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"Roadrunner": a bipedal, wheeled robot for multi-modal locomotion [video]
- Mistletoe 7mo agoWhat are the advantages to this compared to something more stable like 3 or 4 wheels that can’t just fall over?
- elil17 7mo agoAbility to walk up stairs?
- liuliu 7mo agoClose enough to a humanoid then you can move to places that humans can move to / around.
- brainwad 7mo agoThe single-track mode where the wheels are in line like a bike seems useful for navigating floors strewn with obstacles.
- pierrec 7mo agoI could ask you the same question.
- Mistletoe 7mo agoI don't have wheels.
- jcims 7mo agoLighter, smaller, cheaper, greater efficiency, improved agility.
- matt-attack 7mo agoVery impressive! I’ve not seen this configuration before.
- tpurves 7mo agoSo between AI and robots that can do this, humans are basically done right? I am going to bed.
- guelo 7mo agoI believe so. A few billionaires will control giant robot armies and go up against nation states for a while, while poverty and famine rip through the rest of us who will be considered useless. But eventually the machines will get rid of everyone besides maybe a few of us in zoos or as pets.
- ykonstant 7mo agoI agree. I wish I could be more optimistic.
- alexey-salmin 7mo agoNot until these robots learn to self-assemble from a bag of rice like humans do
- AngryData 7mo agoNah, it just means we get to enjoy a 19th century future because we keep destroying our electronics using EMP bombs to fight the robots.
- kavalg 7mo agoCool! Does anyone have a list of challenges that must be tackled before such humanoid robots become usable for tasks such as household chores, cooking etc?
- sassymuffinz 7mo agoI’m sorry Dave, the best we can do with this robot is to make it capable of doing your job so you can focus on doing your chores and cooking.
- Levitating 7mo agoWhat about the ability to do household chores and cook? You saw a video of a robot that can climb a single staircase in a test environment. We've had machines that climb stairs for a few decades now. If you want a robot to do household chores, you get a dishwasher, autonomous lawnmower and a washing machine.
- dolmen 7mo agoThe dishwasher and the washing machine don't auto fill. Scaling issues as family grows. Ex: sorting socks.
- bjackman 7mo agoIIUC dexterity is gonna be the bottleneck. There was actually a post on here a few months back where someone claiming robotics expertise posted exactly what you asked for: a list of things they didn't think robots were close to being able to do. IIRC the list included folding textiles, and soon after a video was released of a robot folding textiles, but it was very janky, it's not clear to me if it proved the original article wrong or was more of an "exception that proves the rule". Personally I have my washing machine in the basement, you need a key to access it (and I can't modify it, it's a shared space in a building I don't own). I'm always thinking about that. A robot that can do my laundry and open locked doors doesn't seem to be on the horizon yet.
- prawn 7mo ago
- prawn 7mo agoScale this up a bit and I could see it working as an urban courier. Cool format.
- krolley 7mo agoI'm pretty sure they are. RAI have an office in Zurich, Switzerland. And I've seen these Just Eats wheeled robots driving around near their offices, delivering stuff. I would guess they are responsible for it.
- lccerina 7mo agoHonestly impressed! While humanoid legs are an interesting challenge from a technical point of view, there are plenty of examples in nature (roadrunners) and tech (anything with wheels) that are more efficient and practical.
- GracefullyShot 7mo agoAh, yes. The Metal Gear Mk.II Thank you, kojima
- smusamashah 7mo agoI want this thing to have flailing hands and shouting 'weeee'
- jackgavigan 7mo agoI wonder whether the extra weight of a third, retractable/foldable leg would negate the power savings that could accrue from being able to switch to 3-wheeled mode when appropriate (thereby allowing the gyro to be spun down).
- v9v 7mo agoBy gyro do you mean flywheel? Is there one in this robot?
- Isamu 7mo agoThere does not appear to be one in this robot, from what I am able to read about it. I think sometimes people assume there must be something like that to help balance. This generalizes fixed 2-wheel dynamic balancers which mostly don’t have flywheels for stability either, the focus is on the dynamics of keeping the wheels under the center of gravity, or a bit offset when moving. The novelty here is about switching between dynamic control policies while keeping them simple.
- gcanyon 7mo agoI realized how much I was anthropomorphizing the thing when it reversed its knees and I winced.
- jacquesm 7mo agoIn a word: wow. That demo just kept getting better and better.
- kacesensitive 7mo agothought it was pretty cool. then it balanced on one leg. insane.
- tokai 7mo agoReally cool. But when will we actually start to see any robotics products out there in real life? Walking robots have been a thing for what 50 years now? And they are still nowhere to be seen beside techdemos. Boston Dynamics' Bigdog is 20 years ago, and beside those semi-useless dog drones from china, we are nowhere close to general service walking robots in our lives. I'm getting impatient.
- worik 7mo agoSigh. A carefully edited video of an "amazing" robot. Been seeing these for twenty years An independently produced video, of such a robot, that would be amazing. Truly
- solozaki 7mo agoyr