Sony identifies weaknesses in current humanoid robots
Sony highlights a fundamental issue in humanoid robots: limited joints create unnatural movement, calling for new structural mechanisms.
1.The Illusion of Imminent Revolution
When watching Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot conduct its training or Figure's latest humanoid robots loading clothes into a washing machine, it's easy to feel that a robot revolution is imminent. From the outside, the only remaining challenge appears to be perfecting the artificial intelligence software so that these machines can behave realistically in real-world environments.
2.A Deeper Problem Identified
However, leading companies in the industry have identified an even deeper problem. Recently, while making a request for research partnerships, Sony's robotics technology division highlighted a fundamental issue that hinders the progress of their robotic machines.
3.The Joint Limitation Issue
They mentioned that current humanoid and animal-mimicking robots have a "limited number of joints," and this creates a "disparity" between their movements and the movements of the subjects they imitate, thereby significantly reducing their value.
4.Sony's Call for New Solutions
Sony is calling for new "structural mechanisms" that can avoid these weaknesses. They demonstrate that this could enable the creation of robots with more intelligent physical bodies and dynamic movements.
5.Centralized Control as a Barrier
The fundamental problem is that humanoid robots are typically designed around software that controls everything centrally. This is also the barrier to natural behavior.
6.The Nature vs. Machine Movement Comparison
An athlete moves gracefully and efficiently because of the integrated, flexible vertebrae and coordination that their body operates with. In contrast, current humanoids can be described as rigid assemblies of metal and motors with limited degrees of freedom of movement.
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