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Hyperion Rover, 1 km On One Command

An anonymous reader writes "Carnegie Mellon's next generation robot just finished its Chilean expedition and achieved a new planetary exploration benchmark, including being the first autonomous rover to cover 1 km on a single command. The other milestones from the Atacama Desert, Chile--the driest place on the planet--centered on over-the-horizon stereo navigation, sun-tracking for efficient solar panel pointing, and fault recovery. CMU shows pictures of the robot, called Hyperion, in action. One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade, by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."

32 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. It has to What Now? by Jonsey · · Score: 5, Funny

    One of it's primary goals is to avoid shady paths by knowing the location of everything in the solar system?

    I mean, I've heard of over-engineered. But really folks? : ) That's Scalability.

    --
    I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
    1. Re:It has to What Now? by Mr2cents · · Score: 2, Funny

      After looking at the pictures, the avoiding-shadows-part doesn't seem that impressive any more.. :)

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  2. That's impressive by cybermace5 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It all depends, however, on whether it really was on purpose....

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    1. Re:That's impressive by Transient0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It also depends on whether it can do it across all different kinds of terrain and with some level of reliability.

      I built an autonomous rover out of a Tonka dumptruck once. It could also travel a kilometer on one command. The command just happened to be the ignition switch to the rocket I had strapped to it.

    2. Re:That's impressive by Molina+the+Bofh · · Score: 4, Funny

      yes. It was. Its command was "go ahead forward". So it covered 1km of flat desert land till it crashed on the very first cactus that appeared and got stuck.

      --

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      Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
    3. Re:That's impressive by Molina+the+Bofh · · Score: 2, Funny

      You mean like those Acme super duper rockets ?

      Willy Coyote would sure like to get his hands on your rover.

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      Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, find / -name '*base*' |xargs chown -R us && mv zig greatjustice
    4. Re:That's impressive by cybermace5 · · Score: 2, Funny

      The article did say the researchers "tagged along" taking measurements. I guess you could get creative with your interpretation of "chase."

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    5. Re:That's impressive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      it crashed on the very first cactus that appeared

      Excellent! A cactus-finding robot!

  3. Everything? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."

    Even...Uranus?

    1. Re:Everything? by Sri+Lumpa · · Score: 3, Funny

      "...by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."

      "Even...Uranus?"

      Don't worry, it is programmed to avoid shade so it won't go where the Sun doesn't shine.

      Now if it could find the position of my keys in the morning that would be nice (I'm almost certain that they are in the solar system so it shouldn't be a problem).

      --
      "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
  4. Stop mixing apples and oranges! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny



    Hyperion Rover, 1 km On One Command

    Posted by Hemos on Monday July 28, @10:56AM
    from the planning-ahead dept.
    An anonymous reader writes "Carnegie Mellon's next generation robot just finished its Chilean expedition and achieved a new planetary exploration benchmark, including being the first autonomous rover to cover 1 km on a single command. The other milestones from the Atacama Desert, Chile--the driest place on the planet--centered on over-the-horizon stereo navigation, sun-tracking for efficient solar panel pointing, and fault recovery. CMU shows pictures of the robot, called Hyperion, in action. One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade, by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."

    Shouldn't that be kilometerstones?

  5. Easy to beat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Park a boat off of someplace deep. Have your AIBO walk the plank. Depending on where you try this, you should be able to get much more than 1km on a single command.

  6. Yes, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can it find a decent pan-galactic gargle blaster?

  7. Not impressed... by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 2, Funny
    Pssh, we've had automated rover technology since, what, 1979?

    This 'new' model doesn't even have a "Photon" Cannon!

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    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  8. Impressive. by rde · · Score: 5, Funny

    Robotic considerations in addition to instrument integration include platform configuration, planetary-relevant localization, complex obstacle negotiation, over-the-horizon navigation, and power-cognizant activity planning.

    We're looking for a manager at the moment with a lot of those skills.

    But seriously, folks. This is quite cool. Its capabilities at the moment seem to surpass by far those of the mars bots that are currently wending their way through space. Am I missing something, though, or have most of those experiments nothing to do with astrobiology? Not a cavil, just wondering.

