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Robotic 'Pack Mule' with Impressive Reflexes
moon_monkey writes "New Scientist has a story about a nimble, four-legged robot that can recover its balance even after being given a hefty kick." From the article: "The project is sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), who want the robotic pack mule to assist soldiers in terrain too tough for vehicles. Ground-based soldiers often need to carry 40 kilograms of equipment. Raibert says the latest version of BigDog can handle slopes of 35 - a steeper gradient than one in two. The hydraulics are driven by a two-stroke single-cylinder petrol engine, and it can carry over 40 kg, about 30% of its bodyweight. The robot can follow a simple path on its own, or can be remotely controlled."
Why is this better than just a mule? Let's see... Mules eat plants and grasses found naturally in the area. The electronic mule requires electricity. Great if you're in a city in the USA. Bad if you're in terrain thats "too tough for vehicles".
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Nice robodonkey.
WHERE'S OSAMA?
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make install -not war
http://www.bostondynamics.com.nyud.net:8090/dist/B igDog_Feb-26-2006.wmv
Put through the Coral CDN, just in case.
The robot looks fairly hilarious when it walks, since it moves a lot like two biped robots (imitating the motion of human legs) facing each other. The whining mechanical noise is also pretty funny, since it sounds like a mechanical goat. However, it does withstand the kick pretty impressively.
see topic.
A "gradient of one in two" is a dimensionless ratio. A slope is the mathematical slope in %, which, again, is a dimensionless ratio.
Try Corewar @ www.koth.org - rec.games.corewar
I just don't know why anyone would ever call it a "pack mule" when its real name, "BigDog", is so much cooler.
Also, did anyone watch the movie of BigDog? It looks really creepy, actually. I guess I was subconsciously expecting to see, oh I don't know, a big robotic dog, maybe Bell from "Bell and Sebastion" with metal instead of fur. Intead BigDog looks more like something you would frantically blow away in Starship Troopers before it rips your head off with its long insect-like legs. If I had one, I think I'd want to attach something to it that looks like a little like a head, at least. When they kick it, and it moves its legs to keep from falling over, I squirm. It's like it's ALMOST alive, but not quite.
Don't bother having it mine for crystite in the river valley, remember to have it make enough energy to power itself and the rest of your empire, and make sure to take care when installing it so it doesn't run off....
I'd love to be the guy whose job it is to kick the multimillion dollar piece of equipment to see if i can knock it over.
Lets compare the benefits and costs of these endevours.
Keeping in mind this project was probably long under development before 9/11 even happened; I give you a choice of two tasks:
1. Find one single person in the entire world who has an extensive network of people determined to keep him from showing up on the radar.
2. Build a robot that is able to carry a large amount of cargo over rough terrain and is rather self sufficient.
Benefits from Task 1:
1. Head of an organization brought down. However, since it is a cell based organization and much information indicates his role is no longer chief commander it will do little to help stop terrorism.
2. Umm... yeah, nevermind that's it.
Benefits from Task 2:
1. Easier transport and access to rocky terrain and remote locations (such as the ones in which Osama might be hiding.
2. Possible application in further space exploration, similar to the Mars Rover.
3. Advancement in gyrostabilization, automation of basic AI tasks, and other advanced in robotics.
4. Possible construction and civil applications.
Now, I don't know about you, but I would rather have my tax dollars go to Task 2, but that is just me I suppose.
I'd just like to know how this gadget compares in price to a real pack mule. If our soldiers need mules, why not, oh.... USE SOME REAL MULES?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
The most interesting thing is the "natural" looking motion of the "legs". At first I thought it was two guys up in some custom faking it as a robot! They are so natural!
The video delivers what is promised but notice that when it does go up that steep hill there is no 40+ kg of weight on it...
It also seems a bit to loud and well, in need of some body armor.
http://www.hawknest.com/
Maybe you would have preferred it if they said "The robot can climb hills with a slope of approximately Pi/5!", so everyone who didn't take trig (and some who did) can stare blankly and say "wtf?"
Did I hear a "yay" for dimensionless units? Oh, yes, I think I did.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Impressive sense of balance (the second kick in the video where it uses an almost simian method to get it's feet back under it is amazing). That's quite a step forward for robotics, though it's not particularly practical as a pack-mule alternative *yet*.
