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Inside Mantis: a 2-Ton Hexapod Robot With a Linux Brain

Posted by timothy on from the but-can-it-get-to-boston-on-one-battery-charge? dept.

DeviceGuru writes "After four years of development, Micromagic Systems has finally completed the Mantis Hexapod Walking Machine (YouTube video), claimed to be the world's largest all-terrain operational hexapod robot. The device stands nearly three meters tall, weighs just under two tons, and is controlled by a PC/104 module stack running embedded Linux."

17 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Dubstep Warning by locater16 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Warning, obnoxious dubstep sountrack for video. You have been warned.

  2. Horrible video by homb · · Score: 5, Informative

    The video couldn't have been worse, considering how interesting the subject is.
    The videographer should be shot on general principle.

    1. Re:Horrible video by hairyfish · · Score: 2

      Don't you know that quick cuts and a shaky camera angles means that there's hardcore action going on and you should be impressed. See the Fast and Furious franchise for more detail.

    2. Re:Horrible video by lxs · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think it is intentional. To hide the fact that it's a slow plodding disappointment.

      So far the video has shown:
      -Walking at a snails pace.
      -Feebly kicking over an oil drum.
      -A huge cloud of smoke at the end which is either a pyrotechnic effect to hide the machine or a side effect of that diesel engine blowing up.

      But hey it runs Linux, or so they say.

    3. Re:Horrible video by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2

      I want to see it operating on sand dunes.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    4. Re:Horrible video by ByteSlicer · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's a less "flashy" one, a few months older:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=3sCuse5TZGA

    5. Re:Horrible video by roman_mir · · Score: 2

      It doesn't run Linux, that was a miscommunication. It's somewhat successfully trying to run away from Linus.

      --
      You can't handle the truth.
  3. Robot? by theNetImp · · Score: 3, Informative

    So er it has a driver... That makes it not a robot!

    1. Re:Robot? by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 2

      Not really so much a robot but an exoskeleton for your inner insect.

    2. Re:Robot? by v1 · · Score: 2

      What would you class as a robot??

      The term "robot" has been around for quite awhile, and due to its broad use, it doesn't have a very clear definition.

      About all the agreement you're going to get on it is that a robot is a mechanical device capable of performing automated actions. It generally doesn't have to emulate physical (walking) or cognitive (AI) biological features. My dish washer is technically a robot. It's not very glamorous, but there you have it.

      Robots exist in all degrees of "autonomy". It can be a difficult line to draw. If you start with a remote controlled plane, it meets the most basic automation definition of "robot" as soon as it can auto pilot.

      I'd tend to call a machine a more "modern" robot when it is able to do more than directly react to stimulus. (which is all that an airplane autopilot does) A "decision maker by necessity". The Mars Curiosity robot for example. It's impractical to operate it purely by remote control. It has to evaluate its circumstances, assess priorities and capabilities, select a high level goal, ("analyze that rock over there") and then execute a series of actions (customized at that time based on current circumstances) to accomplish the goal.

      But I suppose I'm thinking more of "automaton" than of robot?

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    3. Re:Robot? by bughunter · · Score: 2

      Robot is one of those terms like "artificial intelligence" that keeps getting diluted by overreaching marketing use. The cumulative effect is to drag down the term rather than inflate the product.

      "Robot" has devolved from meaning a conscious, completely autonomous, usually humanoid, self-contained machine capable of making its own decisions (thus the need for Three Laws of Robotics) to meaning any servomechanism under human control aided by a PID Loop or Kalman Filter to relieve the operator from the most routine tasks.

      --
      I can see the fnords!
  4. I, for one, welcome our new hexapod overlords! by Gnulix · · Score: 2

    Bow to the hexapods!

  5. Some appropriate tags by Tx · · Score: 2

    #notarobot
    #notquick
    #bumpyride
    #ihatespiders
    #diedubstepdie

    --
    Oh no... it's the future.
  6. Re:OMFG by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    WTF does "unformfortable" mean!?

    It means it cannot be formforted.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  7. Re:The important question is... by JustOK · · Score: 2

    no, it walks linux

    --
    rewriting history since 2109
  8. Reminds me of the Timberjack by xarragon · · Score: 5, Informative

    This sort of technology has been available for some time, I remember seeing this six-legged forest machine complete with crane and cutting machinery back in the early 2000s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYh54Qdh_5g Apprently it was developed in Finland by John Deree, and was only displayed rwecently (2012 press release): http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US/corporate/our_company/news_and_media/press_releases/2012/forestry/2012apr10_walking_harvester.page

  9. PC/104? ugh. by gmarsh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From personal experience.

    Never put a PC/104 setup in a system that's going to be subjected to vibration, you'll cause the connector to wear out and eventually one of the important pins on the PC/104 connector will fail. And when it does, the ISA bus presented on the PC104 connector doesn't have any error detection/correction either, meaning your system may not fail gracefully.

    Not something you want in a large robot.