
Boston Dynamics unveils 'nightmare-inducing' hybrid robot - bernardmeyer
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/28/boston-dynamics-handle-nightmare-inducing-hybrid-robot-google
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spacey2
there is nothing 'nightmarish' about this robot. I really hate hyped up titles
like this.

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ceejayoz
It doesn't take that much imagination to make it nightmarish, though. Give it
a circular saw on the end of one of those arms. The descendants of these
things are quite likely to see combat service.

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friedman23
It's still something stupid to be scared of, drones with bombs are
significantly more dangerous and significantly more practical at holding
people hostage than robots.

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1001101
How has that worked out?

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friedman23
The US military isn't a totalitarian despot that is willing to kill any and
all civilians to maintain power in the middle east. So really it hasn't been
tried.

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cholantesh
No, but it is plausible that some of its NATO allies are not quite as
disciplined or altruistic, and IIRC, the treaty allows dissemination of
weapons technology (and associated knowledge) among the allied states.

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phkahler
I'm sure coordinating those actuators is a fun problem, but look back at
technology from the late 90s:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7otewMk9pc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7otewMk9pc)

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mcguire
And an actual user's test:

[https://youtu.be/MzZMDpnqzY0](https://youtu.be/MzZMDpnqzY0)

I'm impressed.

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okket
See also discussion from 17 hours ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13748023](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13748023)
(110 comments)

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cholantesh
This isn't anywhere near as horrific as the first Big Dog video. The movements
are much more graceful and no one was kicking anyone.

I'd go as far as to call it a Gobot (after the Bluth, not the cartoon
franchise).

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jlv2
Direct link to video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xvqQeoA8c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xvqQeoA8c)

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agumonkey
The Terminator franchise took an unexpected Horsey turn.

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mtgx
Wasn't Google supposed to sell the division last year? What happened to that
idea? Or has it decided to break its promise and become a military contractor?

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burkaman
What promise are you referring to? Boston Dynamics has been funded by DARPA
for 10+ years.

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ceejayoz
[http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2014/03/24/Google-
rejects-m...](http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2014/03/24/Google-rejects-
military-funding-for-DARPA-Robotics-Challenge-remains-in-
competition/5441395686972/)

> Google, having recently acquired Boston Dynamics and Schaft, has rejected
> military money for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, remaining in the
> competition under their own funding.

[https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/185570-google-finally-
pr...](https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/185570-google-finally-proves-it-
wont-pursue-military-contacts-pulls-leading-robot-from-darpa-competition)

> On the other hand, Google has been very open about its feelings on military
> funding: it doesn’t want any. Keeping the Google team working to win the
> DARPA challenge would have meant receiving indirect funding from the
> Pentagon and (hopefully) prize money, too. DARPA, of course, hates this
> analysis, since its whole strategy with the Grand Challenge has been to
> claim that totally non-violent civilian applications are the one and only
> aim of this competition. This is supposed to be about building robots that
> can burst into burning American homes to save American lives; any
> resemblance these actions may bear to the sorts of military maneuvers that
> are DARPA’s actual raison d’être are purely coincidental.

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teddythetwig
The infamous hockey stick makes an appearance at 0:58

