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Two Legged Robot Sets Speed Record
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers in Germany and Scotland have made the fastest two-legged robot yet (for its size) called RunBot. It is controlled by a simple program that mimics the way neurons control reflexes in humans and other animals. From the article: 'We wanted to show that a very simple system with a simple neuronal controller could walk in a natural manner - and fast,' says Florentin Wörgötter, from the University of Göttingen in Germany. The story also features couple of videos of RunBot in action."
I'll feel safe as long as I can still outrun our robot overlords.
Ah, the famous two-legged cheetah... probably yeah.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
Two mpeg videos show RunBot (4.9M) walking at a steady speed and (15M) gradually learning to walk more rapidly.
;)
Get'em while they're hot,
...I won't be impressed until a two-robot team wins a three-legged race.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
I love how it busts right at the end of video 1. They should have a sensor on its head to sensor when the head touches the ground.. . That should trigger a Homer-esque "D'oh!"
You don't have to be faster than the killer robot.
You just need to be faster than that any other humans you happen to be with.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
How many leg-length per second can the "average" human achieve?
A lot less than this thing once its perfected and turned into a meat-powered robot.
What the hell are thoses scientists up to? Why don't we just go ahead and program them to bat us around a bit before they eat us?
Sheeesh.
Starsucks
It can walk but can't maintain verticality? Is it there to stabilize it? That's pretty lame if they don't even have to worry about keeping its center of balance ... that's the hardest thing to figure out about fluid bipedal motion!
Probably just to stop the experiment needing a shitload of space without worrying about explicit turning. Of course, you could have just quoted the entire paragraph (two sentences) - bold face added:
RunBot currently walks around the edge of a circular room and is connected the centre of the room by a boom. But Wörgötter plans to develop a freestanding version next, and thinks it should be straightforward because the boom has only a small influence on its ability to walk.
Doesn't seem quite so problematic now, does it?
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN
It's never just a game when you're winning. - George Carlin
Yeah, I know that the dynamics of running -- one leap after another -- are possibly more complicated than, and definitely different than the dynamics for walking. Nonetheless, I always used to like our cross-country club races (when I did run CC, and later when I'd watch my brother run) in the Shenandoah Valley. There were a few "English walkers" who would outwalk quite a few runners. That includes me. It's just a little embarassing to be struggling along, still leaping from leg to leg in that slow hobble that we call "long distance running", and have somebody breezily walk past you (same direction) and offer a little how-do-you-do.
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
But can they build him faster? stronger?
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.