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| Human gestures perplex Asimo, Honda museum robot guide | Human gestures perplex Asimo, Honda museum robot guide |
| (1 day later) | |
| Honda's popular robot Asimo faced problems with gesture recognition on its first day as a museum guide at the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo. | Honda's popular robot Asimo faced problems with gesture recognition on its first day as a museum guide at the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo. |
| The machine struggled to differentiate between museum-goers raising their hands to ask a question and raising their hands to take photos, Associated Press reported. | The machine struggled to differentiate between museum-goers raising their hands to ask a question and raising their hands to take photos, Associated Press reported. |
| It is "working" as a tour guide at the museum for the next four weeks as a trial. | It is "working" as a tour guide at the museum for the next four weeks as a trial. |
| Asimo cannot respond to voice commands. | Asimo cannot respond to voice commands. |
| The robot is instead designed to answer 100 questions selected via touchscreen from a written panel. | The robot is instead designed to answer 100 questions selected via touchscreen from a written panel. |
| But during a demonstration it froze and asked: "Who wants to ask Asimo a question?" repeatedly when people pointed their cameras at it. | But during a demonstration it froze and asked: "Who wants to ask Asimo a question?" repeatedly when people pointed their cameras at it. |
| "Right now, it can recognize a child waving to it, but it's not able to comprehend the meaning of the waving," said Honda robotics technology specialist Satoshi Shigemi. | "Right now, it can recognize a child waving to it, but it's not able to comprehend the meaning of the waving," said Honda robotics technology specialist Satoshi Shigemi. |
| 'Not able to comprehend' | 'Not able to comprehend' |
| Asimo has been in development since 1996. | Asimo has been in development since 1996. |
| Speaking to the BBC last year, Prof Chris Melhuish, director of the British Robotics Laboratory at Bristol University, said that interaction with humans was the next big step for robotics. | Speaking to the BBC last year, Prof Chris Melhuish, director of the British Robotics Laboratory at Bristol University, said that interaction with humans was the next big step for robotics. |
| "The key thing, and it's what we're working on at the moment, is safe human-robot interaction," he said. | "The key thing, and it's what we're working on at the moment, is safe human-robot interaction," he said. |
| "That's not just making the robot compliant, it's making it have advanced social intelligence. If a robot is handing you something hot or sharp, for example, it needs to know whether it has your attention." | "That's not just making the robot compliant, it's making it have advanced social intelligence. If a robot is handing you something hot or sharp, for example, it needs to know whether it has your attention." |