VOA英语2010年-Futuristic Robot Comes to Life in Virginia L

The world of tomorrow - at least according to writers of science fiction - includes human-like robots that interact with people and help society in many ways. That future is becoming a reality at Virginia Tech in Blackburg, Virginia.

Meeting CHARLI

"I can walk like you with two legs. I can see and recognize objects with my two camera eyes. I can track objects and grasp them with my hand. And most of all, I can play a game of soccer," says CHARLI, 1.4-meter-tall robot, made of shiny black metal and white plastic, who can also stretch his arms. His name is an acronym¹ for Cognitive² Humanoid Autonomous³ Robot with Learning Intelligence.

Billed as the nation's first full-sized autonomous walking humanoid robot, CHARLI was developed over the past year-and-a-half at Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms⁴ Laboratory. A team of students designed and built it for just $20,000.

 
Virginia Tech
Carbon-fiber tubes and custom-milled aluminum⁵ parts give CHARLI a strong but lightweight body.
Dennis Hong, who heads RoMeLa, as the lab is known, says that's unheard of in the world of robotics.

"Because you had a very, very small amount of seed money, $20,000, we had to be really creative," says Hong. "How can you create a full-size, fully⁶ autonomous robot in such a short period of time with such a small amount of money? So, instead of using quote, unquote, conventional methods, we had to be innovative⁷ and come up with different types of solutions."

Off the shelf

Although CHARLI's circuit boards and some of the power boards are custom-designed, the robot is made up of mostly off-the-shelf parts.

"For example, most of the shoulder motors you can buy from the internet, these are motors," says Taylor Pesek, a junior engineering student from Ohio. He helped develop and manufacture white covers for CHARLI's torso and arms to make it look more human while also protecting the electronics underneath⁸. "Right now, we're using vacuum-form plastic. It's really easy to manufacture. It's relatively⁹ impact resistant¹⁰ and the thicker material that we're using right now also helps resist cracking and abrasion¹¹."

CHARLI can walk forward, backward, and sideways, and it can vary the length of its stride. But it can only walk on a hard, flat surface. RoMeLa is developing a heavier version, CHARLI-H, that will be able to handle various surfaces.

Hong has his eye on Robocop 2050 - a futuristic, international competition that's still 40 years away - which will pit full-sized, autonomous robots against that year's World Cup soccer champions. But he expects more from CHARLI than a win on the soccer field.

"The ultimate goal of our CHARLI project is to make a full-size autonomous human robots that can eventually help people, help the society," he says.

 
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech will soon post instructions for building one of its robots online so people can download, reprogram, upload and improve it.
The three Ds

The team is focusing its research on what is known as the three Ds: dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs.

"So those are the areas we want to send robots instead of humans," says Hong, "like in a nuclear reactor¹². We need to clean up all the nuclear waste, we send in robots. In the war zone, there are roadside bombs, very dangerous. They send in the robots to do the work. In a factory, repetitive tasks. We humans, we don't want to do that, so we send in the robots."

December is a big month for RoMeLa. The Virginia Tech lab begins work on a project using robots to fight fires on naval¹³ ships. Another grant will allow Hong and his team to put the instructions for building another one of their robots online.

"You can download instructions," says Hong. "You can build your own if you want to. All the software is there, you can download it, reprogram it, upload, and improve it."

The build-your-own-robot program is called DARwIn-OP. That's short for Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence-Open Platform. It makes its debut¹⁴, along with the legs and feet of the next generation of CHARLI, at the International Humanoid Robotics Conference in Nashville, Tennessee this month.

1 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

2 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

3 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

4 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

8 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

11 abrasion   

n.磨（擦）破，表面磨损

参考例句：

• Diamonds have extreme resistance to abrasion.钻石极抗磨损。
• This analysis is helpful to the research of derailment and abrasion machenism.该分析有助于脱轨和磨耗机理的探讨。

12 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

13 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

14 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。