""Boston Dynamics’ New Rolling, Leaping Robot Is ..." Topic

…an Evolutionary Marvel.

"If you're ever feeling down, do yourself a favor and watch some footage from the 2015 Darpa Robotics Challenge. This competition of bipedal beasts put robots up against a number of challenges, from turning valves to driving a car. But they struggled to open doors, much less stand for a decent amount of time. The verdict? Our face-planting future robotic overlords could stand some improvements.

Oh, how the world laughed. And oh, how the world gasped when Boston Dynamics dropped a video of its newest bot, Handle, this week. It's also a biped—but with wheels instead of feet, screaming around a building and leaping four feet high and doing pirouettes because why the hell not.

Handle isn't just a startling reminder that highly sophisticated robots are here and stealing jobs, but that humans can create robotic forms superior to anything you'll find in nature. And I'm not just talking about strength. What Boston Dynamics has done with Handle is take what natural selection has crafted—the human form—and turned it into a more efficient chimera. It's created an evolutionary marvel.

Don't get me wrong—the human body is a masterpiece of evolution. Walking on two legs frees up our hands, for one, allowing us to manipulate our environment. But it also has its drawbacks. Two legs are far less stable than four. That's not so much a problem for humans with years of practice, but a serious problem if you're trying to build a bipedal robot that doesn't fall on its face…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

Very cool, looking at some of the other Boston Dynamics videos, we need someone to make a 15mm SpotMini. A pack of those with those long necks would be a scary sight to see!

And if you watch the Atlas video, you'll see why the robot rebellion happens…

Glad you like it my friend.

Amicalement
Armand

A robot cow on roller skates…

Two legs are far less stable than four. That's not so much a problem for humans with years of practice, but a serious problem if you're trying to build a bipedal robot that doesn't fall on its face…"

That's because people generally think just standing upright is a passive activity. It's not. You are constantly teetering, minutely from side to side, your cerebellum monitors this and makes constant adjustments just to keep you upright. The evolution from 4 to 2 limbs brought a growth of brain power to make that adjustment work.

But the big jump in evolutionary brain development came because being upright freed up our forelimbs and hands to do detailed work. Then add stereoscopic eyes into the mix. A lot of brain processing power is now needed for all these evolutionary changes. And this took millions of years to happen.

So it's not surprising that the robot developers are having trouble with this. But they are still impressive results.

Daleks just *snerk* at this "two-legged" approach. Too much design restriction. Unnatural, really. Put everything back on four legs and you will have natural stability. Four wheels good, two wheels bad…………..

ScottWashburn … dude! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand