Robots on TV

My kids really like this show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoUguN38nmA
(fast forward to 1:50 for the action)

While I'm watching with them, I'm thinking, how on earth are they getting away with this? I was just at the RIA Safety Conference where we spent three long days obsessing over risk assessments, redundancy, and safe zones for robotics. Here we have people being literally flung around by what appears to be a Fanuc robot--all branding removed of course. I'm sure Ellen is not actually manipulating the robot from her podium, but rather executing pre-programmed motions (or, more likely, signaling the robot operator who then triggers it).

I can't believe there would be any regulatory or standards group out there that would remotely approve of what they're doing, let alone the robot manufacturer. So that makes me wonder, what procedures are they following to prevent injury? A glitch in the program could easily cause a broken bone, skull fracture, or worse. Apparently OSHA has no oversight here since it isn't a "workplace"?

It all seems pretty irresponsible to me, even for reality television.

I thought it was pretty funny. I sent a text to the boss that he could open up the robots to give rides on the weekends to make a few extra bucks. LOL

kolyur said:

...how on earth are they getting away with this?...I can't believe there would be any regulatory or standards group out there that would remotely approve of what they're doing, let alone the robot manufacturer...

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Try TÜV?

I can't view the YouTube video (US Region only) but I take it that it's one of the games on the Ellen DeGeneres Show? Is that NBC or Fox Studios, or one of those heavy hitters? I can only imagine the amount of red tape a large production company would ensure must be put up and cut through before allowing what amounts to being an amusement ride being operated live on a daytime TV show? Their legal team, let alone the Safety Engineers I'm sure they either employ or contract in, would be strongly advising them of their duty of care and liabilities should something "not certified to the highest level of Safey" be used. That's just something to consider, them likely being a huge Studio Company.

Now for the possibilities..

I'm not sure if it's Fanuc being used or not, but I do know of Kuka AG in Germany who are well known in the industrial automation world of robots. But, they also do robots for safe passenger operation. The Kuka Coaster has been around, in a couple of iterations, this last couple of decades or so. I'll let them outline it for you...

..."Dark rides, virtual reality simulators and more – KUKA offers safe, certified robots developed specially as spectacular attractions for the leisure industry with a guaranteed thrill factor"...

..."Automated amusement rides with KUKA robots – utmost safety and maximum fun"...

..."KUKA robots can do far more than simply weld, fasten screws and palletize: KUKA offers special robots developed specifically for carrying passengers and certified for this purpose in accordance with safety standard EN 13814. They combine the options of modern action-packed entertainment with the high requirements on safety when working with people. In this way, a wide variety of different rides can be implemented and customized – in leisure and theme parks, in shopping centers, or as motion simulators in research institutes...

...Certified Safety - Thanks to the TÜV-certified concept and the individual acceptance by TÜV in the factory acceptance test, amusement rides with KUKA Entertainment robots ensure absolute safety for passengers...

...Utmost Quality - All robot parts are checked using measures such as X-ray testing, surface crack testing and material certificates. This safely precludes processing and manufacturing defects...

...KUKA robot for passenger operation

Certified robot for safe carriage of passengers for robot-based amusement rides: the passenger robots enable highly dynamic robot motions and meet the most stringent safety requirements...

...Robots for safe passenger operation with utmost dynamic performance and flexibility: KR passenger

The KR passenger is the specialist for the safe and novel carriage of passengers. It combines the dynamic performance of an industrial robot with the highest priority when working with people: guaranteed passenger safety by meeting the very highest safety requirements – it is TÜV-certified (PTU), EN 13814- and CSEI-compliant, and thus even safer than a standard robot...equipped with all essential basic properties – particularly Certified Safety and high payload capacity...

...Certified Safety - In addition to the certification by TÜV in accordance with safety standard EN 13814 and the CSEI-compliant concept, the individual acceptance by TÜV of each robot ensures maximum quality and absolute safety...

Yada, yada, yada...

Way back when, Kuka partnered with RoboCoaster Ltd in the UK who had the vision to introduce industrial robots into the world of amusement park rides...

