Robot video you have to see!!!

**ScratchMonkey** · 03-20-2008 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by Uranium - 235

I think we need to spend more money figuring out how to POWER the stupid things first... there was an article in Scientific American talking about how robotics has stagnated somewhat because everyone' focusing on 'proof of concept' designs. We have a billion robots that can move in a variety of ways, but there's only been one measured success of an optical robotic sensor, and it was only good at one thing.

Power density is hard. The BigDog carries a gas engine to make the power source dense. Getting batteries equally dense is hard, without making them blow up as bad as a tank of gas, or making them very expensive.

What's this "optical robotic sensor"?

Most robotics are highly specialized for a specific task. (Think operations on a conveyor belt.) They don't need general purpose motion, or advanced sensors. The economical approach is to constrain the problem and the geometry so that you can do the task efficiently. That generally means no biological similarities. Biologicals evolved as general purpose problem solvers. Most real world applications don't need that flexibility.

**Axis of Eeevil** · 03-20-2008 02:20 AM

This was actually posted about 4-5 months ago. No less impressive though! I think dropping even ten of these just to blow them up would be prohibitively expensive...at this point. I'd like to see hard numbers on cost of ten robot boomer dogs taking out a mountainside tunnel complex versus a platoon of special forces doing the same with a 25% casualty 40 % perm. disabled mission outcome...

Now if they could carry mini microwave nonlethal avoidance weapons, THAT could be something!

Imagine nonlethal robot warfare!

Or Robot Doberman Disco Ninja! Versus Cyborg Monkey Kung-Fu Pirates!

Yeah...sweet.

Q: How many ADHD people does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: Let's make nachos and take apart the VCR!

**ScratchMonkey** · 03-20-2008 02:58 AM

SWORDS might be better for that task:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster-Miller_TALON

**Uranium - 235** · 03-23-2008 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by ScratchMonkey

SWORDS might be better for that task:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster-Miller_TALON

They said that they deployed 3 to Iraq, but then the Army canceled the order. Must've been something major wrong with them.

**ScratchMonkey** · 03-25-2008 05:26 AM

Originally Posted by Uranium - 235

They said that they deployed 3 to Iraq, but then the Army canceled the order. Must've been something major wrong with them.

You missed the 2nd sentence:

The army has announced that it is canceling production of the SWORDS armed robot. Foster-Miller is working on a successor: the Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS)

They just renamed it instead of calling it "version 2".

I have a friend involved in the engineering of a sub-assembly, and got to see it being test-fired. (I work in precision robotics. This is more high-safety than precision, although accuracy remains important.)

Its combat SWORDS version is now being used there in a guard role protecting front line buildings from attack. According to Foster-Miller, the robot has performed around 20,000 EOD missions in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'd say that's a pretty successful deployment.

**Bamboo** · 03-26-2008 11:20 AM

Holy crap you guys need to see this

http://gizmodo.com/372272/video-of-b...-its-hilarious

**Elwenil** · 03-26-2008 11:26 AM

That was ridiculous and hilarious at the same time, lmfao!

**Duncan** · 03-31-2008 11:20 AM

any resemblance? rofl

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT-tV7zOEPU&feature=related[/media]

**Switch** · 03-31-2008 04:34 PM

Certainly an impressive engineering achievement.

A little scary when you apply weaponry. How long until it is armed?

I can see that playing a good medic role by carrying medical equipment, a stretcher, and a ballistic shield. A soldier goes down and med bot heads on over to provide a video relay back to CO/SL to see if a medic should be dispatched. In the mean team, he holds position with a ballistic shield between body and opfor and if the soldier is capable, he can self treat with the supplies now in front of him.

**Dick Blonov** · 03-31-2008 08:40 PM

From your link Elwenil:

The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth
BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.

In separate trials, BigDog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load.

BigDog is being developed by Boston Dynamics with the goal of creating robots that have rough-terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on Earth that people and animals can go. The program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

**MrMojay** · 04-05-2008 11:52 AM

Ahh yes the days of humans fighting wars will soon be over, now all we have to do is send in the robots, go for tea and biscuits, then come back and see who won, will this make fighting wars pointless?, is it pointless in fighting a war when no-one on either side gets killed?, will wars just be based on depleting the resources of the other side?, such as materials and their ability to manufacture more robots.
I think its great we can make such wonderous things, but when the funding comes from an institution with the word "defense" in it, then it gets a bit worrying....

**GoombaStalker** · 04-05-2008 01:15 PM

Just wait till they stick some machine guns on it and its the new robocop

**ScratchMonkey** · 04-07-2008 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by MrMojay

Ahh yes the days of humans fighting wars will soon be over, now all we have to do is send in the robots, go for tea and biscuits, then come back and see who won, will this make fighting wars pointless?

Wars aren't games. They're one guy trying to take what doesn't belong to him, and the victim trying to defend himself. You might as well suggest that crime and self-defense will be subsumed by robots. War is just crime on a grand scale.

**Bamboo** · 04-08-2008 06:44 PM

So I thought everyone here might also be interested in what just got unvailed by Segway.
Still kind of scary looking:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/08/s...onal-transpor/

**Elwenil** · 04-08-2008 07:02 PM

I like the comment in the vid where the guy says "You know it's a good robot when it's creepy." That's oddly true.

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