5 ms·

Modest Debut of Atlas May Foreshadow Age of ‘Robo Sapiens’

22 points by jedwhite 13y ago

davidw 13y ago
> “A new species, Robo sapiens, are emerging,” So... they breed true?
orta 13y ago
The NYTimes article had no images of what it looked like, so here's a google image search of them: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=atlas+robosapien&safe=off&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Rc_fUeG3DcashQenqIHICg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1061&bih=686#safe=off&hl=en&tbm=isch&q=atlas%20robot%20darpa&revid=2035038456&ei=lM_fUfjaLq3P0AXNtIGgAw&ved=0CAwQsiU&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=db45169985757560&biw=1061&bih=686&imgdii=_ https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=atlas+robosapien&safe=...
erikstarck 13y ago
There is a little known alternative Turing test or competition if you will, between man and machine. It says that a team of robots will beat the world champions in football (soccer) before 2050. I think it will happen sooner. What do you think?
- venomsnake 13y ago
  Of course it will ... with robots you have no limits on strength speed and endurance as long as the battery pack can support the unit for 45 minutes. You have instant communication and perfect positioning. You can also make superhuman shots with strength and precision. AI has nothing to do with it.
  - ealexhudson 13y ago
    If they have to compete in the same "form factor" then they don't stand a chance. Professional football is incredibly complex. (45m would be an absolute minimum, too: actual playing time required would be more like an hour.)
    - swombat 13y ago
      Arguably, a properly constructed set of 11 robots should be able to pass the ball to somewhere about half-way down the field fairly quickly and unstoppably, and would then proceed to shoot in exactly the right corner of the net from halfway down the pitch. Blocking shots taken at the robot goal (if such a thing ever happened) would also be a piece of cake given the ease with which we can already program robots to catch things thrown at them.
  - ctdonath 13y ago
    as long as the battery pack can support the unit for 45 minutes Aye, there's the rub. The article's photo shows a thick cable dragging behind the robot. The power source won't be included in the unit for a long time. No indication of where the computing power is either.
- mapt 13y ago
  Put ten million dollars on this today, and a team of robots could beat the world champions in football by the end of 2013, 2014 at most. It's simply not that hard of a problem, and you have failed to constrain the form factor of the robots.
chriswarbo 13y ago
Humanoid robots resonate with the public (in a good way or a bad (Terminator) way) and it does make sense for human-replacing robots to be humanoid, since we've built our environment to accommodate bodies like ours, but at the moment most of the uses of humanoid robots are gimmicks. Why bother programming a robotic tour guide to point using its finger, hand out leaflets and walk around, when it's much easier to put a screen and leaflet dispenser on a set of wheels? Most importantly, a screen and leaflet dispenser on wheels has much less chance of accidentally decapitating tourists than a 300lb hydraulic "body-builder" machine.
elisee 13y ago
Video of said robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBnFPBV3f0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBnFPBV3f0
nawitus 13y ago
Minor note: what's up with all the low-resolution photographs? Pretty much all news websites seem to be designed for 640x480 resolution. I want to click the image and open it up in 1920x1080 or something.
- venomsnake 13y ago
  It's called design for common resolutions The average resolution at which a site is viewed peaked around 2007-8 and then is moving downwards.

22 points by jedwhite 13y ago

> “A new species, Robo sapiens, are emerging,” So... they breed true?

orta 13y ago

The NYTimes article had no images of what it looked like, so here's a google image search of them: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=atlas+robosapien&safe=off&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Rc_fUeG3DcashQenqIHICg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1061&bih=686#safe=off&hl=en&tbm=isch&q=atlas%20robot%20darpa&revid=2035038456&ei=lM_fUfjaLq3P0AXNtIGgAw&ved=0CAwQsiU&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=db45169985757560&biw=1061&bih=686&imgdii=_ https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=atlas+robosapien&safe=...

erikstarck 13y ago

There is a little known alternative Turing test or competition if you will, between man and machine. It says that a team of robots will beat the world champions in football (soccer) before 2050. I think it will happen sooner. What do you think?

venomsnake 13y ago
Of course it will ... with robots you have no limits on strength speed and endurance as long as the battery pack can support the unit for 45 minutes. You have instant communication and perfect positioning. You can also make superhuman shots with strength and precision. AI has nothing to do with it.
- ealexhudson 13y ago
  If they have to compete in the same "form factor" then they don't stand a chance. Professional football is incredibly complex. (45m would be an absolute minimum, too: actual playing time required would be more like an hour.)
  - swombat 13y ago
    Arguably, a properly constructed set of 11 robots should be able to pass the ball to somewhere about half-way down the field fairly quickly and unstoppably, and would then proceed to shoot in exactly the right corner of the net from halfway down the pitch. Blocking shots taken at the robot goal (if such a thing ever happened) would also be a piece of cake given the ease with which we can already program robots to catch things thrown at them.
- ctdonath 13y ago
  as long as the battery pack can support the unit for 45 minutes Aye, there's the rub. The article's photo shows a thick cable dragging behind the robot. The power source won't be included in the unit for a long time. No indication of where the computing power is either.
mapt 13y ago
Put ten million dollars on this today, and a team of robots could beat the world champions in football by the end of 2013, 2014 at most. It's simply not that hard of a problem, and you have failed to constrain the form factor of the robots.

chriswarbo 13y ago

Humanoid robots resonate with the public (in a good way or a bad (Terminator) way) and it does make sense for human-replacing robots to be humanoid, since we've built our environment to accommodate bodies like ours, but at the moment most of the uses of humanoid robots are gimmicks. Why bother programming a robotic tour guide to point using its finger, hand out leaflets and walk around, when it's much easier to put a screen and leaflet dispenser on a set of wheels? Most importantly, a screen and leaflet dispenser on wheels has much less chance of accidentally decapitating tourists than a 300lb hydraulic "body-builder" machine.

elisee 13y ago

Video of said robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBnFPBV3f0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBnFPBV3f0

nawitus 13y ago

Minor note: what's up with all the low-resolution photographs? Pretty much all news websites seem to be designed for 640x480 resolution. I want to click the image and open it up in 1920x1080 or something.

venomsnake 13y ago
It's called design for common resolutions The average resolution at which a site is viewed peaked around 2007-8 and then is moving downwards.