上次在一個帖子中有社友建議我定期向論壇搬運一些英語原文資訊，我覺得這個想法非常好，今天試水一篇。3 i; U; X- L7 T9 t5 T
這篇文章是從三菱重工的英文官網獲取的，主要講了日本人形機器人的發展歷程和取得的成果，里面舉了2個很有代表性的例子：PEPPER和WAKAMARU$ C9 k7 _) F. y8 [$ V
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0 g: r, Q% I: S- e為了降低閱讀難度，我把本文的關鍵詞、生僻詞釋義給出：
+ r! H7 n, |4 k2 kASTRO BOY 鐵臂阿童木；HUMANOID 仿人的，類人型的；mechatronic 機電一體化的；facility 能力 設備, i5 w6 M4 p/ ]( V+ p
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2 A# P$ I1 z" oThe helpful humanoids1 v7 e: A& Z/ O4 b
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3 u _7 ]3 M) y! C) KWhen Japan welcomes millions of foreign travelers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, one thing the visitors will see apart from the world’s best athletes is the world’s best robots. It may sound like the realization of countless science-fiction fantasies, but humanoid robots are now quite commonplace in big cities like Tokyo. This is a dream that was long in the making. 2020年東京奧運會與殘奧會，日本將迎來數以百萬計的外國游客，人們來到這里不僅僅能欣賞世界上最棒的運動員，還能見識到世界上最棒的機器人。這聽起來像是無數科幻小說的場景，但是人形機器人在東京這樣的大城市已經變得稀松平常，這是一個長期以來一直在實現的夢想。 Japan was earned itself the moniker of the ‘Robot Kingdom’ after it invested heavily in factory automation technology in the postwar period. Industrial robot arms began turning out everything from toilet bowls to car parts, creating titans of the industry, such as FANUC, in the process as Japan became one of the most heavily automated societies in the world. 在戰后投入大量人力物力發展自動化技術之后，今天的日本已經被譽為“機器人王國”。工業機器人手臂可以生產從抽水馬桶到汽車零件的任何產品，并誕生了像發那科這樣的工業巨頭，在此期間，日本也逐漸成為世界上舉足輕重的工業自動化強國。 Over the past few decades, however, the engineers who helped build this manufacturing powerhouse turned their thoughts to the sci-fi stories of their youth, and dreamed of creating robots that looked and acted like humans. A template for this was Astro Boy, a super-powerful robot boy portrayed by manga legend Osamu Tezuka as a champion of humanity. Honda’s sophisticated humanoid robot Asimo, first shown off in 2000, is part of this tradition. 然而，在過去幾十年里，兢兢業業建立這個制造業大國的工程師們，同樣將注意力投入到年少時讀過的科幻故事中，并通過發明制造人形機器人來實現兒時的夢想。其中的典型就是鐵臂阿童木——日本漫畫大師手冢治蟲筆下的超能機器人男孩。本田2000年發布的人形機器人Asimo就脫胎于此。
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Just add pepper
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The air was thick with the legacy of Astro Boy when Masayoshi Son, CEO of telecommunications giant SoftBank, stepped onto a darkened stage outside Tokyo in June 2014, and held up what looked like a glowing heart. This he presented to a 120-centimeter-tall humanoid robot standing next to him, and it immediately came to life, lighting up and introducing itself in a high-pitched voice as ‘Pepper’. 當通信行業巨頭軟銀公司的CEO孫正義，在2014年6月步入東京一個黑暗的會場，舉起一個像跳動的心臟一樣的機器人時，空氣中充滿了阿童木的氣息。這個120cm高的仿人機器人就站在孫正義身邊，它一瞬間活動了起來，渾身發亮并且用一個高分貝的聲音自我介紹為‘PEPPER’。 The robot is designed to be a communication robot that can help out in the home or workplace; it is also expected to help monitor Japan’s growing population of elderly based on information provided by the market. Developed by SoftBank Robotics Corp., Pepper has two arms, a 10.1-inch touchscreen display on its chest, audio, visual and tactile sensors and a wheeled base called omni-wheel for locomotion. It can retrieve weather forecasts from the Internet, play word games and do dance routines, and able to add new functions from the web by downloading ‘Robo Apps.’ It’s also billed as the first robot of its kind that can read human emotions and develop its own feelings to make it a better companion. 這個機器人被設計成一個可以在家或工作場所提供幫助的交流型機器人，它也被寄予厚望在市場條件允許的基礎上去幫助監管日本日益增長的老齡化人群。經過軟銀機器人公司的研發，PEPPER有了兩個手臂，一個10.1英寸的觸摸屏在胸部，以及聽覺、視覺、觸覺傳感器和一個被稱為全向輪的輪式底座來進行移動。它可以通過網絡檢索天氣預報，玩文字游戲和跳常規的舞蹈，也能通過網絡下載機器人APP來增加新的功能。它被號稱為第一個能感知人類心情的機器人，并可以發展自己情感以提供更好的陪伴體驗。 We want to have a robot that will maximize people’s joy and minimize their sadness,” Son said while presenting Pepper to journalists. Since its commercial debut in 2015, priced at about $9,500 for a three-year period, thousands of Pepper robots have been sold, both to households and businesses. Companies have adopted the ‘Pepper for Biz’ model, which is priced at about $540 a month. They have been using the robot to help promote everything from smartphones and coffee makers to financial products and tourist destinations. “我們希望能有一個機器人可以最大化人類的快樂，最小化人類的悲傷”，孫正義對記者說道。自PEPPER在2015年商業亮相以來，這個標價為9500美元的機器人，在三年時間內，售出了上千臺，包括家用的和商用的。很多公司采用‘PEPPER’做商業模特，一個月租金為540美元。也有很多人利用PEPPER進行營銷，從智能手機和咖啡機，再到金融產品和旅游景點。' z( S5 M; M1 j2 `& O! \
Pepper can now be seen at electronics retailers, hotel lobbies, trade shows, and more. Meanwhile, dozens of apps for Pepper have been developed, with themes ranging from storytelling to cooking tips. The robot recently began support for Google’s Android operating system, opening up even more possibilities, especially through the help of developers. 在旅館大廳，貿易展廳和其他更多地方，‘PEPPER’現在也被當做一個電子產品零售商。同時許多針對‘PEPPER’的APP被開發出來，功能包括從講故事到烹飪技巧等等，應有盡有。PEPPER最近開始支持谷歌的安卓操作系統，展現了更多的可能性，尤其是在開發者們的幫助下。" Eager to please , v5 j$ S e6 X3 K( N& s4 n3 n+ s: A
A decade before the birth of Pepper, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries unveiled Wakamaru, a humanoid robot for home use. With a bright yellow exterior by industrial designer Toshiyuki Kita, Wakamaru had ultrasound and infrared sensors to help it avoid obstacles as well as an LED indicator on its chest that showed its “feelings.” Wakamaru could recognize 10,000 words in Japanese and family members’ faces. It could also retrieve weather forecasts, emails and other information from the Internet and autonomously recharge itself when its battery was low. 在PEPPER誕生的十年前，三菱重工推出家用人形機器人WAKAMARU。由工業設計師喜多俊之設計的亮黃色外表，Wakamaru憑借超聲波和紅外傳感器來躲避障礙，同時其胸部的LED指示燈則顯示它的“喜怒哀樂”。WAKAMARU可以識別10000個日語單詞及家庭成員的面部。它還可以檢索天氣預報，電子郵件和其他從互聯網獲取的信息，并且能在電量低的時候進行自動充電。 Although Wakamaru, now retired, was ahead of its time in that it came before the boom in smartphones and apps, it helped pave the way for later humanoids like Pepper. Another robot that exemplifies the union of mechatronics and smartphones in literal fashion is RoBoHon. Commercialized by Sharp, the anime-inspired, pint-sized droid is both robot and 3G/LTE smartphone. It can walk around, move its arms and head and serve as a personal assistant, for instance reading out messages and reminding users of calendar events like someone’s birthday. Small enough to fit in a pocket and weighing only 390 grams, the cloud-connected RoboHon can project images and video on nearby surfaces and can bid its user good night before bed and good morning when he or she wakes up (thanks to its alarm function). With its cute looks, squeaky voice and desire to please, it’s hard not to see RoBoHon like a little person. 