  9. Re:cool ! by Psiren · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's why we see robots for use on other planets, but we'll probably not see them on this one (unless of course we ship all the lawyers to some other planet first).

    Does is have to be a planet, or can we aim it at any stellar body?

  10. Re:Mods already? by generic-man · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's the "type R" model. It has special stickers that make it go faster and intimidate opponents in rover street races.

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  11. Re:cool ! by puff-d-dwaggie · · Score: 2, Funny

    (unless of course we ship all the lawyers to some other planet first)

    Ok, I dont see this as a major stumbling block, nor do I know of any human beings who would object too much.

    "Get Moose and Squirrel!"

  12. Stereo navigation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "over-the-horizon stereo navigation"

    That's like when you can hear boy racers in their Escorts before you can see them, right?

  13. Tommy the Turtle can already do this! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    FD 1000

  14. plot courses that avoid shade... by Refried+Beans · · Score: 1, Funny

    Must be pretty easy to do that in a wide open desert.

  15. Scary next-gen by Dirk+Pitt · · Score: 4, Funny
    The successor of the 'Hyperion', naturally, will be 'The Shrike':

    Shrike Rover, 1k Slaughtered On One Command

  16. Only thing I could think of... by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    was that it was trying to avid solar occlusions by other planets and moons!

    "Response from Hyperion: Cannot execute command, busy navigating 4000km to east to avoid total solar eclipse in 2004".

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Only thing I could think of... by le_jfs · · Score: 2, Funny

      The though I had was the rover busy running at 900mph in attempt to avoid the night.

      Scary...

      --
      main(char O){O++&&(((O-291)*O+27788)*O-868020?1:putchar(O++) )&&main(O);}
  17. Get One For Yourself! by notcreative · · Score: 5, Funny
    Many of you read the article and wondered how you could get one of these to play with. I figured out a quick "do-it-yourself" solution....
    • Fly to Chile
    • Go to the Atacama desert
    • Hide behind a dune (bring water)
    • Wait for rover to trundle by
    • Take the rover and run
    • Possession is .9 of the law
    I call this the "Sandpeople Technique."
  18. I tried this by Niadh · · Score: 2, Funny

    I tried this but it kept running away from my shadow. Then it miss-took my head for the moon and turned south.

  19. Stereo navigation? by four12 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "over-the-horizon stereo navigation"? I can do this any time I want... just listen for my daughter's stereo and I can tell where home is from miles away.

  20. Re:Why Chile? by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just wonder if they really needed to go there or if they just wanted an excuse to go to the driest place on earth?

    Then why didn't they just go to Utah?

    --
    "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
  21. Shade Avoidance by Teahouse · · Score: 2, Funny

    "One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade"

    Um, to my knowledge there isn't a single tree in that desert. How do they know it was successful? I am sure they will claim a 100% success, just as I can claim a 100% success when testing my coffee cup's new "don't move" feature. Yep, it worked. It's right where I left it.

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    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  22. Personal Probe by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Something like this could find my missing socks while I am at work. Finally, something with direct earthly benefits from NASA. For a little extra maybe it will toss AOL disks and empty pizza containers for ya also.

  23. Avoid shade? Hm. by jtheory · · Score: 2, Funny

    One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade

    I hope they find it another way to navigate before they send it out to rescue lost hikers in Death Valley, etc..

    - "Oh, thank God you found me, RoboSaviour!"
    - "YES MY SECOND PRIME DIRECTIVE IS TO HELP HUMANKIND. DO NOT FEAR I WILL CARRY YOU TO A HOSPITAL ESTIMATED TIME TO ARRIVAL 62 HOURS"

    - "Wait, second directive? And, uh, wouldn't it be safer for us to travel at night?"
    - "HERE WE GO, SIR. ESTIMATED ARRIVAL CONDITION: TENDER, EXTRA-CRISPY"

    --
    There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
  24. Johnny 1? by celerityfm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is is just me, or does this thing bear a strong resemblance to our good friend Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit?

    Now I understand why such a thing would go as to track "the position of virtually everything in the solar system," input Stephanie!

    --
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