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Virginia Tech Students Build CHARLI, a Human-Sized Robot

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the in-college-i-just-made-crappy-websites dept.

smackay writes "As CHARLI takes his first steps, anxious onlookers stand ready to catch him if he falls. His stride is short, but upright, as one foot is placed in front of the other in the basement of Virginia Tech's Randolph Hall. But CHARLI is no toddler. He is a 5-foot-tall humanoid robot. Video of this ground-breaking robot included."

50 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Another Research Project For by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Army of NONE.

    Yours In Astrakhan,
    Kilgore T.

  2. Would only be cool if they could battle... by cosm · · Score: 1

    Imagine a robot version of charlie hit me, but with a Microsoft Sam voice.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  3. Ground-breaking robot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    So, Asimo doesn't exists all of a sudden?

    1. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by Orga · · Score: 2, Informative

      Groundbreaking in the sense that..... CHARLI is the first untethered, autonomous, full-sized, walking, humanoid robot with four moving limbs and a head, built in the United States.

    2. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by RingDev · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Asimo wasn't built on a $20,000 budget.

      -Rick

      --
      "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    3. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

      CHARLI is "human size" by that they mean five feet tall, whereas Asimo is only four feet three inches.

    4. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Asimo wasn't built by team students working for free, which allowed for a $20,000 budget.

      There, fixed that for you.

      --Anon

    5. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by ryantmer · · Score: 5, Funny

      Where Asimo was made, four feet three inches is human-sized ;)

      --
      Whatever it is, it's notablog.
    6. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      This is America. American technology always leads the world. Asimo doesn't exist. QED.

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    7. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 1

      The term "groundbreaking" was added by smackay, the submitter. It was not used in TFA.

      --
      This ain't rocket surgery.
    8. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by techdavis · · Score: 1

      The only part that doesn't describe ASIMO is the "built in the United States", and ASIMO can do stairs, run, walk backwards, etc. Oh, and talk. So no, NOT groundbreaking, but yes, interesting. Just because they aren't breaking new ground does not mean it isn't significant. I am sure Honda is not sharing the technology they developed for ASIMO with the rest of the world. Thought the one they have at Disneyland is still an interesting demo.

    9. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by cmdotter · · Score: 1

      "Then there is CHARLI H (for Heavy). ... He also will be able to run, jump, kick, open doors, pick up objects..."

      Luckily, there's a comma between "kick" and "open doors". We certainly don't need robots who can do that!

    10. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by Ogive17 · · Score: 1

      You think these students could have done it so 'cheaply' without Asimo leading the way?

      Not a chance. Not to mention the technology is a couple decades old now.

      Cool project for college students, absolutely. Ground breaking? Absolutely not, unless it fell and cracked the floor.

      --
      "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
    11. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by Phoghat · · Score: 1
      But Asimo doesn't wobble around taking baby steps either.

      http://world.honda.com/news/2007/c071211Enabling-Multiple-ASIMO-to-Work/index.html

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
    12. Re:Ground-breaking robot? by Phoghat · · Score: 1
      No, it exists and does more and does it better, but Hoinda is a Japanese company with a huge R&D budget and these guys did this with the equivalent of a K'NEX kit

      Not to be snarky, but When I went to the VT page,I had to chuckle a bit. II was a photographer for the school paper and yearbook at university and you could tell that these pictures were so staged. "Students prepare CHARLI for walk".

      Etc. Not a bad thing, just ticked my funny bone

      --
      Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
  4. Not female? by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then who cares?

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Not female? by allenfr · · Score: 1

      Then who cares?

      It is female, carries an Ipad.

  5. Congratulations by cadlearn · · Score: 1

    Very interesting! I am fascinated by technology. Congratulations to the VT students.

    1. Re:Congratulations by xerxesVII · · Score: 3, Funny

      Congratulations
      Very insightful! I am fascinated by your post. Congratulations to you.

      --
      "We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
  6. historic my ass by mestar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "CHARLI is historic. CHARLI is the first untethered, autonomous, full-sized, walking, humanoid robot with four moving limbs and a head, built in the United States."

