[ExI] Smallest human-equivalent device

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sun, Oct 13, 2013 at 02:04:56PM -0700, spike wrote:

> Ja.  The core idea is that if we can develop sufficiently human-like robots,
> they can use our tools, run our machines, drive our cars, wear our clothes,
> generally use the existing infrastructure rather than requiring a huge
> expensive retrofit with competing standards.  That expensive development

Handicap-proofed surroundings are already suitable for wheeled robots.
Which can be rather agile, think Segway. And as a first step teleoperation
would do. You can teleoperate (and teleport, switching between multiple
platforms on the fly) from your ergonomic chair. From your home,
if you've got fiber.

> might be our least expensive path forward.  This approach appeals to me from
> a controls engineering perspective: it's a hard enough problem to be
> interesting.

An interesting subtopic: weed- and pest-picking bots. These can
be big as a gantry, or agile rodent-sized beasties blasting bugs
with lasers.