EMerge Americas features soccer-playing robots
Company’s goal is the development of life-saving innovations
Falling robots, instead of a talking robot, were part of an unexpected keynote address at Tuesday’s eMerge Americas conference in Miami Beach.
Sophia, the robot that was originally scheduled to be a speaker at South Florida’s largest technology event, had technical difficulties, according to eMerge CEO Xavier Gonzalez. The interactive, humanlike robot, made in China by Hanson Robotics, was supposed to close out the two-day conference, which took place April 23-24 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
“Sophia the Robot sends her deepest regrets to the eMerge Americas attendees. Due to lastminute technical challenges she won’t be in attendance today,” according to a news release. “But the show will go on!”
Sophia’s replacement was human speaker Dennis Hong, who leads the robotics and mechanisms laboratory at the University of California in Los Angeles. His morning presentation focused on the evolution of robots in his lab and featured video showing falling robots, and even one that shattered during a research competition.
While the machines’ mishaps made for a funny video at the conference, Hong stressed these moments also serve as learning opportunities for his students.
Of course, there have also been successes, he said, including THOR, a robot that can kick a soccer ball and won the international RoboCup soccer competition in 2015. THOR is programmed to perform independently of humans, and must combine speed and agility, kick a ball with either foot, maneuver around the field, and be able to sense locations of opposing players as well as the goal.
The ultimate goal of the UCLA lab, he said, is to develop life-saving robots. However, emulating the human design of two arms and two legs was not working, because it made the robots too slow and unstable. So the team had to rethink the design.
“If your robot doesn’t have to be a human, you can do things like this,” said Hong, as he showed the lab’s latest robot designs using stairs, hopping and jumping. One even had a helium balloon for a body.
The annual technology conference also featured robots being developed in South Florida.
Students at Florida International University in Miami are working on mini-robots for use in cleaning up nuclear sites. The robots allow people to work remotely, protecting them from harmful radiation.
FIU, a public research university, also gave demonstrations of an on-the-spot saliva test that could potentially be used by police to determine whether a driver has been using drugs.
The testing system “is my dissertation,” said Juan Camoura, 24, an FIU doctorate student. “We’re working to get it patented.”
eMerge is also about helping startup businesses, and there were about 100 at the conference, with some making pitches to potential investors in eMerge’s annual startup competition.
Lillian Roberts, co-founder of Xendoo, a technology-based accounting service based in Fort Lauderdale, on Monday was openly practicing her pitch for the competition. Her business partner, Steven Gelley, said the company has already attracted $1.2 million in capital from private investors.
Another startup, Delray Beachbased Rooster, was trying to spread the word about what it does: provide a support network for those offering services such as massage therapy or personal training.
“Have you heard of Etsy?” said