
Getting some air, Atlas? [video] - tlb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSohj-Iclc&feature=youtu.be
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csours
Atlas is free!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAmfJgqw3oU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAmfJgqw3oU)

~~~
ChuckMcM
"No Disassemble! Number 5 is alive!"

That would have been a very different movie with Atlas in the starring role.

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pulkitsh1234
I wonder what proportion of the development efforts go into securing these
things.

Imagine what would be happen, if these robots start getting hacked. A virus
would no longer be just sitting inside a computer, it would manifest itself in
a physical form.

Hardcore viruses/trojans/worms/whatever can create physical implications:
disrupting power grids, sabotaging nuclear programs[0], etc.

But, even the basic forms of viruses which hackers will start out with, can
cause serious consequences because of the physicality of these robots. And not
just advanced robots like BostonDynamics', even basic autonomous robots have a
high potential to do physical harm, if hacked.

I somehow feel, people should focus more on securing these things vs
empowering them with increased intelligence, agility and sheer strength.

I would like to know, if security of these systems rely on the current state
of computers, or do they have a different set of guidelines to abide by,
considering that the attack vectors can be vastly different.

With the current computer systems, most attacks are done via the internet. But
with these, physical access can exploit a whole different range of
vulnerabilities, which can be difficult for the bot the detect. Like, how the
old PS/2 hardware keyloggers turned out to be quite difficult to detect[1].
What if someone just sticks a different kind of lens in front of the
camera(s)/sensor(s) these systems rely on, which can just break all the math
it is doing around visuals.

Does the current state of the art of securing these systems, handle these
cases ?

[0] Quora -> [http://qr.ae/TUTPJK](http://qr.ae/TUTPJK)

[1]
[https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/79124/detecting...](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/79124/detecting-
hardware-keyloggers-elegant-solutions)

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Diederich
I imagine what some creative blackhats could do if they rooted Tesla's
systems, and could now control a few hundred thousand cars.

~~~
JTbane
The prospect of an OTA update hijacking your car seems to get closer and
closer every day.

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wallflower
Daemon by Daniel Suarez is about connected nodes (including automated cars)
being taken over by a rogue program.

[https://www.amazon.com/DAEMON-Daniel-
Suarez/dp/0451228731](https://www.amazon.com/DAEMON-Daniel-
Suarez/dp/0451228731)

~~~
joshgel
I loved this book. The destruction a few thousand remotely controlled cars
could wreck is terrifying.

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savrajsingh
I've rewatched this video maybe 10 times since it came out a few days ago. The
jogging part -- it's so hard to believe, still seems like CG but looking
forward to seeing this in person. I love this stuff -- so much world-
revolutionizing potential captured in this video!

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csours
The jogging seems to be much slower than a human would jog (for now), which
contributes to the unreal look (I think).

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throwaway84742
As Elon Musk quipped, in a few years this thing will move so fast you’ll need
a strobe to see it. It’s not subject to the human reaction time or mechanical
constraints.

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joss82
It is subject to mechanical constraints AKA laws of physics.

Acceleration is limited by the grip on the ground under its feet. It could
slowly accelerate to amazing speeds though.

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carapace
Compressed-air rockets. Or H2O2 with a platinum catalyst; "decomposition ...
into steam and oxygen"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide#Propellant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide#Propellant)

We're spit-balling hero-bots, not nasty kill-bots, riiiight?

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joss82
But then it's not robotics, it's rockets!!! Yay rockets!

Let's invent a new Godwin's law reached when any discussion devolves
(upgrades?) into rocket talks.

~~~
carapace
Me: _mutters under his breath, "rockets are robots..."_ ;-)

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outsidetheparty
I'm kinda curious which Boston Dynamics exec has robots running around in the
backyard of his summer home in the Berkshires

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terravion
Exciting and scary! We live in the time where this if finally a real thing
after almost a century of discussion of humanoid robots. I wonder when / if
this will become a real commercial thing.

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John_KZ
For me the exciting part died out with the understanding of how locomotion
actually works. Now it's almost a solved problem, only requiring some hardware
advantages and a lot of (excruciatingly boring) man-hours to implement.

So I'm only left with the scary part. This will hit the streets in less than 5
years. Things are going the exact opposite direction of where they should be
for the deployment of such robots to be beneficial to the masses. I don't like
this, and I'm not alone.

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soared
> Things are going the exact opposite direction of where they should be for
> the deployment of such robots to be beneficial to the masses

Just going to toss that out with no explanation?

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moeadham
The speed at which these robots are advancing is simply astonishing.

Any predictions on how long until we see a bi-pedal robot in a manufacturing
environment?

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amelius
This was from 2013:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgaEE27nsQw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgaEE27nsQw)

I'm wondering what challenges we have solved since then, beside the mechanical
implementation.

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elsombrero
I think it's a bit disingenuous comparing a simple simulation of a 3d model
with dubious physics with the problems involved in designing a real robot.

