Slashdot Mirror
Walking HECTOR Robot Inspired By Stick Insect
Zothecula writes "In an effort to understand how animals move elegantly and in turn provide robots with the same ability, researchers at the University of Bielefeld's Center of Excellence 'Cognitive Interaction Technology' (CITEC) have developed the hexapod walking robot called HECTOR (Hexapod Cognitive autonomously Operating Robot). Designed within CITEC's multi-disciplinary Mulero project, the robot possesses the scaled up morphology of a stick insect and will be used as a test bed in various departments and projects at the University."
1) Where I can buy one?
2) Can be controlled by USB or radio link?
3) Can be equipped with solid-state kilowatt-class lasers?
4) Can deal with my neighbors?
5) A optional rocket launcher interface would be useful
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
Looks like Luthor reactivated the Heart of Darkness.
Me: "So, what's your kink?"
University of Bielefeld: "We're into sticks."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
He was spelling it wrong! Citec Astronomy, then. Now, what does that decode to...?
Emacs: for people who just never know when to
Um... that's one of the things they're exploring with this bot according to the article and video. They have 'elastic joint motors' that are supposed to act like muscles.
Wow, the paint job and vacuum-molded parts are amazing. This is truly a piece of contemporary art. I like how it speaks to the University of Bielefeld's futile desire to build a working robot.
No where in the video of this walking robot does it actually walk.
Towards the end, there is some sluggish, jerky movement of a single leg 'walking' though.
How exciting!
The google ad directly below the video was for Ortho Bug-B-Gone. Should we be preparing?
Can't we make some sort of substance that contracts when an electrical charge is applied to it, like an actual muscle?
So far, no, we cannot.
That's the biggest hurdle against efficient general purpose robots, IMHO. Such a substance would need to be low cost, efficient in its use of energy, compact in size, and have similar mechanical properties to muscle, which means produce the same force over the same distance.
Electrical actuators are expensive, consume too much power, are too weak. Hydraulic actuators are too bulky, they need pumps, valves, and other complex infrastructure. They are good for large machines, such as excavators, but no one has created efficient hydraulic systems compact enough to be used in small robots.
that's gay
3 minutes of video, 0 seconds showing robot walking.
fag.
Shouldn't you be making these comments on Youtube instead of Slashdot?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I absolutely agree 100%.
Since we* can't make the absolute best conceivable robot that anyone can imagine we should make no robots at all. And they should be bulletproof and able to pass through solid objects and turn invisible.
* by we we mean specifically robotics engineers since the rest of us just complain on the internet and read science fiction
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
It would be fun to watch them battle it out.
Autonomous
Cognitive
Hexapod
Integrated... something something. [They were never really specific on which Homer they were talking about]
Did anyone else notice that it DOESN'T MOVE?
Nice 2:45 video with the usual pornography-inspired music track, but no movement. No 'Robot in action', just a disembodied leg on a treadmill.
Not to knock these guys too much, this is really typical of the robot industry right now. You go to a robot show or conference, and all the 'state of the art' robots are sitting there completely lifeless and no one has "permission from management" to turn them on.
Come on guys, if the industry is going to go anywhere you're going to have to ignore your lawyers and put the batteries in! Otherwise, how do we know you're not bluffing?
that's gay
3 minutes of video, 0 seconds showing robot walking.
fag.
Shouldn't you be making these comments ... NEVER
FTFY
Conceeded.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
It's a bit amusing how everyone in the video is acting as if this is a major achievement in robotics and a really fascinating research experiment, while everyone and their mom have been building hexapods for years. Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msaWXY3OuQQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Soq9qpK5Ac http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MC3IkTxBTU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oXuSXCKJeY
5 seconds on Google would have pointed you towards Electroactive Polymers
If you had read a little bit more you would have found that "The human opponent was Panna Felsen, a straight-A high school student from the San Diego school district with an interest in robotics. She beat all three robotic contenders easily, one in just three seconds."
It took you five seconds to find out about electroactive polymers, it took a girl three seconds to beat robots built with those...
No, I repeat, up to this date there is NO decent substitute for muscle that is, at the same time, cheap, strong, and compact.
It's autonomous. It just has no life goals and robot conventions just make it sleepy. Waking it up just makes it grouchy.
I have to add, though, that I found the juxtaposition of your asking these comment not to be made here, and your signature, to be rather amusing.
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
Ha! Well in the missing context, we were discussing browsing on a compromised OS.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
So now it's even funnier. Thanks!
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
And on an immediate re-inspection it's even funnier than I had thought, because you are quoting yourself. (And we wonder why people sometimes tell us "whoosh"...)
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.