The Beatles and The Monkees. Scooby-Doo and Josie and The Pussycats. Transformers and Gobots. It seems like whenever someone creates something amazing, someone else has to copy it. But what happens when the copy is as good as the original? The humanoid robot or HUBO from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) may seem like a copy of ASIMO. It was made later, has the same astronaut look to its design, and performs many of the same cutesy tasks. It’s even the exact same height (130cm). Yet the latest version, HUBO-2, has the range of motion and the mobility to dance, shake hands, and even play with a sword. Is it a copy, or just an example of brilliant robotic engineers thinking alike? Watch the video after the break and judge for yourself.

KAIST's HUBO (left) has many of the characteristics of Honda's ASIMO (right) but that's to be expected from two humanoid robots. Right?

Humanoid robotics is sort of like general artificial intelligence. There have been some amazing strides in narrow application robotics (such as Adept Quattro), and narrow AI (artificial writers), but the race to create human-like intelligence and bodies is still a long ways off. ASIMO and HUBO are two of the few high profile and well funded private programs actually chasing the dream of robots that can move and interact with people as an equal. Their successes, then, are typically unique in the field. ASIMO has had break-throughs in the level of complex human tasks it can accomplish. HUBO put on Albert Einstein’s face and interacted with people with help from Hanson Robotics. With enough time, effort, and money, it seems like that one of these two projects will eventually create a robot that can fully mimic human actions and find a role in human society. Companion bots may seem like just another science fiction fantasy, but these humanoid robotics programs are taking steps in that direction.

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