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Chairbot Walks You Around While You Sit

Posted by samzenpus on from the stop-using-your-legs-like-a-sucker dept.

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."

8 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. One thought by Brad1138 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why?

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    1. Re:One thought by ross.w · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe so that paralegics and quadriplegics can use stairs like everyone else? A lighter and slimmer version would be a superior solution to using an electric wheelchair, provided it can be done sufficiently cheaply.

      Hey, they have to start somewhere!

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    2. Re:One thought by feedmetrolls · · Score: 1, Insightful

      why do people do anything?

      "Because they're stupid. That's why anyone does anything." -Homer Simpson

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    3. Re:One thought by vivian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Obviously you have never been to Australia.
      There's kangaroos who use 2 legs (albeit with a hopping gait and a tail for balance) - but they have no problems clearing 6 ft fences, can cruise at 25 km/h and sprint for up to 2km at 40km/h) , and emus for a start (top speed about 50km/h. Africa has ostriches too of course.

      Not to mention penguins? how could you forget about them, on slashdot!

    4. Re:One thought by mpe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Whenever a new design for a 2-legged robot shows up, people immediately complain about how impractical bipedalism is and that the problem can easily be solved with more legs. But if that were the case, if there were no advantage to bipedalism, then bipedal organisms would not have shown up at all, let alone numerous times in separate groups of animals through history.

      The reason that bipedalism shows up in animals is that the basic bodyplan of all vertebrates has two sets on limbs. It's easier in evolutionary terms to modify the pectoral limbs than to add additional limbs. This does not apply to robots.

  2. It's a little large. by mark-t · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But if they can get it down to a more manageable size, chairs with legs will be great for people who are otherwise stuck in a wheelchair... it will make all kinds of places accessible to them that weren't previously.

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  3. Congrats! by reset_button · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You invented an over-priced, overly complex, huge version of an electric wheelchair!

  4. War On Terror Bubble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If enough armor can be packed on it,...

    No need to read the rest of your suggestion, "enough armor" time passed some 150 years ago! Weapons won and they still rule the battlefield. There is a reason why tanks are made the way they are and there is a reason why helicopters will never be as armored as (contemporary) tanks. Obviously, chopper tanks would be the winning combination over both the classic ("Terradyne") tanks and your hypothetic AT-ST. However, it is so much easier to make more powerful armor penetrating shells then more resilient armor.

    Team's speculation about "soon, with minor mod" military application is just nowadays obligatory attempt to get DoD funding. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they get the funds - we live in a time comparable to dot-com bubble. This level of mil-tech enthusiasm has not been seen since WWII.