[ajprice]

Old thread was too old to bump http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...adruped-robot/

BigDog has an arm now, BigDog can throw shit at you now.
BigDog four-legged robot adds an arm, throws for the scouts (video)

#skynet #terminators #gonnakillusall

[andi*pandi]

It's really disconcerting how they put the arm where the head should be. Yet throwing that cinder block, it's almost graceful.

[turtle777]

That's some scary shit.

-t

[subego]

Tricks from its tiny flying friends:

Quadrocopter Pole Acrobatics - YouTube

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

It's really disconcerting how they put the arm where the head should be.

Think of it as a head, neck, and jaw instead of an arm. If you want nightmares, that is.

[olePigeon]

They should rename the project CUJO.

[ebuddy]

Sounds like a chainsaw. Amazing balance and ability to climb up snowy hills though... if you have about 3 days per foot of travel.

[olePigeon]

Unfortunately it's more expensive than a mule.

[subego]

Gas is expensive enough there are loggers who have started using horses again.

[The Final Dakar]

That's kinda scary.

[andi*pandi]

The horses knew we'd come crawling back.

[ajprice]

Skynet, I mean Boston Dynamics, are at it again. This one can run at 16mph...

Introducing WildCat - YouTube

[lpkmckenna]

Holy crap.

[ajprice]

OK, they've been busy. Testing BigDog in the mountains and in deep snow. And they have a bipedal one now, Atlas, it can walk over rocks and stand on one leg while they hit it with a weight of 20 somethings...

Boston Dynamics puts AlphaDog through more field training, teaches Atlas robot to hike over rocks

As said above, Holy crap.

[davidflas]

So, I wonder how long it will be before these robots get tired of being toyed with and slaughter the researchers.... When I was watching the video of the two helicopters throwing and catching the pole, and the narrator was talking about the learning algorithms, I couldn't help but think of the scene in T2 when John Conner enables the T100's learning algorithms..

[mindwaves]

Consider me both scared and impressed. If I saw one of those with a gun on his head (if there was a head), I would run for my life.

[ajprice]

It's a bit Half Life Houndeye, and a bit Ravage from Transformers.

More like this at the moment


How long until they make this?


They can make this, BigDog, Atlas, this is the mk1 stuff, when they get around to their 'next gen'...

SkyNet.

[ghporter]

I am very impressed by the BigDog unit's ability to manage dynamic balance. This is a huge problem for amputees, and it seems to be pretty well nailed in BigDog. Even more impressive is Atlas' balance. This is huge!

There are many thousands of amputees using computerized prostheses to get around, and each new generation of prosthetic brings something new and helpful. If they could incorporate the kind of balance algorithms Atlas uses, a double-amputee might be able to walk almost normally without the many months of training for each prosthetic.

The only spooky thing for me is the blue glowy-thing in Atlas' chest. I'm not sure what it is or what it's for, but it's creepy.

[andi*pandi]

So very cool.

The people working on this, I bet they don't wake up every day going "ugh, I've got to go to work on that Henderson project. I hate the damn TPO reports."

[ajprice]

This really is the day for future robot overlords, we've got the cubes from Terrahawks now...

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/04/m...self-assemble/
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/1...niature-robots

[ajprice]

Boston Dynamics bought by Google: Google acquires Boston Dynamics, the robot builder behind Big Dog and Cheetah

[andi*pandi]

I can't decide whether this is good for the local company, if so yay, or bad... future robot overlords. :/

[osiris]

This is all we need - robots that can out-chase us, market the living crap out of us, then run off into the mountains to a secret fortress of solitude to recharge and do god knows what with the data. I wonder how I can get one with some canned heat or a frickin laser.