5 ms·

DARPA's next Grand Challenge to focus on humanoid robots

50 points by spathak 15y ago

mcs 15y ago
No mention of Boston Dynamics in the article?
- jonnycowboy 15y ago
  I think the picture at the top of the article might be from Petman
dhughes 15y ago
Those images of a humanoid form with arms outstretched are eery especially on Good Friday.
turing 15y ago
The New York Times original article on Google X placed a lot of emphasis on the lab's work in robotics. I have a feeling Google will be very interested in this challenge. Keep in mind that Google's self driving car project largely grew out of the 2005 Grand Challenge. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/technology/at-google-x-a-top-secret-lab-dreaming-up-the-future.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/technology/at-google-x-a-t...
- jonnycowboy 15y ago
  Yes actually Google hired those that won the 2005 Challenge.
  - agildehaus 15y ago
    My understanding is that they hired a mix of people who were involved in the challenge, not just the winners. Part of the Stanley team is there, some of the Red team, and I believe even the guy who attempted to make an autonomous motorcycle is working there.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jsumrall 15y ago
Navigate rough terrain? Drive vehicles? We've been working on this for a while with RoboCup, and walking on felt carpet is challenging. This is exciting, but I hope they don't set the date any sooner than, say, 2018.
lispm 15y ago
how about investing LESS money into military research?
- apawloski 15y ago
  Unfortunately, I think LESS money into military research -> LESS money into research altogether. DARPA research is also fairly broad in that its applications tend to span way beyond military-related functionalities.
  - lispm 15y ago
    The D of DARPA is for 'Defense'. It used to be ARPA, but the D was put in front to remind people that it is actually military research. If you want non-military research, give it to other agencies instead: NSF, ...
    - beambot 15y ago
      Some perspective (that I learned at a "young faculty workshop" recently): DARPA funding is $3B, NSF is $7B, and NIH is $32B. I was surprised.
      - lispm 15y ago
        DARPA is also just one branch of military research agencies.
    - apawloski 15y ago
      You're right. I could have been clearer. What I was trying to convey was that the work that goes into these DARPA challenges is still widely used in other areas too.
- melling 15y ago
  I'm all for it once you get someone to pay for the research before you spend less on military research. It's really great to want world peace and to be idealistic, but until you can offer real solutions to problems, you're just creating noise by making such comments. The Internet was started by DARPA funding. That's why we're here today. So, AFTER you've convinced the American tax payer to directly fund this kind of research, or you create an X-Prize crowded funded site, I think we should be thankful that the military is willing to "invest in the future" rather than just build bullets and bombs, which have no positive side effects. Having a military is a necessary evil in the world in which we live. Find ways to turn some of it into a positive force. eg. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/17/147047543/desert-military-bases-could-be-boon-to-solar http://www.npr.org/2012/02/17/147047543/desert-military-base...
tammer 15y ago
