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Boston Dynamics’ new robot stacks boxes [video]
- agumonkey 8y agodepalletozaurus rex
- jacquesm 8y agoNow that was funny.
- neals 8y agoWhat they now need, is somebody to re-design a wherehouse around the new capabilities of robotics.
- gcatalfamo 8y agoYes but honestly, if I were to redesign a warehouse for robotics I wouldn’t do it for humanoid robots but for more efficient form factors. Like what amazon and alibaba are doing.
- timerol 8y agoNote that many warehouses have already done that. Amazon Robotics (formerly Kiva Systems) runs Amazon warehouses. A large portion of the warehouse is off-limits to humans, marked by tape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLVCGEmkJs0&t=78 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLVCGEmkJs0&t=78
- davnicwil 8y agoYou should check out Ocado - they have literally done this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-38897417/the-ocado-warehouse-run-by-robots https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-38897417/the-ocado-wa...
- hapidjus 8y agoIt looks a bit different now https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-47168430 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-47168430
- harmful_stereo 8y agoI have spent far too much of my life in a warehouse doing this robot's job. A job that according to every pundit from the "smart" to the stupid was supposed to be gone tomorrow. Mostly I'm just disappointed in how clownish all those futurists look. Completely retooling the society after 70 years of postwar infrastructure is going to take more than anyone would willingly sacrifice. You would have to bomb everything more than a few years old flat. At no point will it be feasible to keep leaving major investment in business and industry tied to the promises of modernizing through bleeding edge technology. The world is so vast and involves such a colossal distribution of existing resources. So many of the systems here are only functioning through broad and cheap standards, like containers, rail gauges, ship sizes. I don't want my job. I want a machine built to put me out of it for good. I have been saying that along with a generation of workers told robots were coming for their jobs since the day i was hired. That was fifteen years ago. We need a Manhattan project for the basic tools of industry. Now. There are thousands of novel or unproven methods of doing the most basic forms of labor our economy is based on, and we are leaving the creation of things that need to be ISO standard across the surface of the earth in order to succeed to entrepreneurs and startups and scholastic vanity. The modern technological landscape across all disciplines looks terrifyingly similar to the cambrian explosion, which produced so many things, at such a cost of living suffering, that did not survive what came after. I'm afraid our civilization might have run out of low-hanging fruit. To me that is the line of demarcation between the "developed world" and whatever precedes it. I don't think what is beyond that is peaceful. It necessarily undermines the infrastructure the whole society is founded on.
- petermcneeley 8y agoSerious question. What would you do for work if we did get a robot to do your job?
- mabbo 8y agoWhat would I need to work? Look, we're rapidly approaching a point where all human needs (food, shelter, etc) can be handled by automation. If we reach that point, why do people need to have jobs? Why can't we turn our lives towards something better?
- viach 8y agoGenuine question - why 2 wheels, not good old 4? Only because these robobees look cooler this way?
- dTal 8y agoProbably because it's Boston Dynamics, not Boston Practical Industrial Robots.
- alschwank 8y agoI had the same question. The robot looks too complicated for what it's doing.
- imtringued 8y agoThat's exactly what surprises me about BD. It's not like they made one complicated robot. They have an entire lineup of them! These robots are so highly advanced they make conventional robots look like they came from the stone age. However that complexity probably comes at a hefty price tag which makes it lose against simpler robotics.
- humblebee 8y agoI never saw BD as a product company. > We began as a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where we developed the first robots that ran and maneuvered like animals. Now we are taking the next step, combining the principles of dynamic control and balance with sophisticated mechanical designs, cutting-edge electronics, and software for perception, navigation, and intelligence. They seem pretty clearly to be a R&D company around dynamic control and balance, so it makes sense that they would have rather complicate robots.
- hinkley 8y agoI love making things. I dabble at designing them. I hate companies that are all about the numbers with a fury (people are not numbers). But once in a while I see a company run by engineers, and I just shake my head and back away. BD seems like a "tech utopia", with all the bad connotations that can have.
- antoineMoPa 8y agoThis robot looks unpredictable and dangerous for any worker that would be in the area. Other point: as a unicycle rider, I would suggest this robot to wear a helmet.
