other countries) because it drives more UK appetite for robots.

I totally agree. Just one reason I'm trying to select a UK made 3D printer.
The funny thing is people have been trying to use the dissabled as a reason for having robots for as long as I can remember. Years ago there was a small(ish) robot arm called the RTX1000 and they were trying to sell it as an aid to the dissabled if I remember rightly. (The one I used was for other purposes though) I think they went bust very quickly.

What is nice about this is it seems to be a perfect fit for getting the autistic kids to interact.

The technology has to really move on in many fields before real widespread use can happen though. But this does show real progress is being made - albeit slowly.

It sounds from your description that the video is taken from the sky report - I managed to record that so I havn't missed anything.

[dominic]

thanks for sharing!
you don't allow flash to play ?

Never have. I told them when they first released it that it could never be made secure (same for java - because they asked me incidently). They finally accpted that last year and flash is now deprecated. People are still ignorant enough to use it everywhere.
It just demonstrates the ubiquitous lack of skills people calling themselves "professionals" really have (or don't have)

That includes you then. The videos work fine without flash - looking great on my ipad.

[mantrid]

Touch a nerve there did I ? Sorry.
But anyone willing to use an iPad is suspect anyway.
No storage - online streamed spying. I just hope you dont use it to do your banking. And you could have bought a samsung for less and had a better machine and software.

[robotlover17]

I think the possible benefits of robots like NAO are just remarkable! I don't completely understand why the autistic children can so easily communicate with the robot instead of other humans, but the improvement is amazing! Here is a video of the top three humanoid robots of today, entitled:
World's Top3 Humanoid Robots - Asimo vs HPR-4 vs NAO!
Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_m56irWKeI