this... this is not good. DARPA's increasing funding to their massive tactical decision-making computer (skynet) and only a week later they're putting it to us to build humanoid mechanical soldiers (T-100 series)... Needless to say, I'm a little worried.
beambot 15y ago
Hey spathak... I'm the author of the original source over at Hizook.com (which was referenced in the Engadget article): http://www.hizook.com/blog/2012/04/03/new-darpa-grand-challenge-humanoid-robots-preliminary-unofficial-details http://www.hizook.com/blog/2012/04/03/new-darpa-grand-challe... We work very hard to put together these top-notch articles, and it sucks to have other media sites get all the attention. EDIT: I had already made a HN submission for Hizook, here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3806243 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3806243 but I suppose this post already has a lot of comments, so it should (obviously) remain. However... if you're interested in this type of robotics news, be sure to check us out.
- smokinn 15y ago
  Not to be a downer but if you want to be taken seriously for reporting your url probably shouldn't be [silly sounding domain]/blog. It doesn't lend to credibility and I'm sure I'm not the only one that given two similar titles but one has (hizook.com) next to it will click the one with the more serious sounding domain.
  - beambot 15y ago
    Hizook is no more "silly sounding" than many other household-name web domains that you probably use on a daily basis (and it has special meaning to me). The reason the articles are at /blog is because I'm developing hardware products for the site. (I'm not a "journalist", I'm a hardware hacker with a PhD in robotics.) As to credibility... Hizook blows Engadget out of the water. We're already well-known by most academic and professional roboticists, and the discussions on the site do not revolve around "robot overlords." We've been called "one of the top robotics blogs" by IEEE Spectrum, where I'm also a contributing author. Oh, and the HN guidelines specifically state to: "cite the original sources." Respectfully, your feedback is trite. I suggest checking out our site's articles, and if you'd like to continue this discourse, then please feel free to email me (see HN profile).
  - moe 15y ago
    but if you want to be taken seriously for reporting your url probably shouldn't be What the hell? Are we judging content by URLs now? And engadget adds credibility? Last time I checked they merely copy/paste an excerpt and frame it with their ads. Are we talking about the same engadget? Also whatever happened to: "Please submit the original source. If a blog post reports on something they found on another site, submit the latter."? Guess where I quoted that from?
aerique 15y ago
Man, any dutch corps or universities going to participate? I want to work on this!
stcredzero 15y ago
The mechanism pictured in the linked article -- take that homunculus, fit it with lots of strain gauges, and attach it to a full body haptic feedback harness mounted on a gimbal. Create a mechanism that keeps the pilot's head and body in the same orientation as the homunculus head and body. This enables the pilot's own inner ear to be the stabilization gyros. Voilà: an animated tethered "Terminator" robot that has eerie human-like balance and motion. The entertainment possibilities for this are awesome. For bonus points, scale it up by a factor of 3 or more. (Anime mecha giant robots, anyone?) The tech has actually been around for decades. http://www.raytheon.com/businesses/rids/businesses/gis/strategic_solutions/robotics/bigarm/index.html http://www.raytheon.com/businesses/rids/businesses/gis/strat...

