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Distance Record Broken For a Walking Robot
Narrative Fallacy writes "The Cornell Ranger robot has set an unofficial world distance record by walking nonstop for 45 laps — a little over 9 kilometers — around the Barton Hall running track in an event to to show off the machine's energy efficiency. Unlike other walking robots that use motors to control every movement, the Ranger emulates human walking, using gravity to help swing its legs forward. The Robot alternately swings two outside legs forward and then two inside ones and although the robot has no knees, it has feet that can be tipped up and down, so that the robot pushes off with its toes, then tilts its feet upward to land on the heels as it brings its legs forward. The Robot is steered by a hobby remote control which biases the steering to one side or another by lifting one of the four feet slightly. 'We've just moved into this world of electromechanical devices, and to make something this robust is a big achievement,' said Andy Ruina, Cornell professor of theoretical and applied mechanics. 'We've learned tons about what it takes to make walking work.'"
Excellent achievement.
Of course, this is just the latest of Cornell's long standing reseach into passive dynamic walking. If anyone wants to build something like it yourself, hit the wayback machine to 1998.
It might wobble and stagger, but Cornell's headless robot is providing insights into how humans walk
J Wolfgang Goerlich
Or does it look like a barbeque?
...welcome our long-distance walking robot overlords.
If one of these would become sentient and try to kill me, I should still be able to out-walk it, then. I just hope they don't make any better models :(
I, for one, welcome our record distance walking robots overlords.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZL7WJjNvzk
Oh, and what happened to the forms where I used to be able to sign in while making a comment? I can't anymore? Screw it.
uh.... wrong article perhaps?
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
whoosh
Lots of people don't realize the inherent instability of walking. It's basically controlled/broken falling. You lift up your foot to move it and shift your center of gravity in front of your stationary foot, and start to fall forward. But your other foot comes down and stops your fall.
Running is actually an easier movement to emulate, interestingly.
This robot, and all other bipedal robots, isn't really useful. It's a horrible way to move - especially if you have wheels. But it's interesting to be able to see the dynamics of how humans walk, which might help us make better prosthetics and the like.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
But for applications, if we compare this to wheeled vehicles, well, the DARPA Grand Challenge Robots when 130 miles on dirt roads. And they're based on commercial automobiles, which (amazingly) can often rack up 100,000 miles with nothing but more gasoline. (Though I'd recommend changing the oil once in a while).
Then there's aircraft, which can circumnavigate the entire globe on a single tank of gas. Or spacecraft; anybody care to tabulate the mileage accumulated by a LEO satellite over its lifetime?
So this raises the question of whether walking will ever be the best way for any practical robot to move?
I click on the link expecting to see some sort of humanoid killing machine, but instead I'm greeted with a stereo with legs stolen from a shopping trolley? Oh, ha ha ha, how funny, you put little eyes on it.
Also, I thought web pages like that disappeared when they outlawed FrontPage. Oh, right.
To prevent this day from getting worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD TH
Why not make several copies of it, and have it apply for several jobs ???
Ask yourself, Why not ?
http://roboeco.com/walking_into_your_cube
The Future is already here, just unevenly distributed... THE ROBOTIC WAGELESS ECONOMY NOW! http://RoboEco.com/slash
I, for one, welcome our new nonstop walking robot overlords.
Soon many types of robots will be walking, rolling and flying around us. They will collect information about us and do other things that affect our privacy, our safety and our commercial relationships. Although legislatures will probably enact a raft of laws to regulate them, an abundance of civil law already exists to regulate their behavior. For example, as we humans come in contact with robots, we can form contracts with their owners to limit what they can do or set the rules for interaction.
Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, benjaminwright.us
Not only are the machines hell-bent on killing us but now they can chase us down for 9km without a break.
Anyone know where I can buy EMP bombs?
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
...before you call him an overlord?
...in a human-size robot. We've already seen the amazing Big Dog from Boston Dynamics. How long before we see a human-sized bipedal robot that walks in a fairly human way? This record breaking walking robot just doesn't have the "ooo" factor that Big Dog has.
Here's a video of a different walking robot, BigDog. It seems alive - it can be kicked, walks on ice (where it stumbles
just like an animal), jumps, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
It's scary to imagine the thing with a turret on its head, though.
Robots are information systems. Information systems raise privacy issues.
Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, benjaminwright.us
Apparently, there is a SLIGHT difference from the "answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything" and "The Ultimate Question".
Probably because they have used robots instead of humans.
But nice to see that there is still some progress.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I assume it stopped because the people controlling the robot decided they had proven their point? I mean, it seems unlikely it would walk contently along for 9 kilometres and then fall apart. Which makes me wonder if there's much point in having a record for distance walked, unless there are constraints, like a maximium amount of energy usage allowed. If not, then the robot whose operators have the most patience will walk the furthest.
Is anyone else reminded of the description of the giant walking robots from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds?
I'd like to see some robotic spiders, like in the movie "Runaway" with Tom Selleck. How small can you make a power source that would allow them to be useful? Batteries aren't very efficient for their mass and volume.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
I wanted you.
And I was looking for you.
But I couldn't find you.
I wanted you.
And I was looking for you all day.
But I couldn't find you.
I couldn't find you.
You're walking.
And you don't always realize it, but you're always falling.
With each step you fall forward slightly.
And then catch yourself from falling.
Over and over, you're falling.
And then catching yourself from falling.
And this is how you can be walking and falling at the same time.
I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlord from the Ministry of Silly Walks.
It's a remote-controlled vehicle, not a robot.
... and then they built the supercollider.
...drive a Pickup SUV 45 laps around a parking lot (fending off shopping carts with its Rhino Bars), in order to find a very close parking space. So it would hardly have to walk, ever. ;)
Under the law of privacy, there is a big difference between a human memory and a "record". Under privacy law, the formation of a human memory (about personally identifiable info such as a person's name or medical condition) is subject to much less regulation than is the creation and storage of a "record". Humans store memories; machines and robots store "records". Privacy law will regulate robots (and red light cameras) very differently from people. Generally, robots will be regulated much more strictly (if present trends in privacy law continue).--Ben
Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, benjaminwright.us
You and I share lots of common ground! I agree that many (maybe most . . . maybe even the overwhelming majority) of the new digital records technology makes available are for the good, not for the bad. Digital records promote justice and democracy, as well as honesty among public officials and authority figures. My point in the posts above is simply that existing privacy law applies a bunch of regulatory burdens on machines making records about people. As robots become more common, these burdens will be an interesting issue. In my posts above I was simply describing a fact that has not yet been well debated in society. --Ben
Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, benjaminwright.us
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