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New Video of BigDog Quadruped Robot Is So Stunning It's Spooky
- paulsb 19y agoI can't decide if the bit where he tries to kick it over or the bit on the ice is best.
- chengmi 19y agoI think the ice part is better--I doubt any animal would have recovered from that without falling on its side. What I really want to see is a bloopers reel from early in the project.
- tim2 19y agoIt seems that it is much easier to stay up with three or four legs than two. Just lock them into a slightly outward direction and you cannot fall. If you're on one or two though, you've really got to balance the rest of the system much more carefully.
- iamwil 19y agoYour comment got me thinking. From a technical point of view of traversing over unknown and uneven terrain, there really is no reason to go with bipedal, especially if it's easier to do control systems for tri or quadraped robots. Of the handful that can be bipedal (primates, bears, birds), it's not their preferred mode of movement. However, it's probably a psychological disadvantage for the robots to be 3 or 4 legged and work along side humans in a job that requires it to be treated as a human, like a waiter, house companion, etc. That alone is reason enough to continue bipedal robotic research.
- tim2 19y agoFor comparison, hikers on rough terrain usually bring a hiking staff and aim to keep at least two points of contact at all times. I can see two legs being more efficient than four, but wheels are usually vastly more efficient than either..
- carpal 19y agoThere are only two real advantages to bipeds: 1) Height 2) Use of spare limbs for tools Height doesn't seem to be much of an advantage for robots at this stage, and I think that robots could have 6 limbs with no problem. Therefore, biped robots are really only a novelty.
- SwellJoe 19y ago3) Use of human devices that are biped specific Ladders, automobiles and heavy machinery, household equipment, etc. all rule out quadrupeds. While it would be possible to custom-build all of this stuff to be usable by a quadruped, it means you then have to have two of everything if you plan to cohabitate with a robot assistant. From the perspective of assistance robots, it's not going to be possible to accomplish everything without bipedal bots. I think wheeled bots (like Trevor's Monty) will also be a great option--probably a tenth the cost of a walking mechanism, an order of magnitude more speed and endurance, etc. But they'll still be unsuitable for many assistance robot tasks. Stairs, for example. And unlike the Daleks, leveling the building will not suffice as a solution to the problem of climbing stairs.
- carpal 19y agoWell, not necessarily. Those devices aren't biped specific- they're specific to thing with grasping mechanisms. Who's to say a quadruped robot can't have 4 feet + 1 or 2 grapsing mechanisms? Or have two front feet that are also capable of grasping?
- iamwil 19y agoWhile you can certainly have a 4 legged robot, 2 armed helping you around the house or a hospital, only using grasping mechanisms to climb the ladder to adjust the satellite dish on the roof, help you with the dishes, or get you out of bed, I think it's important to consider the reaction people have to a robot's form factor given its job. You and I might think it's really cool to have 4 feet and two arms (like a centaur!), but if a robot reminds someone of a gigantic insect, and it's suppose to be a household companion/housekeeper, people might reject having it around the house. That's a good reason to have bipedal robots. But on the other hand, if you get close, but not exactly with bipedal robots, people might get even more freaked out with the uncanny valley.
- thorax 19y agoLike those ED-209 bloopers...
- noelchurchill 19y agoThe jump is the best are you kidding me?! It's like Jordan haha
- Goronmon 19y agoYou know, I knew there was something weirdly familiar about watching that video. Then someone remarked that it reminded them of a Hunter from Half-Life 2. Now I'm scared.
- Readmore 19y agoThat was exactly what I thought too. It looks just like the new Hunters. Good thing it's being built for the U.S Military and not the Combine....
- alex_c 19y agoHere's the headcrab: http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=LittleDog http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=Little...
- gojomo 19y agoAnd the standalone sentry machine-gun came out from Samsung a while back: http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/samsung_develops_machine_gun_sentry_robot_costs_200k.php http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/samsung_develops_machine... Forget the headcrabs -- what about those flying chainsaws in HL2? Also: will the high school curriculum ever catch up? One of the wackiest 'long bets' offered: "By the year 2150, over 50% of schools in the USA or Europe will require classes in defending against robot attacks." http://discuss.longbets.org/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=86 http://discuss.longbets.org/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=86
- tim2 19y agoHah, it slipping on that ice is hilarious.
- boredguy8 19y agoI was watching thinking, "Yawn". Then it got hit -hard- in the side and use its 'elbows' to stabilize itself. I'm just glad it doesn't hit back (yet).
- WilliamLP 19y agoYes, wait until it figures out that the best way to stay upright is to subdue the human before the kick can happen!
- andreyf 19y agoThe Boston Dynamics site is here: http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog It seems to me that there is a lot of promising work that will be done in this area of robotics. There is a recently published book on this... http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11003 http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&... ...which suggests we should evolve brains and bodies together in order to get the most natural/most efficient gaits from them.