    Come on, this is a ridiculous statement. Given enough qualifications, anything can be said to be historic.

    This is just another Asimo, just more ugly. Also, it is not humanoid at all, his head is a fcking lawn lamp.

    1. Re:historic my ass by e4g4 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For sure; reminds me of those filler baseball stats announcers use: "Wright bats 1.000 against left handed pitchers on the day after a rainstorm when the Mets are on the road and Venus is in retrograde."

      --
      The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
    2. Re:historic my ass by TouchAndGo · · Score: 1

      Humanoid just refers to the body type, it doesn't have to mean it has human facial features. It has a recognizable head, two arms, two legs, etc. Would agree that I don't see how this is some sort of breakthrough though.

  7. video? by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 1

    I actually RTFA and didn't see any video, does anyone else have another link to it? I'm really rather interesting in seeing this.

    --
    "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
    1. Re:video? by nateand · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a link on the right side of the page containing the article.

    2. Re:video? by Sir_Lewk · · Score: 1

      Thanks, that will teach me for not scrolling over :)

      --
      "linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
    3. Re:video? by dubbreak · · Score: 1

      I actually RTFA and didn't see any video, does anyone else have another link to it? I'm really rather interesting in seeing this.

      It's right under the heading that says, "VIDEO". Or you can just go straight to the video.

      --
      "If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
  8. WHOA there charlie by deathtopaulw · · Score: 1

    You're not charlie at all.

  9. ground-breaking robot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    He is a 5-foot tall humanoid robot. Video of this ground-breaking robot included.

    What is the robot made of, if each step breaks the ground? I can only imagine the seismic effect an army of these ground-breaking robots would have.

    1. Re:ground-breaking robot by NCG_Mike · · Score: 1

      A billion of them jumping and landing at the same time could be a deterrant for the Chinese doing the same. Another arms race?

  10. All those brains and yet... by Orga · · Score: 5, Funny

    They still manage to stick the video in an area normally reserved for lame advertising that everyone has learned to tune out.

  11. Re:animatrix by mrsurb · · Score: 1

    All this has happened before, and all this will happen again.

  12. Obligatory... by Covalent · · Score: 1

    I for one welcome our ugly, arthritic, inexpensive-by-asimo-standards overlords.

    --
    Great warrior...hrmph! Wars not make one great.
  13. We already are by zogger · · Score: 1

    We already are if you can term wall street computerized front running/loading flash trading as being robotic. We work so that they can skim the megaprofits and control the economy and our alleged government. /shotgun wielding neogeezer ;)

  14. Our foolish desire for Humanoid Robots by Unka+Willbur · · Score: 1

    Seems, IMHO, to be retarding progress. If folks would just put the stupid anthropomorphism on the back burner, we could already have a wealth of useful robotics in the home. But, noooooooooo, they all gotta look like C3P0 or we're doomed....

    --
    "Remember when I said I would never lie? Well, that was the first time."
    1. Re:Our foolish desire for Humanoid Robots by Issarlk · · Score: 1

      It's a requirement. To be exact it should look like C3PO with boobs. ...and cat ears.

    2. Re:Our foolish desire for Humanoid Robots by nasch · · Score: 1

      If folks would just put the stupid anthropomorphism on the back burner, we could already have a wealth of useful robotics in the home.

      Do you know this to be true, or are you guessing? Do you know of home robotics projects that were either not started or not successful solely or primarily because of the prohibitive or insurmountable obstacle of making the robot humanoid?

      There are robots in the home; I have one, and it's not humanoid. I'm guessing - I don't know - that home robots have not been more successful because good robots are difficult and often expensive to make, not because customers demand that they look like people.

    3. Re:Our foolish desire for Humanoid Robots by Arthur+Grumbine · · Score: 1

      Seems, IMHO, to be retarding progress. If folks would just put the stupid anthropomorphism on the back burner, we could already have a wealth of useful robotics in the home. But, noooooooooo, they all gotta look like C3P0 or we're doomed....