- aqme28 8y agothat's true for a lot of industrial robots. It's a lot harder to make a robot that can work alongside humans than one that doesn't need to.
- LiveTheDream 8y agoFTA: Although the technology is impressive, we’re still a long way from it being deployed in an actual warehouse, especially around humans. That would involve a level of complexity that robots haven't yet mastered.
- modzu 8y agothere's got to be some pretty funny fails video
- Datenstrom 8y agoI have a few from my robotics projects at NASA, not sure if I can share publicly though unfortunately.
- hitpointdrew 8y agoThe robot is no doubt amazing, but I do wonder why they didn't make it with 4 wheels. I am not robot designer, but I would have to think making it with 4 wheels would have been way easier.
- platz 8y agoIt needs to swing that counterweight around maybe?
- tachyonbeam 8y ago
- jpindar 8y agoCan it get back up if it were to fall over?
- bamboozled 8y agoIt's absolutely insane to me that this thing works with suction caps and isn't designed to actually pick up the boxes by supporting the weight from the bottom. That would seem like such a basic requirement for any boxes with relatively heavy payloads.
- ynniv 8y agoIt doesn't seem difficult to add a small forklift as "arms" to support the bottom after it has been lifted up a little. Even a person would have to get the box up an inch before supporting the bottom.
- markbnj 8y agoI would think the boxes have to be spec'd to contain the suspended weight of whatever is inside them anyway. I doubt they can depend on always being supported from the bottom throughout the whole delivery chain.
- sethhochberg 8y agoTake a look at the bottom of a cardboard box next time you get something delivered - it almost certainly will be stamped with exactly what the burst strength, etc, specifications are. This is big stuff in the packaging industry. https://www.uline.com/CustomerService/ULINE_FAQ_Ans?FAQ_ID=45 https://www.uline.com/CustomerService/ULINE_FAQ_Ans?FAQ_ID=4...
- throwaway2048 8y agoWhere exactly in the process of delivery are the majority of boxes not being supported from the bottom?
- markbnj 8y agoI'd think the chances would go up substantially after they are removed from the truck and broken out of the palette, and before they are unpacked and the contents distributed.
- 8y ago
- wgx 8y agoWill be good to move human bodies after the machine uprising of 2048.
- chasing 8y agoSurprisingly birdlike in their form and movement. Interesting to ponder the convergence of evolved and human-designed balance and bodily physics. Also: Kept waiting for some guy to come in and try to kick it over. I thought that was Boston Dynamics' signature move in these promo videos...
- quirkot 8y agoYES! Very disappointed there was no robot kicking
- mpolichette 8y agoI hope you don't regret this comment when the robot revolution happens! :)
- SEJeff 8y agoA robot cassowary sounds more scary than a live cassowary
- blacksmith_tb 8y agoHmm, for now I'd take my chances with the robot, real cassowaries can pack quite a punch[1]. 1: https://youtu.be/IAj0GG6tf5c https://youtu.be/IAj0GG6tf5c
- SEJeff 8y agoYes indeed they do!
- russellbeattie 8y agoTotally! I was surprised there wasn't any abuse! Hitting it with a hockey stick, smacking the box out of its grip, not letting it finish the job, throwing banana skins under its feet, and of course the solid kicks to its rear. When the robot revolution comes, those guys at Boston Dynamics are definitely going to be the first up against the wall, without doubt.
- Element_ 8y agoDupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19516378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19516378
- ksec 8y agoI don't think Warehouse Robotics in ambient are of anything urgent. There are still plenty of affordable labours and tools to help with lifting. Warehouse Robotics in Cold Storage is an entirely different scenario, no one wants to go into the freezer even when you have full suits and helping machinery. The constant changing of temperature from -20C ( -4F ) to 3C ( ~40F) over a long period of time causes all sort of damage to your body. And it is increasingly hard to find anyone willing to work in these environment even when substantial premium are paid. I am still baffled as to why Cold Storage today is still not fully automated.
- lawlessone 8y ago>no one wants to go into the freezer it's great if you're hungover.
