how tall is astro?

[Fauna]

Excuse this poor stupid American for not being able to measure in the Metric System ^^; but what's 30 kg?

Canadian to the rescue! That would be about 66 lbs. He's also 4', 5", which is an average 9-10 year old boy height.

[Dragonrider1227]

Ah, thank you. Can you make a super-powered robot so light?

[Astro Forever]

Canadian to the rescue!

Yeah, I memorized those things a long ago, and not because of a school requirements but because of needs in everyday life! 1 kg = 2.2 lbs, 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters. I can never remember about the Fahrenheit/Celsius conversion though...

Ah, thank you. Can you make a super-powered robot so light?

Unfortunately, I also remember another thread that explained in details why it would be impossible... I guess I forgot most of it so I can still keep Astro alive in my mind.

[TasZero]

[QUOTE=Fauna;88543]Canadian to the rescue!

Yeah, I memorized those things a long ago, and not because of a school requirements but because of needs in everyday life! 1 kg = 2.2 lbs, 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters. I can never remember about the Fahrenheit/Celsius conversion though... [/QUOTE]

Thats because they don't convert nicely, such as 1=2... just remember that they are almost equal at -40... and that the freezing point is at 0C 32F

[QUOTE=Dragonrider1227;88544]Ah, thank you. Can you make a super-powered robot so light?

Unfortunately, I also remember another thread that explained in details why it would be impossible... I guess I forgot most of it so I can still keep Astro alive in my mind. [/QUOTE]
I think it would be possible given the right materials and tech advancements, if a fully functional human child can be made to weigh 30K then I imagine so too would a robot, you would merely need to find metal (or something else) with similar properties to the human equavilant.

[jeffbert]

I doubt that they could give such a robot enough stamina to be practical. It would require a tether to a power source to operate any more than a few minutes. Just the computer for the vision system would surely require a ton of energy, then there are the other parts of the brain; I assume separate computers for these functions because it seems that would mimic our own architecture; things work simultaneously.

Then, there are the physical demands for power, arms, legs, fingers, etc. Right now, the Lithium ion is about the best there is in eletric cells (batteries), but even it has limits and drawbacks. irate:

[AstroBoyGF]

true!^^

[fafner]

Just the computer for the vision system would surely require a ton of energy, then there are the other parts of the brain; I assume separate computers for these functions because it seems that would mimic our own architecture; things work simultaneously.

Nope. Multitasking is the thing that is needed: throw a processor with multitasking capabilities and a few gigas of RAM, and we're done. If some tasks are to CPU-intensive (thought processing is the best example), then throw a few more CPUs (a multi-core CPU would probably be the best idea). All of the processing part with peripherals would draw barely a few hundreds watts, maybe even less (several 100-watts bulbs). The big problem would be the apparatus to move the whole thing: legs and arms. Those would require far more energy.

Just as a comparison, today web servers are virtualized. That means that very often, you have a few computers with their own unique Internet address, but instead of a room filled with computers you have a single big computer that consumes far less energy and manage several virtual machines. Hardware and software have become so much powerful that it is now better to run several virtual computers on a single physical computer.

[TasZero]

It is an interesting subject, although perhaps a little off topic.

You really have to compare it to a human body, a human body can function at the size you want your Astroboy robot to be, so you merely have to replace the parts with robotic ones.
Like Fafner said, computers are becoming more advanced everyday, and such a computer could be modified and place in the robots head, to simulate a brain, with the right program and cooling it could easily work. I personally think the whole superpowers thing would be much more difficult, making a robot that can not only move properly, but is also very strong.... that would take a lot of work. I expect, given enough time it could be done, but I certainly don't have my hopes up for it to happen soon.

Look out for scientists called Tenma.... when they build the ministry of science....

[jeffbert]

I worked with equipment that could have done much through software, but instead used many custom made chips, some costing as much as $1000 (10 years ago). I realize that some of this was to protect proprietary designs; yet the hardware-based designs worked faster than the same designs implemented in software. For a robot, this would be crucial, especially in the visual and AI systems. I therefore, believe that some things just simply must be not only separate but implemented largely in hardware.

Making the visual system's first layer in hardware makes sense; for once you design it to recognize shapes or polygons, that need not change. Plus, it must operate very fast to process the visual data on anything approaching a real-time basis. Once this system outputs its data, the next level can interpret the combinations of polygons & decide what it 'sees.' This part would obviously need to allow changes; hence, software is appropriate.

Then, we have the AI, which must evaluate the sensory data from sight, sound, & touch, think about what to do about it, etc. I therefore suppose that these systems have different demands for speed, & reprogrammability, so it seems far more straight forward to use parallel processing, at the very least during the design phase, but seems approprite also at the production phase also.

I have been retired for 10 years now, but I doubt that much has changed in the area of power cells. Lithium-ion was the best then, & still is now. Any robot would still have a short operating time.

[TasZero]

You make a good point about operating time, such a thing would go through a good size battery in mere minutes... or less.
It leads to the conclusion that technology not yet perfected would be required.
I recently read an short article about new solar power technology which is being ever improved and will soon be used run small mobile devices (phones MP3's) without the need to plug the device into a charger... ever. Such creative technology as this could be implemented into the design of a robot. However it will take a long time.... if ever. But I imagine it would be do able. I mean the human body runs on energy taken from food... so it should be possible to make a robot run on electricity. It would be interesting to see what sort of design ideas robotic engineers decide to use in any upcoming robotic design (we had the thread from last week as a sample of current robot tech)