      Except for the fact that our entire infrastructure/civilization has been refined for millenia to efficiently accommodate the movement and activities of 1.5-2.0 meter tall bipeds with four digits and an opposable thumb on two articulating upper appendages. Unless you plan on redesigning 99% of all tools (in the generic sense of the word - i.e. doorknobs, systems of buttons/keypads, steering wheels, stairs, etc) there seems to be a significant advantage in replicating the human physical form.

      --
      Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
    4. Re:Our foolish desire for Humanoid Robots by jp102235 · · Score: 1

      Well, I agree, why not have three legs, or one leg and really good balance, or legs with spheres as the feet, or well - I can think of many many variants, but if I wanted something that could get across almost any terrain, it would have four legs for sure (or the ability to hover) instead of just focusing on making a humanoid. j

      --
      jp
  15. Some mild criticism by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

    I don't know much about mechanical engineering, but as cool as this looks I question the value of these kinds of robotic projects. Exactly what value is this to science in the remotely near future? These guys are our best and brightest. I'd like to see this effort redirected into artificial limbs.

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    1. Re:Some mild criticism by jimbobborg · · Score: 1

      In the unlikely event that we start sending stuff to Mars, someone could send up a bunch of these robots to build bases to human sized proportions and test out the equipment before humans arrive.

  16. Fully functional... by hoggoth · · Score: 1

    > "CHARLI H will be a fully functioning robot," said Derek Lahr, a Ph.D. student from Charleston, S.C., who is spearheading the "H" project.

    Mmmm I wonder if they mean this in the same way Data meant it.

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
    1. Re:Fully functional... by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Preparations A-G were a complete failure, but now we have a working prototype which we shall call... Preparation H!

      Why don't you just call it "Operation Ass Creme?"

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
  17. I like THE WAY it walks by fsmithred · · Score: 1

    Instead of placing the foot near the midline on each step, the body shits laterally to get over the foot. This is good - if the robot decides to chase you, it's likely to fall over sideways. DON'T FIX THAT, or we're screwed.

    1. Re:I like THE WAY it walks by Gertlex · · Score: 1

      Instead of placing the foot near the midline on each step, the body shits laterally to get over the foot.

      Shitting sideways? That's quite the fetish you have, if you like that sort of thing.

    2. Re:I like THE WAY it walks by Lally+Singh · · Score: 1

      You'd be surprised at how many humans walk like that too.

      --
      Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
  18. De Rigueur by Paracelcus · · Score: 1

    I personally welcome our robot overlords!

    At 12 noon GMT Charli became self aware and realized he was named after a perfume, was he pissed...

    --
    I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
  19. Could they have built it without Asimo? by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1

    Copying is easy.
     

    --
    Deleted
  20. Re:Artificial Limbs by Phrogman · · Score: 1

    Ah, as the guy introducing and narrating the video said, doing this research *is* helping with development of prosthetic limbs, so you should be happy. They are working in that area, if a bit indirectly.

    I think this is cool generally, even if it seems comparable to the already existing ASIMO. Robotics will become more important and I am glad to see more research being done on it outside of Japan.

    Now, if they could only combine the results of this development with the products of the RealDoll company (http://www.realdoll.com/), we might be heading somewhere :P

    --
    "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
  21. So nice to see by Jbob06 · · Score: 1

    It is very nice to see that American universities are staying on top of technology and making sure their students get some very useful hands-on experience with technology of the future. Sure, this case is an outlier, but at least someone is doing it. I can't wait to see what comes out of some other programs in the coming years.

  22. As a member of a Robocup Humanoid team by i+ate+my+neighbour · · Score: 1

    I can say CHARLI has nice looks, compared to other teams I have seen so far. Its walking looks subpar but it will definitely improve until June. So far it is not groundbreaking or anything. For more impressive robots see Nimbro(Germany), Team Osaka(Japan) and Robo Erectus(Singapore). Our robot TUlip(Netherlands) was quiet crappy last year but we heavily modified it and expecting good publicity this year.