- Symmetry 8y agoFor those of you who don't work in the warehouse logistics space ProMat, which is to warehouses as CES is to home gadgets, is coming up in a couple of weeks so expect lots of warehouse robotics companies to continue making announcements. The roboticization of manufacturing is mostly finished since factories work with identical outpus SKUs every time. Warehouses tend to have to handle a lot of different SKU but in a fairly regular way meaning that they're an environment that's pretty much ripe for robots to be entering just now. Goods to picker systems (like Kiva) have really taken off allowing robotic pickers like the one sold by us a nice ecological niche to fill. There are also companies with robotic forklifts and all sorts of other things. I'm not entirely certain that the role these bots are performing wouldn't be better served by a large stationary robotic arm, as some other companies are working on now. It might very well be the best solution for unloading trucks?
- perpetualpatzer 8y ago>I'm not entirely certain that the role these bots are performing wouldn't be better served by a large stationary robotic arm This was my reaction, though I suppose it's a capability-demonstration video. Would think in unloading, you'd want something heavier to unload full pallets/carts etc. Possibly, they'd be useful for rare-item box picking in DC's, where the runs are long enough and infrequent enough that it's costly to carry a full shelf (slower transit speed, plus need for return trip)? Or maybe it's just a capabilities demonstration and the market caught on to the whole search and rescue thing [0]. [0] https://www.xkcd.com/2128/ https://www.xkcd.com/2128/
- ChuckMcM 8y agoOn the stationary arm question it is a question of warehouse logistics. Warehouses are cheap (essentially a simple box over a concrete pad) and they they get reconfigured all the time. A robot that can set up where ever you have dropped a bunch of metal shelving, and then move to a new place, keeps your operational costs down.
- iguy 8y agoRight, but how about a stationary arm mounted on the back of a pickup truck? Or something. It does seem like a lot of the hard work here (balancing, not running out of space to zig-zag...) isn't obviously needed for the task.
- TheTruth1234 8y agoLooks ridiculous ... but I get it. The first computers look fairly ridiculous now.
- dang 8y agoUrl changed from https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/613240/watching-boston-dynamics-new-robot-stack-boxes-is-weirdly-mesmerizing/ https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/613240/watchin..., which points to this.
- mey 8y agoI wonder what the noise level will be with ten industrial vacuums on wheels running around.
- milemi 8y agoThe way to defeat one of these guys is to put a bucket of water in front of it, and then just relax and enjoy watching it dip its head in and out forever.
- sys_64738 8y agoThe issue I think of his how much maintenance will one of these robots need? What will happen to the robot (or me) if I don't pay for any maintenance? I bring this up as warehousing is all about reducing costs from all angles.
- 781 8y agoTHICC
- ozzyman700 8y agoI wish they had a better co-op internship program it seems they don't have one at all.
- andrewfromx 8y agoI don't think these types of robots will ever get smart as humans and que terminator music... i think rather companies like https://www.neuralink.com https://www.neuralink.com will start doing surgery on human brains and slowly humans will become more and more cyborgs until at some point... yes, a human with a human brain will have all these artifical parts and 1/2 his/her brain now a robot etc. And maybe that "person" will lose track of which side they are on in the human vs robot war?
- sametmax 8y agoOr they'll get in influenced by anybody having access to the parts software and will subtly lose free will and never notice they did. But of course the part makers will say they are super secure and will have a PR making them look like as legit as google or amazon today. Because it's convenient, people will do it, considering the warnings comming from tin foil conspirationists. Soon society will expect the level of productivity those parts give you, and most public and private services will assume this interface so the people not doing it will be more and more excluded from the regular system.
- andrewfromx 8y agoTotally! Think of school. Like how can you compete with cyborgs other than to become cyborg too? If the kid next to you in class can google search in his mind without looking at a phone... well that kid will have all the answers right ?
- lm28469 8y ago> and will subtly lose free will and never notice they did. Isn't that happening for decades now ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s > the people not doing it will be more and more excluded from the regular system. Same with cars, phones, internet
- nabla9 8y agoTwo wheeled dynamically balanced warehouse robot like that is completely unnecessary complication. Boston Dynamics is developing amazing tech but they are demoing robots for tasks that are better with 4 wheels. Dynamically balanced walkers inside are niche application. Smarter robot hands and 4-wheeled robot movers are where the markets and money is. Boston dynamics may be moving towards that direction but they still like to show the cools stuff they can't find markets for.
