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MABEL Robot Runs Like a Human
MrSeb writes "Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a running, obstacle-scaling robot. This robot, which is called MABEL (not an acronym), is capable of running at speeds of up to 3.06 meters per second, or 6.8 mph. Physically she is very similar to a human — a heavy torso, and light, springed legs that act as load balancers and shock absorbers — and with a clever feedback system, MABEL even runs like a human, spending 40% of her time three or four inches off the ground."
Not very much like me. I'm missing the bar attached to my hip. I can run straight too.... don't like circles.
It still looks weird without feet. It needs feet and big toes to be more like a human.
Oh, and also it needs to lose the metal beam connecting it to the circle, that's, I think, is the main difference between that and a human. That and all the metal.
You can't handle the truth.
Boston Dynamics' PETMAN could do its own balancing two years ago.
I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
Would be better if they'd explained in their YouTube text that they were only testing forward balance, not lateral stability. Instead they claim it is "Running free", which is laughable.
Military contracts in 3... 2...
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Sissy runs like the Crushinator.
we build are own human replacement.
Yeah, shooting things in the head going to be real useful when the robots come~
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And if you dress MABEL like a mail man, Big Dog would chase it down.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
"3. We have so much better things to spend money on"
This again?
It's research. All new advance that help people come from RnD; which comes from science.
Can you really not think of a use for a robotic system that walks around? For the underlying technology?
Yeah, rockets are loud as well.
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2. The bar is to keep the mammoth from tripping over on its non-existent face. watch the vid again, looks like it is about to trip over itself.
Michigan's Ain't Balancing Electronic Lapmobile
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I am sure these chaps are terribly clever but Comic Sans? COMIC SANS????
Uhm.. Is little ms.. or that thing being dragged around in circles or what?
I do agree that the general concept of getting general ideas for robots and advancing them is a good idea, although I do have to question the practicality of focusing on making them bipeds, Evolution saw biped as a function that wasn't worth adding for a very long time, instead it spent a few Milena on mastering quadrupeds while it waited for the AI to catch up to handle the balancing act that is biped walking (and even those units take close to a year to calibrate themselves), Personally I would imagine a modified tank tread system could be modified to get them fairly efficiently to most places humans go, just add a secondary system for tight turns etc... and some decent balance/grip mechanism for stairs. I think the emphasis on bipedal robots is what is slowing down the process of actually accomplishing most of what they are intended to do.
That's the thing I just don't get with robot design. Why do we feel the need to give it bipedal locomotion? I could see a necessity for legs instead of wheels (more terrain mobility and all), but why not put it on four legs? Or six? And don't gimme that "so it has its arms free" explanation. We are not nature. We do not have to make the choice between arms and legs, we can have both on our robot.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Pro Tip: You're computer has a volume control.
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and it reminds me of that freaky 80's Herbie Hancock video, "Rockit". Still gives me the shivers...
expletives welcomed
Always mount a scratch robot if the DEC service Representative is going to be working on things.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Our environment is designed for human-sized bipedal forms, so it makes a certain amount of sense to design robots that are generally the same size/shape. That way they can use our buildings, elevators, stairs, appliances, etc.
We don't know AI will catch up, and that really doesn't have anything to do with the hardware to get something to run.
With bipeds, you gain advantage the treads/wheels don't have, and visa versa. That's why there are teams all over the world working on both.
A biped robot on a distant planet has a lot of advantages a wheel bot doesn't.
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When you studies humans walking, they all look like their about to fall over.
heh.
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If MABEL is not an acronym then why the fuck is it in all-caps?
Look, here's Toyota's robot running. It's brief, but both feet do leave the floor for brief intervals. And instead of a support beam holding it to a fixed track, it uses this stuff called "feet" and a "sense of balance" to stay upright. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv35ItWLBBk
The first thing that comes to my mind is Adventures in Odyssey, which is a Christian radio broadcast. Whit, a main character and inventor, has a really advanced computer program with a voice interface named Mabel (kind of like Jarvis from Iron Man).
Sure I sold you robot insurance. But you were attacked by a cyborg. Not covered.
That is interesting. It is actually decently forward balancing during the run and even when the mat slipped a bit it kept going.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
1. God it's loud.
Yea, it's a machine. They tend to do that at this scale.
It's on par with the noise level of most other industrial machines at that size, especially important for comparison are hydrolic machines
2. What is with the bar?
That holds it up and feeds it power.
As stated, they are only testing forward balance, so the only requirement for that test is no support on the forward/backward axis. They said it can't yet balance completely. (And with no feet, I can understand why!)
