Robot Record At Drexel University
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Hundreds of humans were on hand Monday at Drexel University's auditorium to witness a robot milestone.
The event was part of National Engineers Week, designed to get kids interested in the field and to spotlight the contributions of engineers.
"This is number one, this is number two..."
They're so new they still need names. Six of them -- members of the HUBO humanoid family. They join "Jaemi," a fellow robot who's been at Drexel for a few years now.
Engineering professor Youngmoo Kim said having all seven on stage at once -- moving, dancing, shaking hands -- has never been done before.
"Oh, it inspires the imagination," Kim tells KYW Newsradio. "The idea you can have a machine that can learn from the environment, can interact with the environment, can do things we normally ascribe only to humans."
Dancing, for one. Though the HUBO family's moves largely steer clear of hip-shaking and concentrate instead on arm-raising.
Students, like Youngbum, are learning the nuts, bolts, bits, and bytes.
"Balancing is the most difficult," he said. "We need to mold the robot to balance very well."
Soon, the robots will be shared with other colleges with a goal of preparing them for use in the real world.
The military is interested. So is seven-year-old Liam, who envisions putting his feet up while the robot does the chores.
"They'll clean your house and fix a lot," he said. "And do the dishes and cook."
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