RoboCoaster Ltd

Universal Studios is littered with Kuka robot amusement rides. I think Legoland also use them? Oh, and that other show Rob Lowe hosts, "Mental Samurai", uses a Kuka Coaster...

https://youtu.be/ck8y1sl97BY

Other random demos...

https://youtu.be/vB6xImBRd5o

Personally, I'm not entirely satisfied with the lack of head protection on that capsule. Their heads are too prone for my liking, "should" it accidentally slam into something. Better to have cage protection above and around head zone.

https://youtu.be/HIClb_UNrfA

That one is a "little" better, but it's still only a soft headrest.

For the "Ellen" rig, unless they are not strapped into a cage/capsule, and are riding "bareback" atop it, I would only imagine that it is fully TÜV-certified?

Regards,
George

Because I like to shoot guns... I like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RIHnK0_NE

Thanks Mark, that gave me a right laugh just before bed, hilarious. Great CGI effects.

G.

Geospark said:

Thanks Mark, that gave me a right laugh just before bed, hilarious. Great CGI effects.

G.

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When I first started to watch the video several months back, (at the beginning) I thought to myself... here we go, this is the beginning of the end

In Michigan I would say that would be an amusement ride and regulated by that division of the Licensing And Regulation Administraion.


Geospark,


Get a VPN that will let you connect to a server in the US. TunnelBear has a free limited service. I subscribe to PIA that lest me connect to 15 cities across the US, and 20 countries so I can get content from almost anywhere.

Thanks Aabeck, but I'm not "that" pushed to be honest, just to view this. I have satellite TV and the "On Demand" service allows us to series programs and watch episodes when we like. My daughter watches Ellen, so I know there are several episodes of that show recorded at any one time, along with the Carcrashians, LoveMyself Island, RuPaul...(no comment), and many others I care not to remember. I do love Bob's Burgers though, which she watches. I have access to most all mainstream US content, from News, Sport, Docs/History, Movies, Music and Series. Too much, to be honest! So it's not really a big deal when the "odd" YouTube link like this one is unavailable. But I will keep that TunnelBear option stored away, just in case, cheers.

G.

I like a VPN because. especially if I go to Yahoo, it stops them from targeting ads at me. If not connected I gets ads that Michigan is paying for free solar installations on houses, Michigan driver insurance info, and a lot of other junk "Michigan" ads, even weather very local so they know what neighborhood I am in. Connect to a Denver server & the same ads now are for Colorado.

Also, I found the VPN connection slides through WatchGuard firewalls and can connect without having to log in, and the WatchGuard log doesn't report browsing and download logs. Found out the hard way at a temporary side job the IT guy got a daily report of every visit to every website by everyone and he got an immediate popup if anyone downloaded anything.

I did use TunnelBear's free service until I hit the data limit, so PIA at $10 per month is my choice.

I caught a clip of the robot dunk tank yesterday afternoon and immediately had the same thought - how are they getting away with that? What if the robot faulted while the person was face-down in the goo?

KB1GNI said:

What if the robot faulted while the person was face-down in the goo?

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I had the same thought but if you look closer it appears they aren't actually getting dunked--they just get squirted in the face by some unseen device hidden in the fog. I suspect that dunking was the original plan but when the robot people got involved they explained the dangers of that...

Ah, makes sense. I wasn't paying too much attention at first.

I noticed the fog, but at the slime ejection wondered how far down in the fog the nozzle was and how much too far down the robot had to go to pierce the lady's face with that nozzle.

And, even without that, the floor would crush the arm rests on the chair (no way those are roll-bars that would counter the motion and power of the robot) and flatten her into the floor.

I think someone wanted to put a 'ride' like that in a trade show for their robots and it was prohibited.

geniusintraining said:

Because I like to shoot guns... I like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RIHnK0_NE

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I hope you know that one was faked. In a different video they even show how they faked it.

We know...

JaxGTO said:

I hope you know that one was faked. In a different video they even show how they faked it.

Click to expand...

Let's read between the lines here...

geniusintraining said:

Because I like to shoot guns... I like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3RIHnK0_NE

Click to expand...

Geospark said:

Thanks Mark, that gave me a right laugh just before bed, hilarious. Great CGI effects.

G.

Click to expand...

...If Mark thought it wasn't CGI I'm sure he would have asked what I was talking about?...

geniusintraining said:

When I first started to watch the video several months back, (at the beginning) I thought to myself... here we go, this is the beginning of the end

Click to expand...

I infer here that Mark first thought, as he watched the beginning of the video, that it was real and was "future shocked", but then realized it was "fake" (CGI).

The perils of post skipping, my friend.

Very talented individuals, though.

G.