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Farmer Builds Robot Army

Posted by samzenpus on from the nobody-panic dept.

46-year-old Wu Yulu has only a basic school education but has managed to build himself 26 robots from scrap materials over the past 30 years. At first his creations were simple and could barely shuffle along by themselves. The robots got more complex as time passed, and eventually he built ones capable of climbing walls, serving water, lighting cigarettes, playing musical instruments and writing calligraphy. "When I was 11, one day I was sitting on the doorstep, and while watching villagers passing by I suddenly came up with the idea of building a machine that walks like a man," he told the Beijing Times.

31 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Greetings by DSmith1974 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one welcome our new barely walking, cigarette lighting, handwriting robotic overlords!

    --
    It is not immoral to create the human species - with or without ceremony, Samuel Clemens.
    1. Re:Greetings by Andr+T. · · Score: 2, Funny

      In China, robotic overlords welcome you.

      --

      Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

    2. Re:Greetings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      In the US, welcomed overlords robotize you.

  2. lol by Daimanta · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Wu, who lives near Beijing, sees all the robots as his sons, "

    and later on in the article

    "Wu says he has to sell off some of his robot collection after plunging his family into debt "

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
    1. Re:lol by Andr+T. · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe selling your sons isn't that bad after all.

      --

      Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

    2. Re:lol by Chrisje · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, if it's good enough for Joseph, it's good enough for Wu12.

    3. Re:lol by b4upoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      One would think that a large company would hire this man to build robots even if those robots are only for advertising purposes. The fellow has talent and deserves to make a decent living and the world of robotics just might learn a few things from him as well.

  3. Woo woo by leighfwarren901 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Paul Merton met this guy earlier this year http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4LIThTB8Ww

    1. Re:Woo woo by thePig · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is amongst the greatest things that I have seen till now.
      Unbelievable - woo no 25 and the water carrying robots - are really unbelievable.
      I am really sad for his wasted talent - an amazing talent born at the wrong place and time.
      Is it possible for us to help him out someway?

      P.S : This shouldnt be posted in idle.

      --
      rajmohan_h@yahoo.com
  4. Silly by meist3r · · Score: 3, Funny

    In every other country he would have been arrested for obstructing traffic or scaring the shit out of the neighbor's kids. Only in China can one rise from a dishwasher to a robotic overlord ... oh wait. Something has changed here...

  5. Hats off by djm300 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I take my hat of for somebody with no study in the field whatsoever who builds a robot that can walk and pull a rickshaw. I'm not a robotics expert, but for me this means at least that he knows to: - Create the right circuitry - Program some microcontroller - Control motors - Calculate mechanical forces and equations to keep the robot in balance - Use the right sensors to ensure that closed-loop feedback & steering is possible to keep the robot in balance Is anybody else here wondering whether this is even possible for him to learn all that stuff without guidance (given that he's a farmer who must provide for his family and presumably doesn't have the time to fiddle with robots _and_ study) ?

    1. Re:Hats off by stephanruby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ...whether this is even possible for him to learn all that stuff without guidance (given that he's a farmer who must provide for his family and presumably doesn't have the time to fiddle with robots _and_ study) ?

      Just because he's a farmer doesn't mean he's an idiot. Some farmers are quite good at fixing machinery/farm equipment. Plus, it's not like he's a farmer in the middle of nowhere. He can and probably did ask someone for help. Most hobbyists will ask for help if they get stuck somewhere. That being said, I don't mean to take anything away from his achievements. This is clearly a guy who should be given some kind of technical job.

  6. Old joke by Andr+T. · · Score: 4, Funny

    -Who is building the robots?

    -Wu is.

    -That's what I asked.

    -Wu is building the robots.

    -Yeah, who is building the robots?

    --

    Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

  7. Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by Nursie · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Look at the picture. His Rickshaw-bot is mechanical and he has a steering wheel.

    It's not a complex task he has solved there. Stability is already present (2 wheels at the back, two legs at the front),

    Sensors? Closed-loop feedback?

    Lol. more like a few electric motors and some gears.

    1. Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by JerryQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Somewhere along the line I think you may have lost your soul.

