Yes its true, robots are indeed created to serve humans. Some, more so than others, help people in the outdoors with guidance and safety. An EU funded project, called ‘Ubiquitous networking Robotics in Urban Settings’, created the robots Tibi and Dabo to help with these tasks. The robots would autonomously navigate urban spaces, providing service information and guiding people to their destinations. Named after a mountain overlooking Barcelona, Tibi (orange) and Dabo (blue) were built at the Technical University of Catalonia (Institute of Robotics) and designed by ESDI (Escola Superior de Disseny) in Spain. Both robots were equipped with GPS sensors, stereo cameras, front and rear-facing laser range finders, and a chest-level touch screen. All of this was then mounted on top of a standard Segway, which provided a cheap mobile platform. According to the designers at ESDI, the robots were designed to reflect universal complementary opposites, such as masculinity and femininity or the Yin and Yang of Chinese philosophy. The robots were then used to research outdoor navigation and human-robot interaction. That’s great and all but using Google translate on the Technical University of Catalonia website, the robots might be used for a different purpose than to help, “Under this project, the UPC and created Tibi Dabo, two humanoid robots aimed at becoming guides and interact with humans. The two robots work together, since one of them leads and guides a group of people while the other is placed behind the group and ensures that any should perish.” Sounds like the robots might actually ‘march’ us off to their industrial ‘slave labor’ camps and eradicate us if we try to escape. Just kidding.
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