Walking Robot With Balance

[H3LL]

Nice new step forward in technology.

Robot Walks, Balances Like a Human (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050512101305.htm)


Video
HERE (http://www.umich.edu/news/Vid/rabbit1.ram) and HERE (http://www.umich.edu/news/Vid/rabbit2.ram) (.ram feed)

[clarsct]

One step closer to extinction......

[H3LL]

Originally posted by clarsct
One step closer to extinction......

Frankenstein complex?

No...no...leave the pitchfork.....l-e-a-v-e the pitchfork....That's it...good...goooood.

Burning torch? Well, yes I know it's cold out...but...Oh! Do be careful with that...You nearly had my eye out. Shocking.

;)

[to.by]

My children managed to walk and balance in less than a year.

[clarsct]

*nod* so did I, at least according to Ma..

H3ll...I've read Dune too often..;)

[H3LL]

Originally posted by to.by
My children managed to walk and balance in less than a year.


It is hoped in a few years that the machine will walk 'out-of-the-box' ('scuse the pun). I can't see that happening any time soon with children . :p

I have only read the first Dune, and got bored with the others when what's-his-face, gerbil, went blind. Which book has wobbly-robots?

:)

[to.by]

Well, some animals jump and run about in less than half an hour.

[Dr Adequate]

Anyone up for a Butlerian Jihad?

[Z]

This isn't very new. Sony has had machines that walk like people - and even climb stairs and navigate obstacles - for about a decade now.

What will be impressive is if it can do acrobatics while cooking a quiche and reciting poetry it wrote for itself. You know, like we humans do every day.

:D

[Vim Razz]

Originally posted by zaayrdragon
This isn't very new. Sony has had machines that walk like people - and even climb stairs and navigate obstacles - for about a decade now. Close but not quite. This is a big advance in dynamic stability -- or what is also sometimes called dynamic instability, the art of balancing while not technicaly in ballance.

Robots like Honda's Asimo (http://www.tokyodv.com/news/Robodex2003Asimo.html) and Sony's Qrio (http://www.tokyodv.com/news/SonyQrioMartinez.html) (Quicktime vids) always keep at least one foot under them, and they always keep their center of gravity squarely over that foot.

Humans, on the other hand (and this robot), essentially "fall" from one foot to the next at they walk/run/whatever. (Although you've naturaly learned to do it so smoothly growing up that you probably dont even notice unless you didn't see that stairwell in front of you. ;) :p ) Before your front foot reaches the ground, your back foot is already behind your center of mass. This sort of ballancing is considerably more complicated; a robot that can manage it is a big step forward. Yes, I can stoop low enough to finish with such a weak pun! Raar! ;) :p

[H3LL]

Originally posted by to.by
Well, some animals jump and run about in less than half an hour.

Some monkeys can climb trees, fish swim in water and birds fly.

...Your point?

[schplurg]

Originally posted by zaayrdragon
This isn't very new. Sony has had machines that walk like people - and even climb stairs and navigate obstacles - for about a decade now.

What will be impressive is if it can do acrobatics while cooking a quiche and reciting poetry it wrote for itself. You know, like we humans do every day.

:D

Ah, memories of good ol' Ma doing cartwheels at the stove. :)

Sorry, I just had to...

[Z]

I see! Well, that's pretty good, then. Still - can it do a double-backflip while reciting "The Ballad of O.J. Simpson" and baking a soufflette?

[Soapy Sam]

More to the point, can it cope with the recoil of an assault rifle?