- wallflower 19y agoT3 is inevitable.. 2-legged animals are no match for 4-legged robots that can't even be knocked over - just ask the target of a K-9 pursuit dog
- TrevorJ 19y agoIt seems like a very robust system, and the way it displays the ability to fail gracefully really demonstrates some amazing software. I am very impressed that they are able to un-tether it as well. The fact that they apparently were able to get the power plant and the processing hardware onboard is really very impressive.
- rokhayakebe 19y agoi think we are in deep shit. there is no way that such robots paired with artificial intelligence do not take over the world. we are a few years away from it. humans will self destruct not by killing each other, but by creating robots that will be out of control.
- comatose_kid 19y agoDon't forget the sharks that shoot lasers from their eyes. Or the dogs with the bees in their mouths, and when they bark, they shoot bees at you.
- WilliamLP 19y agoThat's nothing compared to dogs that can be trained to sick specific parts of the human male body!
- alex_c 19y agoWell, only if we give them the ability to be self-powered and reproduce without any help. The first is feasible, but the second is so difficult that I can't see it happening by mistake, or being worth the added complexity compared to just making non-self-reproducing robots on an assembly line (on Earth, at least).
- ArcticCelt 19y agoMy impression has always being that if we create AI that can tweak itself to become even more intelligent, they will simply look a us with pity, smile, pat us on the head and fly away to explore the galaxies in their brand new interstellar ship.
- microcentury 19y agoI'm just glad we get to see in advance what will be chasing us through the woods in a few years, the thum-thum thum-the-thum music playing the background, firing M15 bursts over our shoulders before the camera pans to the blackened sky. It's going to be sweet.
- ivankirigin 19y agoI love this robot. It is the right way to do legged locomotion. Leave it to "a few guys in a garage" to crush Honda's 15 year effort with Asimo. Granted, those few guys were key in the MIT leg lab... Note that BDI is all about the mechanics. They haven't done much work on the perception side of things. If you work in that area, contact them.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- nazgulnarsil 19y agoIt's getting scary. It's not that we're going to have robots going haywire and killing people on its own. It's that the elite crust of humanity is going to use it againstt us. Think blackwater is bad now? How about when they're not even human beings? The thing keeping the elites in check for all of human history has been that they can't get too crazy or their own soldiers will mutiny. Hitler was a study in charismatic leadership. He was able to commit atrocities only because the german populace liked him so much. WHat attrocities will be possible when it is impossible for your soldiers to disobey?
- thorax 19y agoThat's when the hackers here step in, right?
- sabat 19y agoAs long as hacking without a license remains legal.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- SwellJoe 19y agoSense. Your comment makes none. Hackers (or crackers, if you prefer) don't wait for permission.
- sabat 19y agoDirect object. Your sentences use it unconventionally. Anyway, I was being wry. You may not be waiting for permission, but it does matter if it's illegal. (Clarification: I use hacking in the same spirit as this site, meaning to code with a hobbyist's or experimenter's ethic. Not meaning the media obfuscation of the word.)
- 1gor 19y agoWhat's scary is how much this comment reminds me of Reddit...
- ctingom 19y agoWow! Amazing.
- alex_c 19y agoIt actually makes me think of a robot horse more than a dog. Does that mean in 20 years we'll all be riding robot horses around? Once again, the Japanese are way ahead of us... http://www.absoluteanime.com/saber_rider/index.gif http://www.absoluteanime.com/saber_rider/index.gif
- motley_fool 19y agoI want my Chevaline, dangit!
- mattjones 19y agoThis excites me. If they become common, people are going to spend a lot of time exploring the world -- an antidote to sitting behind your laptop all day. These things would make great pack animals. When you go hiking, you'll be able to toss your gear into one of these things and have it trot along behind you. You'll be able to take more risks because robots will be able to rescue you from tight places. If you get tired or sick, you'll be able to ride them. It's funny to think that the streets of San Francisco in 2100 might superficially look like a town in a developing country. ("Oh, those aren't mules in the street, they're robots.")
- jrsims 19y agoI admire your optimism. It is indeed exciting technology, but I think this will have military applications long before it is available for public use. For now, Roomba will have to do.
- kajecounterhack 19y agoeh, I kicked my roomba... and it broke. gotta get one of these pack mule buggers...
- LogicHoleFlaw 19y agoJust watch out. Pack mules kick back.
- jonah 19y agoMy question is why not a real mule? More flexible refueling options, has already been through many iterations, and not nearly as expensive. Seriously.
- sabat 19y agoSkynet became self-aware at 2:14am EDT March 28, 2008.
- sabat 19y agoAw, c'mon. I can't believe people voted me down for this one. No one else thought the 'bot seemed eerily self-aware?
- pchristensen 19y agoI thought the way its legs moved and the way it stumbled and rebalanced were extremely lifelike. I was wondering how they control it - is it as simple as a remote joystick? Just point in the direction and it figures out how to get there?
- ericb 19y agoOne thing that struck me was when it was kicked or almost fell, I felt a little bad for it. I can see where the general public might someday award robots rights because we instinctually anthropomorphize them. I felt silly--I "know" it's just software, but what about the rest of the world with the same instincts and no understanding that's it's mindless code?