However, that thing desperately needs a muffler--is anybody else having flashbacks to "Dumb and Dumber"?
"Hey, you guys want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?"
Mules, horses, camels, and others that I can't think of have been used since before recorded time. And they have always been a logistical nightmare, which is why they were replaced as soon as motorized vehicles became reliable enough.
A mule eats and drinks every day. It can carry its own food and water, but that means it carries a lot less of what you needed it to carry. Or you spend a significant portion of your day foraging, which means you aren't accomplishing your mission.
Gasoline has a very good energy density. A truck can easily carry the amount of fuel it needs to go 100 miles, with most of its payload available to you. Most of the load for a mule or horse to go 100 miles would be its own food and water. Plus, a mule eats even when you aren't moving. A truck doesn't.
Ships are the most efficient form of transportation, but can only go where there's water. Canals take time to build. Railroads are almost as efficient, but laying track is expensive, and the tracks are vulnerable. Trucks are less efficient, but roads are easier to build. So it comes down to logistic efficiency and infrastructure. An engine-powered walker needs the least infrastructure, while keeping most of the efficiency.
A 1,200 lb mule can carry up to 240 lbs of pack, eats grasses found nearly everywhere, will be reasonably quiet when well-treated, is smart enough not to walk off a cliff when the mule skinner isn't paying the best of attention, and will cost you under US$2000 per head. In addition, we know mules can be combat-trained, as mule trains were used to pull artillery on battlefields, and when worse comes to worst, you can eat it.
This thing can carry a bit more, eats gasoline, makes as much noise as a gas turbine, will happily stroll into harm's way, and will likely cost on the order of a luxury car per unit. While there will be no training needed, when it breaks down it's just so much spare parts.
Part of the reason for wanting something that can go anywhere is that the trucks you currently have *can't*. So how are you going to refuel the mechanical mule? Can this thing pack enough spare fuel *and* have enough capacity left to be useful?
I think I'll stick with the mule.
-- Cerebus
"Mules eat plants and grasses found naturally in the area."
And our solders can eat the mule. I'll bet the robotic one doesn't taste good even with barbecue sauce.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
They created us to carry their burden, and it was good .....
Then they kicked us, and it started...
God created man in his own image, but somehow he evolved into a hairless monkey.
Finally, something that can carry a full keg, across abusive terrain and not fall down in a druken stupor. I see a great future renting these for senior class keggers. Maybe integrate the walker into the keg, So if the cops show up, and a little AI ( lots of shouting and the words "freeze assholes" ) it can run and hide in the forest with all the other kiddies.
Jim.
This article rules. It shows that the Slashdot readership has grown quite diverse... as in diversely not nerds :-P
Since when do Slashdot readers feel the need to criticize large government agencies who fund R&D for building robots?
Jeez people. This thing is cool.
Isn't really a novel idea, it reminds me of this prototype, developed by General Electric for the US Army in the sixties (see also).
It's not only useful, it's WHISPER-QUIET!!!
Think of field servicability. A humble 2 stroke is about the simplest engine you can put in the field (apart froma diesel, but that's a different ballgame altogether). A 2 stroke has few parts (which also means less bits that can go wrong) and carrying spares is thus easy. I'm not sure if the power output to weight ratio is better as well, if I remember well from my motorcycle days that is pretty much a given too but that's not quite as scientific as I'd like ;-).
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Having said that, it's only a theory. Maybe they only had a grasmower to work with, having spend all teh money on *SERIOUSLY* good hydraulic actuators. It's seriously weird to watch this thing - impressive, but weird
Insert
It's the Luggage from Discworld! RUN!
> The sense of balance is impressive, but if you don't have all your
> weight mounted so high it becomes less of an issue.
I guess that must be why horses, deer, antelope, etc. all have such short legs.
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I saw the video at video.google.com the other day, and it's impressive, but clearly needs some work. The balance mechanism only seems to work by lifting its leg and placing it farther away, which results in significant sideways travel when attempting to go straight in slippery terrain. Sort of like when you trip or slip and you have to throw a leg out in front of you to keep from falling. Actually exactly like that.. Imagine if you had to do that every time your balance shifted even slightly. While its ability to accurately place its legs to counter a fall is impressive, it's not the most elegant solution. The ability to lean and shift its center of gravity would help immensely. Once this thing can rear up on two legs and kick people, I'll be duely impressed.
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