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DARPA's Robo-Cheetah Is Now Faster Than Usain Bolt
pigrabbitbear writes "The Boston Dynamics Cheetah just clocked a 28.3 miles per hour sprint on a treadmill, and it's heading outdoors soon. At that speed, it could edge out the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, in a dead sprint. (Bolt peaked at 27.78 miles per hour in his world-record-setting 100-meter dash back in 2009.) 'To be fair, keep in mind that the Cheetah robot runs on a treadmill without wind drag and has an off-board power supply that it does not carry,' admitted Boston Dynamics in a press release. 'So Bolt is still the superior athlete.' Nevertheless, the team hopes to drop these implements and have a freestanding speed bot by early next year. They're calling that model the WildCat."
Wow! our advancement in technology to make a machine that and travel faster then a human! Amazing. Perhaps we can make a machine that can fly too.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I thought it was kind of cool that the limbs did not really differentiate from their front rear pairs until the very end.
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
RTFS: "has an off-board power supply that it does not carry"
In addition, if you watch the video, the arm prevents the robot from being smashed when it finally trips up at the maximum speed.
Or perhaps they didn't want the robot accidentally hurled into the back wall at 30mph?
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
It's the external power supply and probably holds the com lines kill switches and probably acts as a tether so it doesn't accidentally trample a grad student.
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
It looks to me like it's running backwards, there is something uncanny about it's gait. I love the way it does the "flip" at the end when the track gets too fast!
Now cheetah? This platform is everything to everybody! Has it actually found a usable man-portable power source yet or what?
--- Do you believe in the day?
Once a bipedal robot can outrun the fastest human, Skynet will make it's move. No chance for humans to escape.
sudo make me a sandwich
Do you really trust the people who will ultimately control this kind of tech? Imagine 10,000 of them dropped from an airplane.
Or perhaps they didn't want the robot accidentally hurled into the back wall at 30mph?
Both, I think.
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
I watched the video a couple of times to try and determine that as well. It looks like the arm is freely moving. My guess is the purpose is to prevent it from flying across the lab and killing somebody when it fails. I’d guess that the power is coming in through the cables at the top.
If they ever make this work I can envision some scary things that could be made with such technology. Killer robots hunting people down seems a little more plausible every day. For now this company has managed, with their previous robot design, to make what is basically a $32 million dollar robotic replacement for a mule.
But the robotic dog was the way a Terminator should have been built from the get go. For more effective, can stand if it wants to to operate weapons, and what dog doesn't bark at another dog? Yes military and police dogs don't - but the other dogs bark at them and even the trained dogs can get riled up.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Sarah, a cheetah at the Cincinnati Zoo, set the 100 meter record for land mammal in June at 5.95 seconds--four seconds better than Bolt. This works out to 37.6 mph. While a cheetah in the wild might not quite hit that mark, they are easily faster than Bolt or 'bot, and do so on unprepared terrain, and often with zigs and zags chasing prey. DARPA has a way to go.
At around 14 seconds...
also carries his own energy source with him.
What if we cut those chords hanging from the ceiling and the metal brace on the side?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
How long could a robot like this run - and how fast - if it did not have an external power supply?
But the title says its a DARPA project, isn't trampling grad students the goal?
One thing I'm wondering about in regard to Big Dog is whether it can actually be knocked over. More importantly, if we were to lay it down on its side, would it be able to get back up? If I'm relying on it in the battlefield or as an emergency responder, the last thing I want is 400 lbs. of my supplies getting stuck on the back of a robot that's ended up on its side and stuck. If it can get back up, then I'd say we have something that would be an awesome replacement for a Mars rover, since it can certainly climb steeper slopes, and I don't have to worry about it getting stuck anywhere.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Is there a number I can call to be placed on the national "Do not kill" registry?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
For now this company has managed, with their previous robot design, to make what is basically a $32 million dollar robotic replacement for a mule.
"Horses can make other horses. That's a trick that tractors haven't learned." - Heinlein.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
First Garry Kasparov, then Ken Jennings, and (soon) Usain Bolt. Sure, Albert Einstein or Leonardo Da Vinci or Mahatma Gandhi may be beyond robotic capabilities for quite a while yet, but you'd think that we could start replacing congressmen with much better robotic equivalents soon.
Furby's are pretty cheap and they're bound to be smarter than the average Congressman.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Pappus is already in trouble you know...
But I think congressmen and politicians in general are safe, no sane AI would allow itself to pretend it performs like a flawed abachus requiring a nuclear power plant to run
I thought the broken record player did that.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
from Robocop. /You have 20 seconds to comply.
with razor-sharp leading edges..
The headless machine, funded by the Pentagon, reached 28.3mph (45.5km/h) when tested on a treadmill.
Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, has mixed feelings about the development.
"It's an incredible technical achievement, but it's unfortunate that it's going to be used to kill people," he suggested.
"But of course if it's used for combat, it would be killing civilians as well as it's not going to be able to discriminate between civilians and soldiers."
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
True, but they can also get sick, get scared, run away, people form emotional bonds to them, and if the claims of future BigDogs are true, would have a hard time carrying those sorts of payloads (400 lbs).
Dyolf Knip
Wrong. If somebody has a weapon, then they are a soldier. If they do not, then they will be considered a civilian until shown otherwise. The advantage of this is that it will likely be used as a forward drone that moves through enemy troops, even those in superior position.
Contrast this to bombs dropped by drones. They will kill those in and around the blast zone. Yes, they have made this better and better, but the fact is innocents still die. OTH, if a killer cheetah(s) and sit on the edge, ready to run, you can have 1 or more of these run through a pack and kill those that are a threat.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
...welcome our new robo-cheetah overlords.
Uh huh...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”