- imhoguy 8y agoI think it is like LHC, core concept may be waste of resources for some however the benefit here is research and development on materials, sensors, engines, power supply, automation so on. At least better than arms race (I know that DARPA funds some robots).
- tnecniv 8y ago> I know that DARPA funds some robots DARPA funding is not necessarily violent. One can argue that the current explosion in self-driving cars is due to the DARPA challenges in the 2000s.
- godelski 8y agoDARPA's mission is "to make pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security". Depending on how you view national security, you can make some easy arguments for DARPA investing money into sectors that help increase the nation's economy.
- Florin_Andrei 8y ago> Two wheeled dynamically balanced warehouse robot like that is completely unnecessary complication. I had the same intuition, but then I remembered the toy I'm playing with - the spectacularly unstable 4-rotor copter that could not even take off without an onboard computer actively keeping it level all the freaking time. And it's rock solid almost no matter what. As technology changes, our intuitions must follow.
- starpilot 8y agoWe need basic income now.
- AareyBaba 8y agoWhenever I see these Boston Dynamics video's I have many unanswered questions about the underlying control systems. This one for example has an organic birdlike head motion. Is that pre-programmed or a natural outcome of their control system dynamics. The MIT technologyreview page says "Each one is created with carefully pre-programmed movements and will take many, many takes to get right before it’s shared." So is it a sequence of individual actions: align to pallet using registration cards -> move forward with reaching distance -> detect box position -> use box picking algorithm to pick box -> backup fixed precalculated distance -> turn 90 degrees -> move forward to destination etc. This would be a brittle solution that has to be reprogrammed for the next task. Or is it a more general closed loop solution: Theres a pile of boxes there. Move it here. Use your sensors to plan a trajectory and sequence of actions to accomplish the goal. That's what I want to know.
- Florin_Andrei 8y ago> This one for example has an organic birdlike head motion. Is that pre-programmed or a natural outcome of their control system dynamics. Similar problems are likely to elicit similar solutions.
- arketyp 8y agoThat’s the point of the question. Is this the result of convergent evolution or are Boston Dynamics simply mimicking nature’s solution? Even worse, what if the bird-like head motion has no functional value for the posed problem?
- radarsat1 8y agoimho the motion looks entirely like a simple counter-balancing solution to keep the robot upright and the box steady. It does look like a whole-body solution, not a per-joint PID. Others have mentioned they use MPC which makes a lot of sense here. I think it's just "convergent evolution" if you want to put it that way.
- cycrutchfield 8y ago
- hmexx 8y agoAt this point I feel like Boston Dynamics has a designer whose job is to make their robots look cool/interesting, beyond what their function requires. There's always something mesmorizing about them!
- JKCalhoun 8y agoI had the opposite thought: that they are designing their robots strictly for function and letting the form follow. To be sure they are "cleaned up" but the way the counterbalance is slung underneath, and "Wheeler"-like ("Return to Oz" reference) mobility, single arm with some kind of suction gripper .... it screams utility.
- tzs 8y agoI wonder why the one stacking the boxes gently lowers each box until it is in place before letting go, but the one putting boxes on the roller conveyor just gets them near and then drops them on?
- Animats 8y agoNice. It's fast enough to be useful. It's all electric - the hydraulic systems are gone. Palletizing is a routine robot task.[1][2] This is just palletizing with a mobile base. Now Boston Dynamics has to compete on price with the twenty or so other companies that do palletizing. If this turns out to be cost effective, Kuka will probably do it, too. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiuFkMkReSs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiuFkMkReSs [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgiUWycNFC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgiUWycNFC0
- pugworthy 8y agoThis reminds me of Tim Lewis' Pony kinetic sculpture... https://vimeo.com/60894098 https://vimeo.com/60894098
- sergiotapia 8y agoMoves and sounds like something from The Surge. I want to target it's head to get some sweet new head armor.
