On this week's episode of Science and Star Wars....
Helper Droids.
Hey there and welcome to Science and Star Wars where we explore how close
real-world science has come to our favorite Star Wars technology.
I'm Anthony Carboni and joining me as always is my dear friend...hello my name is
Watson. And today we're asking the biggest question facing mankind.
When am I gonna get a droid to do stuff for me? Droids like R2-D2 and BB-8 aren't just sweet
characters. They're also incredible technological advancements that if real
would help humanity in every aspect of life. Seriously droids have mechanical
interfaces, welders, rockets, hologram projectors. They can even carry drinks
Drinks people! And you want to know what's even cooler? We are so close to
having the tech to make those droids fully independent. He agrees!
It's not just drinks
in the last few decades helper robots of all types have begun appearing in more
common places. Keep in mind we're super close to having a real R2-D2 but to do
that we need a few things.
Still, that hasn't stopped scientists and engineers
from making some amazing progress. At the University of California San Francisco
hospital robots move large objects freeing the people who work there to
focus on helping well people who need help. And this is Robonaut a wait for it
robot astronaut. If it looks human that's kind of the point we need to have
something that is able to use the same sorts of tools and interfaces to do the
same sort of maintenance tests as crew members would do because there's going
to be a long time that spacecraft or habitat will be uncrewed there will be
no humans on board. This is Ollie a driverless vehicle from a start-up named
local motors that uses Watson to communicate with riders and plot out
destinations based on their needs. You establish a relationship and a trust in
the vehicle because Watson brings that personality into it hi everyone my name
is Ollie. And it's so like the relationship we all
had with R2-D2. We connected to it and I think Watson's helping to make that
emotional connection to them. And at the IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center
experts have created TJ by a do-it-yourself project for learning how
to code your very own AI robot. What do you see? Your object I see our television
equipment television camera charcoal color I'm
excited to see how he falls for Watson services in new ways that we haven't
thought of it's just a matter of time before we get to see personalized
androids following us around.
Threepio! Where can he be!
with the help of Watson robots could one day help
people all over the world but right now I work for Star Wars and Mama don't want
to wait for no future so we're gonna build the droid right now. Guys this is
the internet, internet this is Michael McMaster, Mike Sena they are two members
of the R2 builder's club and also two of the people that help Disney and
Lucasfilm build and maintain their droids
I understand today we are gonna build a droid of our own and use some Watson
technology to give it a little bit of personality. Yep so I'm using a Raspberry
Pi with Python programming languages and I'm gonna be accessing some of Watson's
API. We'll run this through. I'm bad at wrenched but I'm great at droids.
So our droid will be able to listen and
and understand things that are said to it, respond to those things in natural
language and then see and understand objects in the world around it. Correct.
That is awesome!
Good morning! Hello. Alright, do you know who you are? Based on my
image recognition capabilities I believe I am the body of R3-A3
for the Star Wars Rebels Iron Squadron. R3, open your door.
R3, wave. How is it doing this? What happens is the Raspberry Pi records your
voice then I upload the file to Watson then Watson returns that to the
Raspberry Pi then the program can decide whether or not to open a door do a wave
or play Watson's voice. Oh that's awesome. You're awesome. Come on I'm gonna give
you a tour of the set. Tell me something interesting about this guy. R2-D2 served
Padme Amidala Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker
Yes you know your stuff okay let's say I'm being chased by one of these. What's
the best way to take it down? After watching Rogue One, I can say phase Baze Malbus
was effective in taking out an AT-ACT with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher
impressive R3, impressive. Can you do anything else you want to show
off you can take a photo of us and email it to me. Yeah let's do it!
I have never had my picture taken by a droid before.
There it is. That's amazing! Thank You R3 and thank you Mike, thank you Michael for coming by and helping us
bring R3 to life. Remember we've got more about AI coming in an upcoming
episode so be sure to hit up ibm.com/Star Wars for that and everything
else we do