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Honda's running robot

WinterMute said:
Some interesting video from Honda....

Powered armour anyone?

rinky-dink link
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cool isn't it... now I wonder if they could make it do something useful... like go to the bar, order a round and come back without spilling a drop?? :D
 
Pretty amazing stuff from those Japanese. They're still trying to tackle walking up stairs.
 
That robot sounds like a piece of wood getting cut with one of those saws that you slide back and forth (what ever they are called lol).
 
I know him! I know him! I know him! I saw this guy at a street corner last year. Pretty amazing feat of engineering to get a robot to run stabily. Doesn't that thing cost like $3mil?
 
All they need to do now is make female robots that can bend over. It would be a big hit in porn shops!!
 
iGAV said:
cool isn't it... now I wonder if they could make it do something useful... like go to the bar, order a round and come back without spilling a drop?? :D
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Ha, or hoover the carpets without missing the corners or that tricky bit under the telly...
 
That is awesome WinterMute. The maid of the future. Now to wait for Steve to introduce the iRobot. Just what every busy Mac Developer will need so that he can concentrate. :cool:
 
My iRobot is vacuuming the bedroom as I type this. It even gets under the bed and dressers with no problems (though, not the corners). It's no Awesome-O, but it's damn useful.
 
Flowbee said:
My iRobot is vacuuming the bedroom as I type this. It even gets under the bed and dressers with no problems (though, not the corners). It's no Awesome-O, but it's damn useful.
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Somewhere along the way, the copycats forgot that that "i" stands for "internet". Amusing ^_^ the "i" is the new "x"
 
srobert said:
Somewhere along the way, the copycats forgot that that "i" stands for "internet". Amusing ^_^ the "i" is the new "x"
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Actually, the iRobot Corporation (makers of my Roomba vacuum) was founded in 1990... eight or so years prior to iMac hitting the scene. The name is a nod to Asimov rather than to Jobs & Co.

Interestingly, the running, stair-climbing robot which inspired this thread is named Asimo... Asimov without the "v".
 
Asimo, Honda maker, hard to fathom at one point Toyota was the leading auto manufacturer and Honda was just starting out. Where is Toyota?
 
Sir_Giggles said:
Asimo, Honda maker, hard to fathom at one point Toyota was the leading auto manufacturer and Honda was just starting out. Where is Toyota?
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Toyota just overtook Ford to become the second largest seller of vehicles in the world.
 
It's not really stairs that are the problem, it's uneven outdoor terrain. Hit one patch of slippery gravel and I'd bet Asimo would be toast. The really difficult problem is figuring out where to walk, not the mechanics of walking on a solid, regular surface.
 
mechanically speaking, walking (or running, on level terrain) has two components: finding a place to support the first leg, then balancing on it long enough to find a place for the next leg and place it. Then carry the momentum forward. That's an awful lot for a robot to do... Aismo's new running capabilities (well, this was released a while ago) represent a milestone in the balancing portion. Now they can work on letting Aismo process the visual terrain fast enough to run on unlevel surfaces. But it'll be a while before the technology exists for the robot to identify rocks, sticks, dirt, cement, gravel, etc like we do. So don't expect to see Aismo jogging in the woods anytime soon.

paul
 
you'd need a robot brain of that a supercomputer running what? 50-100 TFLOPS to process all that info.
 
getting a beer, or vacuming is an important function, but think of the implications for the severly handicapped!
Of course RoBo cop is inevitable-hostage negotiations too. Military will love it-just add armor and a M-16 (dont use windows like the brit nuke sub!).

This robot tech married to a segway type of transport could be very interesting!
 
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