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Boston Dynamics Reveals Handle, A Robot That Is 6 Feet Tall, Lifts 100 Pounds, and Jumps Up To 4 Feet (popularmechanics.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Mechanics: Back at the beginning of February, a leaked video showed the newest creation from Boston Dynamics -- a wheeled humanoid robot called "Handle." Now the secretive maker of amazing robots has released the full introduction video, revealing some of Handle's brand new tricks. The wheeled bot can travel up to 9 mph, and as you can see in the video, it has no trouble rolling over some light off-road terrain such as patches of grass and flights of stairs. The bot stands 6.5 feet tall when fully extended, though it often crouches to turn or balance. Batteries power the robot's electric and hydraulic actuators, allowing it to crouch down, make sharp turns, and lift objects that weigh at least 100 pounds. Handle has enough battery juice to travel about 15 miles on one charge. Oh and one more thing, this rolling bot can leap four feet into the air.
Video didn't show it going up though. Maybe it's because it can't.
Yes... this is the result of FIRST Robotics. Former high schoolers have gone "pro" and are now producing robots for the robot apocalypse. They finally got the CIM motors, gyros, and accelerometers all working and now we have this, this beast. I wonder if the control code is written in labview, C++, or Java.
When robots like this finally get real battery life, we are all doomed. Doomed I tell ya!
he needs a 6.5ft tall, 4-ft vertical jumper....well, he needs just about everything, really.
Oh great, robots are now taking NBA player jobs!!
Oh no! All the people whose job description is to be 6 feet tall, to lift 100 pounds, to jump 4feet into the air and to be able to travel at 9 miles per hour are no longer economically viable...
Time to upgrade that resume.
Skills: can lift up to 101 pound jump 4 feet 5 inches into the air. Can travel at 9.5 miles her hour. Will cost no more 10% of a robot doing the same thing a year. A bonus feature: can travel at least 30 miles on a single charge!
you mean, like pretty much every delivery person and warehouse worker in the country?
An Amazon warehouse worker earns around $12.50/year, or $25K/year. Fully loaded cost including benefits and otther administration would be close to $50K. If this robot can replace 2 shifts of workers, if it costs $100K to purchase (around the price of a Tesla), it would pay for itself in a year, assuming the operating cost is low.
A bonus feature: can travel at least 30 miles on a single charge
Few humans are willing to walk 30 miles on the job without breaks, and human breaks last longer than the 3 minutes it would take to do a battery swap on a robot.
Brings to mind George Carlin's bit about flamethrowers...
http://www.quotes.net/mquote/3...
Give us five hundred thousand and paint them dark brown. We don't want anyone to see them.
I'd like to see video of that spooky-looking robot trying to jump up on the table and failing. I wonder how many times they tried before succeeding.
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and human breaks last longer than the 3 minutes it would take to do a battery swap on a robot.
Have 2 redundant battery banks so the robot keeps going when one is changed then have the robot change its battery banks by itself. It will take a lot less than those 3 minutes those lazy humans would need... ;-)
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Their job description also includes knowing what to pick up with minimal instructions and an extremely low error rate, as well as where to take it and when and how to drop it off, the ability to work for up to 12 hours repeatedly and reliably, independence from wall power, and the ability to deviate from this routine where and when required in reasonable ways.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
from your nightmares.
Their job description also includes knowing what to pick up with minimal instructions and an extremely low error rate, as well as where to take it and when and how to drop it off, the ability to work for up to 12 hours repeatedly and reliably, independence from wall power, and the ability to deviate from this routine where and when required in reasonable ways.
Are you describing robots or people? Sounds like a job description suitable for a mobile robot. A human worker isn't going to magically know where to pick something up or where to take it unless some central system tells him to. And a robot is equally able to follow instructions like: "Go pick up item 718281718 from bin 7891 (use your scanner to find the right item), box it and walk it over to loading dock 287 for immediate shipping. There's a liquid spill in aisle 27, find your own way around it."
I love this company and the innovative stuff they keep coming out with. If I had a job there I wouldn't be able to wait to get into work every day.
And anonymous bots "caint" spell.
#DeleteFacebook
Add armor and weapons, this can take over security and protection services.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
That poor guy!
Now build something like this into the base of an electric wheelchair.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
Obviously not a very useful skill for an amazon warehouse worker replacement, but it would be pretty cool / scary to see this thing coming down a halfpipe.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
Why do people have the idea that when somebody's preferred choice loses an election they should then shut up and not complain or criticise the winning candidate?
Its like you don't understand the way politics or democracy works. It's now the turn of the Democrats, and democratic voters in general, to criticise and hold trump accountable
Give it fangs, IR detection and appropriate programming, and set it loose in cities.
Presto! No more homelessness. Peeing in alleys would probably take a nosedive, too.
There's gotta be a movie in this.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
I almost forgot...it should be photophobic. Dawn should send it scuttling off into some tenement basement for the day to recharge.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Unless you're a working class voter whose job just got automated.
Best Slashdot Co
You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit.
Show me on the 1st Amendment bobblehead where the moderator touched you...
There are some obvious flaws to this design. But baby steps, baby steps. I saw the example of going down concrete stairs; but what of going up wooden stairs?
Teach it to shoot baskets and you've got yourself a real money saver.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I can see this working very well in warehouse conditions. When it comes to delivery people though I'm not so sure. Delivery drivers have to make minor decisions constantly which could pose problems for robots. I mean driving a car isn't technically all that challenging when you look at it simplistically, but the devil is in the details. Delivery drivers do things like identify walkways, door steps, fence gates, and varieties of inclement weather. They then make choices about how to deliver a package or not.
I suppose outfitting them to serve as a telepresence bot when they encounter difficulty could work. I just wonder if it'd be cost effective enough to start the roll out.
Indeed.
Not that there's usually a lot of difference between wood and concrete (unless it's wet). And *theoretically* those wheels could have plenty of low-speed torque to act as stable "feet" for climbing stairs, but there's a world of difference between theory and practice.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
but i know where it'll be when i go to sleep.
How foolish of me to forget. Of course, the eyes. It just wouldn't be the same without them.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Can they be as tough on packages as a UPS guy?
There are some obvious flaws to this design. But baby steps, baby steps. I saw the example of going down concrete stairs; but what of going up wooden stairs?
No problem - it'll just jump up them - 4 feet at a time.
Why did I post this? Ask me now!
It will presumably be less prone to stealing them.
This thing is freaking terrifying, sorry. >_ Skynet is only a few years out, if that.