- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Murata Boy.jpgSuper-domestique? Robots evolve from vacuuming the floor to cycling uphill (+video)
Robots, eh? They can do the vacuuming, make a cup of tea, play football, and of course they’ve been making cars for years. Luckily for us, however, there’s little chance of a Terminator-style apocalypse if they aren’t able to master something that comes as naturally to human beings as riding a bike. Sorry, what’s that? Oh dear. Better track down John Connor and keep him safe.
News reaches us from Japan of the latest version of the bicycling robot Murata Boy, originally developed in 2005, unveiled at the recent CREATEC Japan 2010 show.
Intended primarily to showcase the Murata Manufacturing Company’s skills in fields such as movement sensors, communications and energy saving, the robot is also used to help engage schoolchildren in science, and there is an awful lot of technology in there, as this leaflet makes clear. Murata Boy has a sister, too, the unicycling Murata Girl. We’re not sure whether she’s also able to juggle and use a diabolo, but you never know.
While neither is about to break any speed records, and without wishing to take anything away from Murata's achievement to date, watching the robots go through their paces does make you realise just what a perfect marriage the human body is with a machine as essentially simple as a bicycle. You can spend millions trying to replicate that electronically, but right now, you're not going to come close to imitating it.
One advantage of robots, of course, is that their behaviour – in this pre-Judgment Day world at least – is entirely predictable and their performance precisely measurable. With the latest iteration of Murata Boy now able to go uphill, if they can just get the speed sorted out, we reckon we’ll see one in Team Sky colours before the decade’s over.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- mark1a 2 sec ago
I'll put you down as a no then.
- Boopop 2 hours 11 min ago
I find it deeply jarring and disappointing that Sir David agrees with these people not wanting a cycle lane. Whenever I watch one of his excellent...
- chrisonabike 2 hours 20 min ago
May need insurance, tax and a licence. No problem with the lights though.
- Simon E 2 hours 36 min ago
Yes, they look just like the Lezyne Zecto model. My club bought a couple of sets from the LBS for our midweek TTs so if someone turns up without...
- Hirsute 5 hours 8 min ago
If you can't see a %^$&ing large tractor what ^%$£"!*ing hope is there that you will see a cyclist ?...
- chrisonabike 5 hours 26 min ago
Well if you *can* interview the original riders at all surely they worked, at least?...
- David9694 5 hours 55 min ago
Live: Car plunges over wall and lands on beach rocks...
- biking59boomer 6 hours 1 min ago
Looks like yet another bike share service that's going to fold because of selfish idiots.
- brooksby 11 hours 8 min ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
Add new comment
10 comments
Maybe I mis-read the tone of the article, sorry about that.
I'm not sure about having t'internet implanted in my head, but if I can get re-chipped to track-stand like that, I'm in...
oi! stop taking my username in vain!!! I am no robot
Don't let the jocular tone of the piece fool you, I've nothing but admiration for the people developing these and other robots. But writing it did make me reflect on just how complex and wonderful the human body is.
Having said that, I've probably watched far too many sci-fi movies with a robots-gone-bad plot than is good for me
No doubt about it don-don, these machines are undeniably impressive. One thing that stuck with me after I "met" Asimo and interviewed his handler was what he told me about how children interact with the robot. Because Asimo is their size, they really relate to "him" and often start to cry when he leaves. Says something for their eventual potential to interact with people and provide companionship, I think.
I'm impressed don_don and I know Jeff is cos he's seen Asimo in the flesh as it were, I'm just not scared yet… or maybe we're all trying to keep our sprits up.
Was at a talk last year by one of those futurologist chaps big corporations hire to predict technological and societal trends and he reckoned it was going to be a very short time indeed before machine intellect surpassed that of humans - in the future apparently we are all going to be machines or part machine with the internet implanted in our heads being the first step. Nice.
Come on guys - Robots unicycling and doing a totally, utterly perfect track-stand? If you are not impressed and amazed by that, then you need your heads examining
Simon, here's some entirely predictable robot behaviour...Looks like Asimo's been on the bottle again!
that unicycling lady robot looks like something out of a modern remake of chorlton and the wheelies
I see the little propellor in his chest stopped going round as he hit the middle of the "hill" was that the robot equivalent of going anaerobic I wonder?
Crikey he cycles uphill faster than me. And probably with less bleeping too (this feels like ****ing Mount Fuji!)