Titan the Robot

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Titan the robot of Cyberstein Robots Ltd

Titan the Robot is a robot costume with a human in it and is used for entertainment at fairs , technology fairs and for sales promotion at automobile shows. It was realized by Nicholas Robert Fielding, who founded Cyberstein Robots Ltd in 2004 to market the product. An electric buggy is used on which "Titan the robot" is driven into the management. The driver of the docking station is called Dave, is extremely well dressed and wears sunglasses. The robot is 2.40 meters tall and weighs 60 kg. After switching on, there are small gags and singing to admire. For example, pop songs are sung and “Titan the Robot” splashes water into the audience.

Appearances

Titan the Robot was featured at several international live events. In 2010 he danced on stage with Rihanna . He performed with will.i.am at Wembley Stadium in 2013. He was featured in the Pro7 Show Germany's Next Top Model in 2013. In general, “Titan the Robot” is a constant in international show business. Jackie Chan, Heidi Klum and Will Smith performed together with him or had each other shown in a photo.

He appeared on the TV reality show Big Brother UK in 2010. There he competed against the candidates in a challenge. He was allowed to clean the carpet and process fruit into juice.

Imitators

"Nox the Robot" was developed for the German-speaking area and is also used as a trade fair and show robot. In this role, he appeared at the IdeenExpo 2013 together with the then Federal Minister for Labor and Social Affairs, Ursula von der Leyen . In the USA there is a similar show robot called “King Robota”. It is used at trade fairs and events.

reception

“Titan the Robot” is intended for entertainment, and is received with reluctance by the scientific community. The Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research calls it an example of a technical project, in a sociology magazine it is mentioned in the context of science shows without naming it as such and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft advertises "Titan the Robot" in a flyer for the Hannover Messe 2015 as follows:

"You can also experience TITAN THE ROBOT live between the lectures."

- Source:

Not a real robot

Because "Titan the robot" looks almost like a real robot , there was speculation on the Singularityhub news portal about whether there was a human in it or whether it might even be a real robot:

"While several bloggers and the like are praising Titan with amazement, a little research uncovers that Titan is not a true robot at all - there is a person inside of it!"

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Of course, there is a person hidden in the costume. A so-called "actor" controls the arms and legs and activates the sound effects. Otherwise it wouldn't be a show, but real magic. The point of magic is to deceive the audience with illusions. Also with the Chess Turk (Baron von Kemplen) a person was hidden in it:

"There was person hidden inside who moved out of sight on a sliding chair while von Kemplen demonstrated the machinery before the game."

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However, it is not a virtual actor, as it is used in computer games as a physics controller and with which one controls athletes who perform acrobatic movements. Rather, it is an actor in the sense of a real person, i.e. an actor who stands on a stage and performs a performance there. Similar to the Jedi Training Academy in Disneyland , where children have to fight Darth Vader with a lightsaber .

No algorithms are used that were developed at the MIT Leglab in the 1990s to control the animatronics servo motors. Usually finite state machines are used to calculate the target points for the feet, to control the walk cycle and to maintain balance. The M2 walking robot and the Torso Cog are two different things that were not combined. The follow-up project Petman , which was developed at Boston Dynamics , is completely different from “Titan the Robot”. Petman is able to sweat through an artificial skin, while “Titan the Robot” lacks such a function. There are other indications that prove that it is a costume. The onboard computer is in the docking station on which Dave sometimes clicks something, a Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b The future of entertainment - Titan the Robot. Retrieved February 18, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Tsantakis, Emmanouil: Προγραμματισμός ρομπότ Robonova. In: bachelorThesis, TEI of Crete, School of Engineering (STEF), Department of Mechanical Engineering . 2012 ( teicrete.gr [PDF]).
  3. ↑ NOX the Robot website. Retrieved February 20, 2017 .
  4. ↑ NOX the Robot welcomes Ursula von der Leyen to the IdeenExpo. Retrieved February 20, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Steijn, Wouter and Luiijf, Eric and Beek, D: Emergent risk to workplace safety as a result of the use of robots in the work place . In: TNO, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research . 2016 ( tno.nl [PDF]).
  6. ^ Roche, Joseph and Cullen, Ronan J and Ball, Sarah-Louise: The educational opportunity of a modern science show . In: The International Journal of Science in Society . tape 8 , no. 3 , 2016 ( researchgate.net [PDF]).
  7. ^ Deutsche Messe: Event program Hannover Messe 2015 . 2015 ( fraunhofer.de [PDF]).
  8. ↑ Titan Robot Wows, Frightens ... But Its Fake. October 23, 2009, accessed February 18, 2017 .
  9. ^ Noel Sharkey and Amanda Sharkey: Artificial intelligence and natural magic . In: Artificial Intelligence Review Springer Nature . tape 25 , no. 1-2 , 2007, pp. 9--19 , doi : 10.1007 / s10462-007-9048-z ( researchgate.net [PDF]).
  10. ↑ Jessica K. Hodgins and Wayne L. Wooten and David C. Brogan and James F. O'Brien: Animating human athletics . In: Proceedings of the 22nd annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques - SIGGRAPH 95 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) . 1995, doi : 10.1145 / 218380.218414 ( cmu.edu [PDF]).
  11. ↑ Shaffer, JC: Discovering the Magic Kingdom: An Unofficial Disneyland Vacation Guide . In: AuthorHouse . 2010 ( google.de ).
  12. ↑ Parseghian, Allen S: Control of a simulated, three-dimensional bipedal robot to initiate walking, continue walking, rock side-to-side, and balance . In: Massachusetts Institute of Technology . 2000 ( with.edu [PDF]).
  13. ^ GA Pratt: Low Impedance Walking Robots . In: Integrative and Comparative Biology Oxford University Press (OUP) . tape 42 , no. 1 , 2002, p. 174--181 , doi : 10.1093 / icb / 42.1.174 ( silverchair-cdn.com [PDF]).
  14. ↑ Nelson, Gabe and Saunders, Aaron and Neville, Neil and Swilling, Ben and Bondaryk, Joe and Billings, Devin and Lee, Chris and Playter, Robert and Raibert, Marc: Petman: A humanoid robot for testing chemical protective clothing . In: Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan The Robotics Society of Japan . tape 30 , no. 4 , 2012, p. 372--377 , doi : 10.7210 / jrsj.30.372 ( jst.go.jp [PDF]).
  15. ^ Titan The Robot in Galati, Romania, (time index 0:32). Retrieved February 19, 2017 .