{"id":32287,"date":"2016-03-25T10:44:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T09:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/?p=32287"},"modified":"2019-04-26T15:50:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-26T13:50:07","slug":"democratizing-robotics-inmoov-lends-the-future-of-ai-a-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rudebaguette.com\/en\/2016\/03\/democratizing-robotics-inmoov-lends-the-future-of-ai-a-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratizing Robotics: InMoov lends the future of AI a hand"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If all you saw in robotics yesterday was Microsoft’s failed attempt<\/a> at it, then it was kind of a disappointing day for artificial intelligence. The humans built it, and the other humans broke it… bummer. Luckily for me, I was at Hacking de l’H\u00f4tel de Ville where got to spend time with InMoov, the world’s first 3D printed life-size robot – and pretty much the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen up close.<\/p>\n

Gael Langevin, the creator, segued into AI quite by chance when a car manufacturer, specializing in custom-fitting vehicles for disabled drivers, asked him to use his skills as a sculptor and designer to 3D print a prosthetic hand. The project fell through, but Langevin was intrigued enough to pursue it: first the hand, then the arm, then the shoulder.<\/p>\n

Soon he had two full limbs but nothing to power them, so he turned where we all go for answers: the interwebs. Finding an open source AI software by MyRobotLab, Langevin collaborated with creator Greg Perry to create a life-size robot. Then, the amazing part: he paid it forward by making it all open source, replicable on any 12x12x12cm 3D printer.<\/p>\n

Open source opens doors<\/h2>\n

\u201cBeing able to use contributions from other people, sharing ideas and prototypes, makes it go so much faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referencing another robotics company whose product was eight years in development, Langevin explained that InMoov was able to create theirs in only three, thanks to open source. \u201cAnd if 3D printing hadn\u2019t been held up by licenses and patents for 20 years, we would have been able to do this 20 years ago. We could have had these prosthetics 20 years ago. We would have gained so much time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, everyone has access to InMoov. Langevin describes it as a collaborative project, crediting others with the ability \u201cto make something totally crazy that you think you can\u2019t do – but with open source you can do it.\u201d This is possible because, thanks to Langevin, \u201cAnyone can download the whole robot, print it and program it.\u201d An engineer in Australia wrote a script to make the robot\u2019s jaw move, facilitating speech, and now the robot can speak as well as move. Langevin went on to integrate an Xbox Kinect that enables the robot to learn from movements, gestures and words.<\/p>\n

\"inmoov\"<\/a><\/p>\n

InMoov has been recreated more than 250 times in 62 countries. The use cases that Langevin cites are laudable – in New Zealand it\u2019s used to research human interactions with robots, and a London hospital employs their robots to facilitate outside contact, via Oculus Rift, for patients in isolation wards. Ultimately, Langevin\u2019s vision is to build a campus in Paris where students can have a hands-on education in robotics and participate in building more robots that can act in a supportive capacity, such as for the elderly and infirm.<\/p>\n

I asked Langevin if he wasn\u2019t afraid what less well-meaning people could do with the open source technology. Au contraire<\/em>, he said – the reason he made it open source in the first place is because he wants to counteract the potential for maliciously-motivated development of artificial intelligence. “We don’t know what governments [or anyone else with resources to develop this technology] might be doing with AI – but we know what we are doing. That’s why we need to have our own AI.” By democratizing robotics and creating a community built upon InMoov\u2019s ethos, Langevin believes that AI will advance the creation of transhumanism that supports and nurtures humanity rather than creating anything that could harm it.<\/p>\n