Comments on: Creepy

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:42:14 +0000

Its says the thing has a 340lb payload capacity, anyone think it could handle the recoil of an M2 or a MK19. I don’t mean like some kind of walking death bot (keep it off of skynet JayF), but rather as a modile crew served weapons platform. Have one follow around a squad on patrol, but I’d quiet the thing up first.

By: Gun Blobber

Gun Blobber — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:03:51 +0000

Yeah, that thing is definitely creepy. But very, very cool at the same time. It’s amazing how it’s able to adapt its movement and keep its balance.

By: JJR

JJR — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:39:34 +0000

Just might see one of these operating on the surface of Mars one day, who knows. It could certainly handle the rough terrain better than a wheeled vehicle.

The buzz of the…gasoline engine, i’m guessing–was the creepiest for me, because it gave the general impression I was looking at a giant four legged house fly.

The movements are astonishingly lifelike.

But a few well placed .50 cal rounds would shut it down, I imagine, or a few well placed 12 ga slugs at close range.

By: anon

anon — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:44:28 +0000

‘The Mule’?…They should have called it ‘The Remote Goat’

Pretty damn impressive either way!

By: D2k

D2k — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:56:03 +0000

err I should qualify that the neural nets weren’t “real time learning neural nets” they were “real time evolving neural nets” so they were better for training an ant army than for controlling joint systems on a robot.

By: D2k

D2k — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:45:32 +0000

I’m always impressed by Boston Dynamics’ robots. This is the most recent video of Big Dog it came out a couple days ago. There was another video a few months ago that also showed it recovering from a kick, but this kick was definitely a harder hit and the ice stuff was very impressive.
If I remember correctly the system uses experimentation to adjust and determine the best way handle a situation, in other words it’s a true learning robot.
I did some work on learning neural nets back in college, but we never tried anything quite to this level.

By: ben

ben — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:28:52 +0000

“The Mule”? That thing’s been around for years. Very creepy, but very neat!

By: JayF

JayF — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:56:15 +0000

Now if they can only get that “SkyNet” defense system up and running, there might be some synergy here.

By: # 9

# 9 — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:24:05 +0000

Very impressive on the ice. The gyroscope and computer are very sophisticated.