- stcredzero 8y agoWhen I see this video, I keep thinking of Terror Birds. https://naturalishistoria.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/terror-bird-reconstructions.jpg?w=416&h=399 https://naturalishistoria.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/terror... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phorusrhacidae A robot like this, able to move on 2 wheels, could be quite versatile for combat in tight spaces. Giving it a 4 wheel bogey like on an iBot, with the ability for the bogey to fully rotate, would also enable stair climbing. https://msu.edu/~luckie/segway/iBOT/iBOT.html https://msu.edu/~luckie/segway/iBOT/iBOT.html The single manipulator could be mounted with a gun/bayonet, which could also be turned around to provide a surface for a door breaching ram. The thought of such a thing is pretty terrifying.
- andrewflnr 8y agoThere's the nightmare fuel.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- kkarakk 8y agoThis is pretty much all i see whenever i see boston dynamics attempting to do a cute "oh look at the robot picking up a box" video. put an ak47 in that robot's manipulators and install some level 3 armor on the important bits and you've basically build a automated mobile weapon of terror and oppression i don't remember the source but the only reason big dog was rejected by the us military was the sound it generated + power requirements. not really a problem if it's also firing guns at the same time and is deployed from a mobile self driving charging base. maybe the robot charges itself from the nearest tesla power station...
- novaRom 8y agoWould like something like that for masonry.I wish some more robotics and automation for house/roads construction. Is anyone working actively in that area? I have some interesting ideas how and what can be done to reduce total construction costs a bit.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- AlexCoventry 8y agoHow does that gripper work?
- jonahss 8y agoI think vacuum. Like those wall-climbing robots.
- robot 8y agothe 2 wheel approach looks redundant. just use 4 wheels and all that extra balancing is not needed.
- jonahss 8y agoThe bobbing abdomens lend credence to my claim that the way to build a giant mech robot suit is to include an autonomous tail
- homero 8y agoThe balancing slows everything down so much. Is it really needed?
- amelius 8y agoI want to see a robot picking up LEGO bricks out of a pile, and then stacking them up, then I'm impressed.
- cdnsteve 8y agoAI Ostritches are taking over!
- qwerty2020 8y agoI like how Boston Dynamics decided to monetize this YT video. Those robots don't pay for themselves
- cdnsteve 8y agoIt looks like the warehouse needs to be redesigned not just the robots inside it. Warehouse lighting is likely unnecessary, heat can be reduced, sensors everywhere... its now a machine environment. The floor markers, etc should all be part of that environment. Build the environment to the automated worker and you'll get a more effective result. I think Amazon has gone this route already.
- jpm_sd 8y agoVery clever, but if it has battery issues it's going to fall on its face. An automated forklift seems a bit safer in that scenario.
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoWarehouses typically have shelves four, five or six tall. Thus, forklift operators. This thing seems limited to sorting boxes at floor level?
- SimonPStevens 8y agoThere's something I don't understand, perhaps someone knows and can explain. Why have the chosen to build it with only two wheels? It's clearly unstable and has to constantly adjust it's position and counterweight to stay balanced. Sure, it's super clever and I think it looks amazing. But surely it would have been far cheaper and easier to build it with three of four wheels so it naturally stable. It would have looked less cool, but I feel like that can't be the only reason.
- return0 8y agoi dont think these robots are actually going to be used in this industry. seems like a demo.
- trendoid 8y agoI think the idea might be to have them for different kinds of works. We might be seeing 0.1% of the work these robots (this particular design) will actually do.
- SimonPStevens 8y agoI still can't really think of any kind of work where 2 wheels and that body shape would be any better than just having 3 wheels and more stability. It would be just as flexible. Using wheels means it's not like it's going to be doing anything particularly off road anyway, that's for the walking robots. Literally the only thing I can think of is that this is a pure tech demo to show off how clever they are that will never make it into production at all. Which is fair enough I guess, it certainly achieves it's aim if that is the case.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- willart4food 8y agoI have worked with people with less personality.
- ufmace 8y agoWhat I'd like to know about this thing - how would you program it for what to do in a real warehouse environment? I would expect that many real warehouses have plenty of small differences in what needs to be done day to day. It's easy to tell a person to do something a little differently. How tough would it be to tell this robot to do it, and to make sure that it actually does it right?