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As someone who is in the field of mobile robotics, what Boston Dynamics does is often way ahead of its time. Robotics is hard and expensive. If you are developi
by accurrent 6y ago
As someone who is in the field of mobile robotics, what Boston Dynamics does is often way ahead of its time. Robotics is hard and expensive. If you are developing a new form of locomotion it will take years and millions of dollars before things work out. Heck, I myself have seen my colleagues spend 10+ years just ironing out issues with underwater vehicles before they even see the market.
- Waterluvian 6y agoYeah. But the bewilderment isn’t a technical one, it’s a business one. You’d think 30 years of unprofitable future tech would happen at a university or the military or some skunkworks operation for a massive company. Though I’m sure quite a bit of their funding is military.
- throwawaygh 6y agoBoston dynamics has been all 3 of those... currently a skunkworks
- boromi 6y agowhy? what's happening that makes you say that
- Animats 6y agoIt was, before Google. It cost about US$120 million to get Big Dog working. At least those were the reported DARPA contract amounts.
- amelius 6y agoFunny because yesterday there was a post on HN from a guy who made a DIY robot that looked very much like a small Big Dog. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24484129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24484129
- lioeters 6y agoThis is a trend that gives me hope for the future. There's ever-increasingly advanced technology and technical knowledge accessible/affordable to the public, both hardware and software. What used to cost the military millions of dollars to develop, are now mass-produced and distributed, to fit in a pocket or to build one yourself. Sure, the cutting edge stuff will always be in the realm of experts with funding, but the pace of progress in technology is such that there seem to be plenty of opportunities for innovation from the grassroots level, serious amateurs and hobbyists. It kinda feels similar to the early era of personal computers, where anybody with interest and ideas could enter the field, learn things on their own, and even contribute to its advancement.
- Retric 6y agoI don’t think it’s advancing technology that’s allowing this. It’s not physically constructing or programming a robot that’s so expensive, it’s iteration of designs to get to that point. A hobbyist can build a small working jet engine at home, but their hardly starting from scratch. Further, building a modern full scale General Electric GE90 is extremely far beyond what a hobbyist can accomplish. If anything the true cutting edge is getting ever further out of reach. A few peasants could build a full scale trebuchet, good luck getting your friends together to build a F-22.
- zalkota 6y agoIt’s also the availability of material and technology.
- Animats 6y agoThat just seems to move along in little tiny steps. No balance or slip recovery shown. That's the wind-up toy level of walking.[1] Still, it shouldn't be that hard to make a small version of Big Dog technology now. They put a lot of money into fast hydraulic servos, which you no longer need for anything smaller than a horse. Gyros and accelerometers are cheap now, because they're phone parts. Motors and motor controllers are much better and cheaper now. Big Dog's compute power was a Pentium 4, which is nothing today. Force feedback sensors for the feet are still expensive, because there's no mass market. You need those for slip control. [1] https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wind-Up-Wooly-Walker/194850858 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wind-Up-Wooly-Walker/194850858
- aqurai 6y agoUnderwater robotics PhD here. Completely seconded. Hardware is already complex. When the said hardware is mobile, complexity increases exponentially.