3. We have so much better things to spend money on.
No we don't.
Basic research is fundamental to humanity progressing. Very very little exists that both deserves more money and hasn't already had money given to it to demonstrate the lack of success of throwing money at them.
If anything, basic research needs more money given to it, since time and time again it has been demonstrated you get the largest return on investment that way.
4. God it's loud.
Yea, it's a machine...
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/154416/pleasure-model
A most crucial part of walking and running is feet with ankles. Without that, it's "something else." By adding feet, they are going to change just about everything about the machine and how it would operate. If they want to have human-like walking, then there must be feet and they should never have gone forward with this "internediate" step as adapting might be just as difficult as starting over.
What they have there is a backward-walking "pan" robot...without feet.
As impressive as this may be, it still makes me feel like we have an awful lot of explaining to do to the likes of Jules Verne, Nicola Tesla, Isaac Asimov etc. Surely they would have imagined the state of the art of robotica in 2011 to be... different
Does it run like I run with QWOP?
I feel sorry for the office/lab below them...
Even more pro tip: it's spelled "your."
What good will your sex robots be if they can run away from you?
I believe the correct comparison is to one of the old MIT leg lab's robots. 3D Biped wasn't restricted to a 1D track and could run and do somersaults--in 1992. And it didn't need no stinkin' knees either!
The AWESOM-O :-)
Thank you, sir - that link made my day.
How would something like a dog cook your food, serve you drinks, put away your groceries, or turn on your light switches?
I'll be here all week. ;)
Is it just me, or does MABEL sound like a Cylon when she's walking/running?
Every time I think I've seen the worst of humanity, some sonofabitch hits the reset button.
Simple enough. You've got two key combinations, insides and outsides. Just keep alternating between W-O (insides), and Q-P (outsides). The inside keys spread your legs apart making you more stable. The outside keys pull them in, to allow for the next kick off. You end up with one knee back and on the ground, and the other foot forward and on the ground. Just keep alternating and with proper timing, you'll get up to ~2m/s. If you get into trouble, just mash the insides and you'll recover. It may take some time to get started again.
I was sexually attracted to it but in a manly way so I can skip the vag.
It's nice that they're doing this, but it's a bit late to be doing a planar walking/running machine. (It's supported so that it can't fall sideways, so it's a 2D balancing system instead of a 3D one, and is considered "planar", although it's going in a circle.) Compare Spring Flamingo, 1996-2000 at MIT.
This group doesn't seem to be addressing slip control or hills (which I've worked on), or twist control (first addressed by Jessica Hodgkins at Georgia Tech and by Honda). As soon as you go beyond flat, high-friction floors (these guys use rubber mats), slip control starts to dominate the problem. Take a look at Big Dog videos.
Twist control involves not inducing torso rotation, or at least cancelling it on the next half-stride, and is an additional problem bipeds face more than quadrupeds. Honda had a lot of trouble with that in the early days of Asimo. Planar bipeds can't twist, so this group gets to ignore that problem.
It's easier to work in this area than it was in the 1990s. Simulators are much better. CPUs are much faster. The theory is better. Control algorithms are better. Motors are better. Funding is better. There's no need to work on an oversimplified version of the problem any more.
I assume you're hinting at humans. But chicks of many bird species can walk just fine after an hour or so after hatching. And I'm certain it was the same for many species of bipedal dinosaurs...
i was referring to the fact that the video in question was about 10 times louder than the 'normal' audio on my system.
Does anyone else thinks it looks like a pair of fingers running around? I mean, I can totally emulate the movement with my hand.
I am not devoid of humor.
who heard Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" in my head while watching the video with sound off?
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
replaced the whale that chases me in my nightmares.
Good people go to bed earlier.
just because your country doesn't use the most superior measuring system for distance, it doesn't mean americans have to accomodate you. we call it the "standard" system for a reason. now cease your insubordination or we will occupy your country for your own good.
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Black Label?
(No, not Johnny Walker. Go look up ad jingles from the '70's)
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don't get me wrong, this is an impressive technical feat (i suppose) but what is this obsession with imitating human bodies? where does the idea come from that humans are like the epitaph of efficiency and evolution ? Is it a religious thing, do all scientists have this urge to be bigger than their gods or something? Why not create something that surpasses, humans have no need for physical evolution since we have been living in symbiosis with external tools for, for exactly how long ? If evolution kills of the weakest link then huimans in their bare form would have probably gone extinct by now . Imitating human bodies and movement ? I don't see where the innovation is
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?