Samsung’s walking robot looks like Rosie

June 27th, 2012

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Samsung have filed a patent for a human-like walking robot that looks a bit like a basic version of Rosie from The Jetsons, the 1962 animated sitcom set in a futuristic utopia with spaceships and robot maids.

Min Hyung Lee, Kyung Shik Roh and Woong Kwon have invented the walking robot for Samsung, who have filed an application at The United States Patent and Trade Marks Office.

Unlike Rosie, who rolls on wheels at her base to move around, Samsung’s iteration is modelled on the human walk.

The patent goes into great detail to describe how the robot can adjust its gait, pattern and speed to appear more like a person. The patent covers its control mechanism, achieved by “a comparatively simple arithmetic operation process”.

Perhaps a little freaky, the patent also mentions machinery in the robot’s chest that might make it appear like the breathing action of a person…weird.

Like many patents there is extensive detail about the nuts and bolts of things, but no indication to what purpose the walking robot may be put to.

We can think of an obvious one.

Samsung is no stranger to robotic appliances in the home, with the NaviBot doing the hard vacuuming yards around many a home in Australia.

Perhaps the walking robot will one day be Samsung’s modern day version of Rosie?!