- henning 19y agoI felt kind of bad in Trevor Blackwell's latest video where he was stopping Dexter from moving towards him. :( I started constructing dialogs in my head along the lines of "Father, why don't you love me?"
- ivankirigin 19y agodexter: "one day, old man, you'll pay for this"
- lastone 19y agomachines are our slaves, get over it
- cheponis 19y agoI worked on the original hopping/jumping/running robots at CMU and later MIT with Marc Raibert. I can assure you that everything done was above-board, published, and open. Dr. Raibert is one of those rare scientist/engineer/entrepreneur types who is interested in progress for people. He was asked by DARPA to develop this vehicle, so he wanted to help them out. The Sci-Fi stuff in these comments are, well, crazy.
- jrsims 19y agoWell, thank goodness for Dr. Raibert. And while we're at it, thank goodness for Albert Einstein. It's the people who would exploit the technology developed by these benign characters that frightens me. So it is perfectly reasonable to be paranoid about emerging technologies that have the capacity for great good or great evil.
- mechanical_fish 19y agoI've got to say, this just looked like yet another in the line of CMU robot videos -- impressive, but only to someone who actually knows how hard this is -- until the kick. And then the ice-patch sequence, which is just awesome. Kudos to you and your coworkers. This obviously represents one hell of a lot of patient work.
- jbrun 19y agoThat is crazy. It is almost like a real dog - which are free. The real future is with genetically engineered dogs, horses... to run faster, cary heavy loads etc. We have already done it through selective breeding and soon we will be able to program DNA (see Craig Venter, Dawkins...). These robots are so mechanically complex that they will ultimately fail. Nature (evolution) is the greatest designer. What complex robots have hit the mass market? None, because they are just too many moving parts. Animals can even reproduce!
- coffeeaddicted 19y agoYou just did see a video of one of the most advanced prototypes(!) of a robot and you think it will fail because such things are not yet seen in mass market? Somehow that made me smile :)
- jbrun 19y agoHow many planes have you seen in people's driveways? The mass market is not a sign of success, all products have to start somewhere. These robots will remain the realm of military and rescue missions because they have so many damn moving parts. Quality control is what drives up prices and quality control is exponentially linked to moving parts. So my argument is more along the lines of: "This robot is technologically amazing and promising, but is built upon a foundation of complexity which inexorably leads to limitations".
- coffeeaddicted 19y agoI don't think the reason you don't see planes in people's driveways is because of their complexity. Nearly all consumer products are increasing their complexity each year and there's no reason to think that this trends stops. Just take a look at any modern car and compare it with an old one. If people want such robots enough those robots will be produced for the mass market. And the first application which did spring to my mind immediately was transport. There are so many situations where an automated transport, which does not depend on wheels or rails, would be useful that I can see a huge market for this. The first mass market might be in the industry. But once prices fall there are also lots of possibilities for this to reach the consumer market. Certainly normal people also can have uses for such transports. Be it as intelligent luggage, as a tool for the garden (replacing the wheelbarrow) or simply as a very cool toy for the kids (just think of riding those things!). This is a completely new way of automating transports and so I expect it to have an extremely large impact in the following years.
- drm237 19y agoHe's alright but dexter can do it while wearing some sweet shoes: http://www.anybots.com/videos.html#walking_080302_title http://www.anybots.com/videos.html#walking_080302_title
- s3graham 19y agoWow, really impressive. The ice was amazing (though as someone with bad knees, transferred anthropomorphization makes me cringe). Does anyone know why 4 legs was chosen? 4 seems better than 2 for stabilization, but why not 5, or 6, or 8? Maybe looking like a familiar friendly animal is an end goal?
- kingnothing 19y agoProbably better for it to look like a friendly animal than a giant spider, although that could be nice from an intimidating militaristic point of view...
- astine 19y agoI'm willing to bet that it was literally and deliberately modeled after a large dog. Engineers borrow design from nature all the time because its much simpler than starting from scratch. Why reinvent walking when dogs already do it so well?
- huherto 19y agoProbably the 8 leg design was already tried by nature and it was not successful for large animals.
- pchristensen 19y agoWhether in nature or manufacture, those legs aren't free. Is four more legs worth the energy required to grow/build them, and could the mental processing power necessary to run them be used better somewhere else?
- nose 19y agoDARPA was the original ycombinator!
- icey 19y agoThis really has enormous implications over a lot of fields, not just military. I can see this technology being used in prosthetics, in home-care (walking bots), and all over the service industry. The first thing I thought when I saw this video was "what's the stock symbol for this company?".
- tokipin 19y agowhat's interesting to me is it's not even that difficult to get life-like, self-balancing, responsive motion, etc with basic things like feedback loops (eg segway.) i don't know what to blame most robots' relative rudimentaryness on except their designers' lack of knowledge about things like that. to me the difficulty is much more in the physical mechanics than in the software. though after you get the mechanics down, the software would become the challenge
- anupamkapoor 19y agofor a long time it seemed like two guys with their head+torso stuck in a funny box. but truly, wow ! edit: it seems very close to AT-ST from star-wars though.