50 points by spathak 15y ago

mcs 15y ago

No mention of Boston Dynamics in the article?

jonnycowboy 15y ago
I think the picture at the top of the article might be from Petman

dhughes 15y ago

Those images of a humanoid form with arms outstretched are eery especially on Good Friday.

turing 15y ago

The New York Times original article on Google X placed a lot of emphasis on the lab's work in robotics. I have a feeling Google will be very interested in this challenge. Keep in mind that Google's self driving car project largely grew out of the 2005 Grand Challenge. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/technology/at-google-x-a-top-secret-lab-dreaming-up-the-future.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/technology/at-google-x-a-t...

jonnycowboy 15y ago
Yes actually Google hired those that won the 2005 Challenge.
- agildehaus 15y ago
  My understanding is that they hired a mix of people who were involved in the challenge, not just the winners. Part of the Stanley team is there, some of the Red team, and I believe even the guy who attempted to make an autonomous motorcycle is working there.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

jsumrall 15y ago

Navigate rough terrain? Drive vehicles? We've been working on this for a while with RoboCup, and walking on felt carpet is challenging. This is exciting, but I hope they don't set the date any sooner than, say, 2018.

lispm 15y ago

how about investing LESS money into military research?

apawloski 15y ago
Unfortunately, I think LESS money into military research -> LESS money into research altogether. DARPA research is also fairly broad in that its applications tend to span way beyond military-related functionalities.
- lispm 15y ago
  The D of DARPA is for 'Defense'. It used to be ARPA, but the D was put in front to remind people that it is actually military research. If you want non-military research, give it to other agencies instead: NSF, ...
  - beambot 15y ago
    Some perspective (that I learned at a "young faculty workshop" recently): DARPA funding is $3B, NSF is $7B, and NIH is $32B. I was surprised.
    - lispm 15y ago
      DARPA is also just one branch of military research agencies.
  - apawloski 15y ago
    You're right. I could have been clearer. What I was trying to convey was that the work that goes into these DARPA challenges is still widely used in other areas too.
melling 15y ago
I'm all for it once you get someone to pay for the research before you spend less on military research. It's really great to want world peace and to be idealistic, but until you can offer real solutions to problems, you're just creating noise by making such comments. The Internet was started by DARPA funding. That's why we're here today. So, AFTER you've convinced the American tax payer to directly fund this kind of research, or you create an X-Prize crowded funded site, I think we should be thankful that the military is willing to "invest in the future" rather than just build bullets and bombs, which have no positive side effects. Having a military is a necessary evil in the world in which we live. Find ways to turn some of it into a positive force. eg. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/17/147047543/desert-military-bases-could-be-boon-to-solar http://www.npr.org/2012/02/17/147047543/desert-military-base...

tammer 15y ago

this... this is not good. DARPA's increasing funding to their massive tactical decision-making computer (skynet) and only a week later they're putting it to us to build humanoid mechanical soldiers (T-100 series)... Needless to say, I'm a little worried.

beambot 15y ago

Hey spathak... I'm the author of the original source over at Hizook.com (which was referenced in the Engadget article): http://www.hizook.com/blog/2012/04/03/new-darpa-grand-challenge-humanoid-robots-preliminary-unofficial-details http://www.hizook.com/blog/2012/04/03/new-darpa-grand-challe... We work very hard to put together these top-notch articles, and it sucks to have other media sites get all the attention. EDIT: I had already made a HN submission for Hizook, here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3806243 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3806243 but I suppose this post already has a lot of comments, so it should (obviously) remain. However... if you're interested in this type of robotics news, be sure to check us out.

smokinn 15y ago
Not to be a downer but if you want to be taken seriously for reporting your url probably shouldn't be [silly sounding domain]/blog. It doesn't lend to credibility and I'm sure I'm not the only one that given two similar titles but one has (hizook.com) next to it will click the one with the more serious sounding domain.
- beambot 15y ago
  Hizook is no more "silly sounding" than many other household-name web domains that you probably use on a daily basis (and it has special meaning to me). The reason the articles are at /blog is because I'm developing hardware products for the site. (I'm not a "journalist", I'm a hardware hacker with a PhD in robotics.) As to credibility... Hizook blows Engadget out of the water. We're already well-known by most academic and professional roboticists, and the discussions on the site do not revolve around "robot overlords." We've been called "one of the top robotics blogs" by IEEE Spectrum, where I'm also a contributing author. Oh, and the HN guidelines specifically state to: "cite the original sources." Respectfully, your feedback is trite. I suggest checking out our site's articles, and if you'd like to continue this discourse, then please feel free to email me (see HN profile).
- moe 15y ago
  but if you want to be taken seriously for reporting your url probably shouldn't be What the hell? Are we judging content by URLs now? And engadget adds credibility? Last time I checked they merely copy/paste an excerpt and frame it with their ads. Are we talking about the same engadget? Also whatever happened to: "Please submit the original source. If a blog post reports on something they found on another site, submit the latter."? Guess where I quoted that from?

aerique 15y ago

Man, any dutch corps or universities going to participate? I want to work on this!

stcredzero 15y ago

The mechanism pictured in the linked article -- take that homunculus, fit it with lots of strain gauges, and attach it to a full body haptic feedback harness mounted on a gimbal. Create a mechanism that keeps the pilot's head and body in the same orientation as the homunculus head and body. This enables the pilot's own inner ear to be the stabilization gyros. Voilà: an animated tethered "Terminator" robot that has eerie human-like balance and motion. The entertainment possibilities for this are awesome. For bonus points, scale it up by a factor of 3 or more. (Anime mecha giant robots, anyone?) The tech has actually been around for decades. http://www.raytheon.com/businesses/rids/businesses/gis/strategic_solutions/robotics/bigarm/index.html http://www.raytheon.com/businesses/rids/businesses/gis/strat...