雖然Wakamaru現在退休了，但是在智能手機和應用的繁榮之前橫空出世的它是一個跨時代的產品，它為像PEPPER一樣的后來者鋪平了道路。另一個機器人RoBoHon，充分體現了機電一體化和智能手機的完美結合。它由夏普進行商業化，啟發自動畫，機器人和3G / LTE智能手機攏共也就一品脫大小。它可以走動，移動它的手臂和頭部，并作為一個私人助理，可以讀取消息，并提醒用戶的日歷事件例如好友生日。它的重量只有390克，小到可以放在口袋里，云連接狀態下的robohon可以在就近平臺上展示圖片和視頻，并在晚上睡前和早上起床后問候主人（得益于鬧鐘功能）。其可愛的外表，吱吱的聲音和友好的傾向，讓人很難把RoBoHon不當人看。 “I saw people carrying their smartphones around and thought that would be a great idea to combine with a robot,” says designer Tomotaka Takahashi, whose other anime-inspired creations include Kirobo, an astro-droid that traveled to the International Space Station in 2013. Priced at $1,935, RoBoHon was one of several desktop humanoids on display last December at the iREX robotics trade show in Tokyo. Palro and Palmi, developed by telecommunications and software firm Fujisoft, can walk around, hold conversations with users and run cloud applications. While the $2,900 Palmi is aimed at households and kids, the more sophisticated $6,500 Palro is for use in seniors’ homes. “我看到人們到處拿著手機，想到要是能把智能機與機器人結合起來就再好不過了，”設計師高橋智隆說，他的其他由動漫啟發的作品，包括KIRIBO，一個航天機器人，在2013前往了國際空間站。售價1935美元，RoBoHon是去年十二月在東京iRex技術貿易展上，可以在桌面上展示的機器人之一。富士軟件研發的機器人PALRO和PALMI，則可以到處走動，并能保持與用戶的對話和運行云應用。針對家庭主婦和孩子的PALMI售價為2900美元，更復雜的用于老年人家園的機器人需要6500美元。 Along with Paro the robot seal, Palro is already being used in dozens of care facilities in Japan, where it tries to engage residents in verbal entertainment and calisthenics routines. Somewhat cheaper is the $1,350 Premaid AI from DMM, a 46-centimeter-tall, smartphone-controlled hobby robot that can do dance routines. Unibo is yet another personal desktop robot launching this year. Inspired by the popular anime and manga robot Doraemon, Unibo has a large head evoking computer monitors of yesteryear. 繼承了Paro海豹機器人的優良傳統，PALRO已經被用于日本的幾十個嘗試轉型為娛樂休閑和居民鍛煉的保健設施。比較便宜的是1350美元的DMM premaid AI，一個46厘米高，可以做舞蹈動作的，智能手機控制的機器人。unibo是另一個今年發布的桌面機器人。取材于最受歡迎的動漫機器人哆啦A夢，unibo有個可以喚起昔日記憶的大大的電腦顯示器腦袋。 This latest generation of personal robots can be seen as smartphones with arms and legs. The more successfully designed ones can convey a sense of charm, even personality. With improvements to artificial intelligence and servomotor design for arms and hands, they may soon be able to perform minor household chores such as tidying up, increasing their appeal. In the tradition of Astro Boy, these mechatronic companions are helping support society while earning our friendship. 這種最新一代的個人機器人可以被視為擁有四肢的智能手機。其中的集大成者可以傳達一種情感，甚至個性。隨著人工智能伺服手臂和手臂設計的改進，機器人們很快就可以完成諸如整理小家務之類的人物，來增加自己的吸引力。在鐵臂阿童木漫畫里，這些機電同伴幫助社會建設并贏得了我們的友誼。
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今天這篇文章雖然看起來長，但是難度不高，大概是大學四級的水平。 大家可以嘗試翻譯一下，將譯文貼在回復中（可以是其中一段，其中一句）。作業做得好的同學，獎勵威望。 PS.不鼓勵使用機器翻譯哦~ 6 T* F8 e% q' R+ ^. m+ r ?
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發表于 2016-9-18 16:26:45
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