Chairbot Walks You Around While You Sit

Gary writes "What do you get when you combine a robot and a chair? The Hubo FX-1 chairbot, of course. In what is perhaps my favorite robot design yet, this giant chair with legs looks like it came out of some ridiculous 80's sci-fi movie or something, but it's very, very real. HUBO FX-1 is two meters in height, and weighs 150 kg. The person sitting can control the robot easily using the built in joystick. Each ankle has a 3-axis force/torque sensor which measures the normal force and 2 moments. Each foot has an inclination sensor which measures the angle of the slope. Also, the rate gyro and the inclination sensor of the body allow the device to stabilize itself."

Comments

Protecting us

[LiquidCoooled]

This thing will protect us from the terrible secret of space.

Pak Chooie Unf!

If you're gonna build a chairbot, do it right...

[EvilRyry]

Chairbot is a great idea and all but its way too high off the ground to be useful in the office. If I built a chairbot, I'd do it right. It would have 8 legs and kinda crawl around like a spider, keeping you low to the ground. It would be so awesome.

Not enough capacity

[G4from128k]

V2.0 will need to handle 2X or 3X the current device's 100kg payload if it is to sell in the U.S. The growing numbers of "enlarged" Americans that I see using those scooters is horrifying.

Re:Not enough capacity

[maxume]

Ehn, just cut off their legs.

Go Neimoidian Culture!

[ChromeAeonium]

I want one just like Nute Gunray had.

Chairbot Mech moves 3/5/0

[bughouse26]

I'll take one with 6 Medium Lasers, an AC/20, a PPC-10, and an LRM-6 please.

Re:Chairbot Mech moves 3/5/0

[Penguinshit]

not enough heat sinks for all that firepower, unless you plan on standing still Mr. Sitting-Duck Clan...

Re:Chairbot Mech moves 3/5/0

[Anonymous Coward]

You realize the PPC-10 is a 10 inch anal vibrator? Perhaps you meant PCC-10.

Payback

[SPrintF]

Payback's comin', Ballmer... walkin' slow.

Re:Payback

[Aladrin]

The first thought I had when I saw this article was 'At Soviet Microsoft, Chair throws you!' ;)

if I had a successful .com startup...

[nbert]

...I'd be ordering a couple. Just imagine doing job interviews in/on such a thing :D

Steve Ballmer Version

[aschlemm]

The Steve Ballmer version of this chair will automatically throw itself across the room. :)

May I be the first....

[Xinef Jyinaer]

May I be the first to say, "Goliath Online". And just in time for SC2

Re:If you're gonna build a chairbot, do it right..

[billsoxs]

OK - but as Jay Leno would say - Are we really getting THAT fat?

Re:If you're gonna build a chairbot, do it right..

[Frogbert]

Well yeah but if you are going to do that you need to do it right. I envision two sets of thousands of grippy legs (made out of rubber or something) mounted in a circular pattern on each side of the chair sharing a single motor.

By rotating this circle each leg would be able to grip onto the floor and help the engine propel you in the direction you want to go in.

good timing

[Jeek Elemental]

was considering taking up jogging but havent cause of all the running involved, this might be the push needed.

Re:One thought

[Max Littlemore]

Maybe so that paralegics and quadriplegics can use stairs like everyone else?

This was my first thought. Wheels are no good on rough and uneven terrain.

I just wonder WTF would buy a 2m tall 2 legged monstrosity, when 6 short legs would be much simpler to control and balance. This thing is rediculously impractical.

Then I read the end of TFA about soldiers on these things with chain guns and rpgs. My internal school boy nearly wet himself."Sure it may be a huge target on an inherently unstable pedal configuration with an inability to assume a prone position or find effective cover, but hey, it's a bit like a Mech!"

Wankers.

Ok, Dude,

[Cadallin]

Stephan Hawking NEEDS this thing. All it needs is a set of grasping hands on long arms so he can crush his enemies like Robo-Nixon. That would be so awesome. In any case, add some lasers and missiles and you've got a fully functional Gundam!

Re:Ok, Dude,

[PayPaI]

He already has something better

Hiking is always such a strain on the buttocks

[Rgb465]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUVFV8g4-Yo

Re:If you're gonna build a chairbot, do it right..

[Doctor Memory]

Heh, that was my first thought: "Jesus, how soon before I see these things stomping around Wal-Mart?" I swear, I go there about five times a year, and every time it's like Bloated Freaks on Wheels week.

LipoBot

[Voice of Meson]

If we could hook up some Liposuction equipment to it, then use the extracted fat of the occupant as a fuel for the machine we'd really be getting somewhere. Their fat arses would actually be hauling them around. Ha!

LipoBot - Patent Pending.

Re:LipoBot

[autophile]

Their fat arses would actually be hauling them around.

But only in Soviet Russia.

--Rob

Re:One thought

[Max Littlemore]

If enough armor can be packed on it, the "mech" platform might be more effective in urban combat than tanks.

With no armour whatsoever, a few million nanobots that eat ammunition would be more effective than tanks, _and_ they'd be completely uneffected by the tripwires that are so easy to set up in urban environments. Not nearly as exciting though.

Re:If you're gonna build a chairbot, do it right..

[Anonymous Coward]

Did He answer you? It's an interesting question...

Re:One thought

[flyingfsck]

The 'grey goo' solution. Drop them on enemy territory and slowly reduce the whole country to 'grey goo'.

Re:One thought

[comradeeroid]

Why?

Because I need it to move from my desk to management whenever they have IT-problems so that they understand the particulars of our relationship.

"Oh no, IT-support is thundering our way. It'd better be a real problem this time and not just someone who forgot to plug in the ethernet cable, or else there will be smiting."

Re:If you're gonna build a chairbot, do it right..

[captainClassLoader]

The good Doctor (Memory) says:

I go there about five times a year, and every time it's like Bloated Freaks on Wheels week.

Dude, I think you've just named my next band.