    2. Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by Ploum · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Building a walking robot, the western way :

      1) Think it would be cool to have a walking robot 2) Thinking about a method to build a walking robot 3) Studying the physics behind the mechanism of a walking robot. 4) Call this a new field of science : "Walking mechanics". 5) Publish some papers about "Walking mechanics" 6) Make a conference with the experts of "Walking mechanics". 7) Try to make it popular to the public so you get fund. It's called vulgarisation. 8) Discover that, in order to further develop "Walking mechanics", you have to develop "Walking automation". 9) Repeat steps 4 t 8 for Walking automation 10) Repeat step 4 to 8 for "Walking sensors" 11) Try to generalize 12) Repeat step 4 to 8 for "Automation of movable devices" 13) repeat step 4 to 8 for "Transfer mathematics" 14) Abstract all your classes and use design patterns 15) Wait... forget 14, it's part of something else 16) Forget about robots and develop science for the sake of science 17) Get asked by a young child about a walking robot 18) Explain to the public/young child how the development of your "Field quantum mathematic" theory could allow us to have walking robots as soon as 2045

      No building a walking robot, the Wu's way :

      1) Think it would be cool to have a walking robot 2) Put together a few electric motors and some gears 3) Paint your walking robot according to your preference 4) Enjoy ...

      So obviously, his robot sucks, the guy doesn't know nothing about sensors, feedback loop.

      --
      Ploum.net.
    3. Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by Nursie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, this guy's robot collection is damn cool, sorry if I gave the impression I wasn't impressed!

      What I wasn't impressed by was the lack of insight of the post I replied to. He's not some sort of robotics Professor, he's a guy that's built some ace robots out of scrap.

      I love these sorts of crackpots, but let's not pretend he's done any cutting edge engineering here, 'kay?

    4. Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He has an important characteristic of a great inventor though. He sees an invention shaped hole in the universe, and cannot resist the compulsion to twist metal into a shape that will fill it.

      In other circumstances, he'd be an engineer or an artist. He is an artist. I won't be surprised if collectors and museums don't end up spending big bucks for a genuine "Wu".

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    5. Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by Extremus · · Score: 3, Funny

      "If you give me "Ceremonial Burial" I can give you this "Walking automation" you need!"

    6. Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! by payo2000 · · Score: 2, Funny

      IANAL, but his cigarette lighting robot appears to break the first rule of robotics.

  8. Re:Old news is good news by Andr+T. · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, what's up with Wu? Did he stop working after building a robot-building robot?

    --

    Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

  9. If he considers them to be like sons ... by krou · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. he could start a hip-hop group could Wu Clang Clan.

    See, it's funny, because his robots go clang, and .... oh, never mind. I'm groaning, too.

    --
    'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
    1. Re:If he considers them to be like sons ... by Syrente · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Groaning, too."?

      Oh ho ho, that makes it sound as if we're groaning with you. I, for one, am sharpening my pitchfork.

  10. Not Robots by camperdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Okay, ten out of ten for ingenuity, but these are not robots. They do not sense their environment and make decisions based on their sensor input. (For example They do not have the capacity to be reprogrammed, or re-tasked. They are merely clockwork mechanisms.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  11. Edumacation by dr_strang · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Imagine what this guy could have done if he had a decent education.

    --
    This is a sig. It is like every other sig in the world, except that it is mine, and it is different.
    1. Re:Edumacation by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Imagine what this guy could have done if he had a decent education.

      There is a possibility that it would have stifled his creativity and desire. They would have told him that he's using the "wrong" technique and the "wrong" tools and materials.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  12. Re:yikes! by rel4x · · Score: 2, Funny

    As soon as someone new throws out their mechanical toothbrush.

    --

    Before you mod me funny, think, perhaps I was insightfully funny?
  13. Racist Roboticist by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Funny

    If an American farmer made a robot slave dressed in clearly traditional Chinese farmer clothes to pull them on a rickshaw, they'd be denounced as a racist.

    I therefore denounce this Chinese farmer as a racist for doing exactly that with a White American looking robot.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  14. Wikipedia page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This guy deserves some recognition. I just made this Wikipedia page for him:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_yulu

    Please help build up the info there if you know more. I especially need help getting some Chinese (Mandarin) characters for his name, village name, etc.

    Thanks!

  15. NO university by unity100 · · Score: 2, Informative

    modern scholastic education is more bent on making the student a clerk than provoking creativity.

    throughout history, youll find that a pathetically small percentage of great inventors have been through scholastic education.

    this person should be given a lab, and a few good technical assistants. just like 19th century inventors had.

    --
    Read radical news here
  16. No, something IS going on but you have no idea by unity100 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    its called creativity, muse, curiousity. these 3 have been and are the driving force behind all technical achievements and innovations and inventions since the dawn of time.

    but clearly, you dont have either, and dont understand shit about them when you see them.

    --
    Read radical news here