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Bipedal Dinosaur Robot
News for nerds writes "AIST and NEDO announced they have developed 2 bipedal dinosaur robots for the EXPO 2005 Aichi, Japan(Mar.25-Sep.25). PC Watch has an article with pics/movies and TBS News has a movie. Tyrannosaurus Rex and Parasaurolophus are modeled as 3.5m/80kg robots, and cost $1.8 million to build. They can roar and walk with an artificial pounding sound, but not as fearsome as Mechagodzilla. The external skin is designed by Kokoro Co., Ltd. and the endoskelton is developed by Kawada Industries, Inc. which is the manufacturer of the HRP-2 Humanoid Robot."
At 3.5m I think it's still quite intimidating even with artificial pounding sound.
If they adjust weight to few hundred kgs, you'll start feeling it before seeing it.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Start by building dinosaurs, and then gradually work your way up to a human like robot. Why didn't I think of that? It's evolution all over.
Slashdot wanted to hire an editor, but after examining the budget they realised an editor would have costed too much...
I talkled to one of the reps from the people who produce NEDO at Robonexus (a large robotics confrence in Santa Clara, CA) a few months ago. Ultimately, the technology they use in developing the robots they are making now will be used for useful purposes, IE, the military or around the home. However, as of now there is no demand for this, so the keep the money flowing in, they create the robots for demo purposes. They also have sold the bipedal human robots to universites for research purposes. Just because something doesnt have an immediate use doesnt mean that the technology behind wont be useful some day.
wtfsig?!11
No making a machine 'Roar' is not an achivement. But when that machine is bipedal and moves with perfect co-ordinated steps, all controlled by a single computer within it, that's when we call it an achivement. And I believe the Japanese have done it.