Blog Assignment #4


Nao robot's Video Clip - "Via Continum Synchronized Dance"


This video shows some capabilities that the Nao robots have like equilibrium, synchronization, listening skills, human appearance in the way how it moves its hands and legs, and many others. This video is optimistic of the capabilities of the Nao robots by showing it how make a synchronized dance. The creator's channel on Youtube for this videos is TheAmazel and all his videos are about the Nao robots' capabilities. The description for the video doesn't say a lot of the Nao robots, just some specification of what song the robots danced. Looking others video, I found some that has a better description and also the link page of the Aldebaran Nao robot and a forum. But in this video, the description should have more technical information. This video is not actually an advertisement and doesn't say a lot about the Nao Robots' technical description, they just show what the robots can do specially the ability of synchronization.


But we have to ask ourselves the question "what is a robot or artificial intelligence?" and understand what is all about. As an encyclopedia article says, "Artificial intelligence is a subfield of computer science that seeks to remedy this situation by creating software and hardware that possesses some of the behavioral flexibility shown by natural intelligences, both human and animal"("Artificial intelligence", 2008. p. 326). As the definition of this encyclopedia's articles's quote says, robots are made to behave in a same way as humans and animals do, so the Nao robots. We can see the Nao robots moving like humans, how they move they arms and legs at the rhythm of music but this is obviously thanks to their software. ("Via Continum Synchronized Dance", 2013). There is a way in the movement of their parts that make you feel those robots feel. it is really important because what make us different of objects is the emotions that we have, of course it's impossible that artificial intelligence can produce emotion but they can simulate it and act like they are having emotions. that's what it's artificial technology, the creation of these kinds of software that make robots and in this case the Nao robots simulate emotions.


Comparing the Video with a technical descriptions of the Nao robots, we can conclude that the technical description is more appealing than the video. Of course the video shows the actions and how the robot acts and works but does't specify why the robot can perform in that way. With the technical description, you can say things like the Nao robots can be controlled by softwares that send the information via wifi. (Lallee et al., n.d.). In the video you can see that the robots are dancing synchronously but you don't know what makes them to do those actions. That is an advantage of the technical description. on the other hand the video can show you how a robot can perform different task which is important because sometimes people that don't know the language of the technical description can understand it but with the video they can see more about the robot.

Reference

Via Continum Synchronized Dance [Online Video]. (2013, April 3).YouTube. Retrieved April 28, 2013, from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktk8Lzwn3Z0&list=UUkgMk84XS7fAUJbgA6Uzd5Q&index=1

Artificial intelligence. (2008). In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Science (4th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 326-330). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.rpa.laguardia.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2830100190&v=2.1&u=cuny_laguardia&it=r&p=GVRL.Science&sw=w

Lallee, S., Jouen, A., Petit, M., Madden, C., Boucher, J.D., Weitzenfeld, A., Dominey, P.F.. "Cooperative Human Robot Interaction with the Nao Humanoid: Technical Description Paper for the Radical Dudes". INSERM U846 Stem Cell and Brain Research Institut, Robot Cognition Laboratory.