Russia Launches 'Vodkabot'

A semi-autonomous humanoid robot said to be Russia’s first such machine has fallen over within seconds of facing the public for the first time.

The robot, named AIDOL – also the moniker of the Artificial Intelligence Dynamic Organism Lab that made it – can carry ten kilograms, work autonomously for up to six hours with or without an internet connection, and move at six kilometers an hour. AIDOL’s web page claims its AI includes “A set of solutions that allows a robot to move in space, transport objects and communicate,” including by “reproducing 12 basic emotions and hundreds of micro-expressions.”

The page also includes this photo of AIDOL. We think the micro-expression depicted is “murderous cyber-rage.”

AIDOL let its eponymous bot out in public for the first time yesterday, with unimpressive results.

Youtube Video

The Register has some sympathy for AIDOL, because the demo gods are always cruel – your correspondent saw a glitchy Cisco keynote earlier this week.

Another seemingly universal element of this story is that AIDOL’s creators, like any good Western startup, have apparently said they’ll learn from this failure.

Russian newswire TASS reports that 77 percent of the components used to make AIDOL are local creations, and that its maker hopes to reach 93 percent.

AIDOL also offers a desktop version of its bot that it suggests you might want to install in a public place so it can interact with humans. ®