I’m still patiently awaiting the inevitable John Connor robot apocalypse, but in the meantime the big brains over at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have me thinking that maybe all humanoids aren’t hellbent on global destruction: take for example their latest endeavor Rollin’ Justin, a robot ,whom despite his name, has never attended the Coachella music festival. But don’t feel too bad for RJ, the humanoid has been performing what researchers call “fine manipulations”, meaning that through the combination of performance hardware working with intelligence software, the humanoid is able to predict the trajectory of a thrown ball and then respond accordingly, as to catch the sphere as it’s lobbed over to him. At this point in the research, Rollin’ Justin has a catch rate of over 80% -a statistic that’s equally as awesome as it is eery.
And thanks in part to the humanoid’s very simple iPad interface, taking balls to the face isn’t the only thing this maverick can do; Rollin’ Justin will also carefully make you a cup of coffee, if you would like. No, honest, he really will. It’s in the video after the jump. Would a guy like me lie to somebody like you, after all that we’ve been through together? Matching tattoos, bro. You and I are family.
Video of the Rollin’ Justin humanoid after the jump:
[via PlasticPals]