
New Video Of Sand Flea Robot Leaping (Onto) Tall Buildings 30ft High - zacharye
http://singularityhub.com/2012/03/30/new-video-of-sand-flea-robot-leaping-onto-tall-buildings-30ft-high/
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clarkmoody
I think the most interesting thing about this robot is how it maneuvers while
in flight. If you watch closely, you will see that the robot stabilizes into
the 'flat' configuration before reaching the apex of its flight. Without
stabilization, it would simply tumble end-over-end.

I believe the robot uses its wheels as reaction wheels, adding the proper
torques to the tumbling body to cancel out longitudinal angular velocities.
There are not enough controls to cancel out rolling, if it launches wrong. The
robot would need an internal lateral reaction wheel or CMG cluster for that.

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ChuckMcM
This is a pretty cool robot and one I intend to copy at my earliest
convenience! If they combine it with the Van der waal's [1] adhesion effect
then you have a robot that should be a really good urban navigator.

Funny story, I designed a robot based on the hopping principle for the first
DARPA challenge (the one where you were in the desert trying to go from
Barstow to Las Vegas) except that we ran into issues with the ground being too
soft in places to reliably jump. And the fact that we had an on board
compressor which both weighed too much and took too long to recharge the jump
tanks, but other than that :-)

[1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force>

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jkubicek
> If they combine it with the Van der waal's adhesion effect then you have a
> robot that should be a really good urban navigator.

It's funny you mention that. I went to grad school with the guy who created
the jumping robot. His PhD research was in creating artificial Gecko footpads
for robots.

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jonah
Nice. My friend did his PhD on gecko adhesives too[1]. He later built[2] a
"six-legged" robot like Boston Dynamics' RHex 'bot[3].

[1] <http://northdesignlabs.com/?page_id=12> [2]
<http://northdesignlabs.com/?p=38> [3]
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISznqY3kESI>

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ajratner
I should caveat subsequent comments by saying that I would have given my
childhood for this toy (and therein I would have learnt the meaning of irony
too, but I digress).

Anyway I am wondering what this could really be intended for. If it is indeed
meant to carry a camera payload for cheap soldier surveillance, then I have an
alternative suggestion: [http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-AR-Drone-Quadricopter-
Controlle...](http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-AR-Drone-Quadricopter-Controlled-
Android/dp/B003ZVSHB0). This $298 quad-copter with two mounted cameras seems
like it could do the job just fine. (Incidentally on the subject of cheap RC
toys saving soldiers' lives and proving themselves viable short-term options:
[http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2011/08/04/traxxas-rc-
truck-...](http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2011/08/04/traxxas-rc-truck-saves-
soldiers-lives-in-afghanistan/)). Anyway, especially with Petman
(<http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_petman.html>) purportedly being for
chemical suit testing (which in my opinion is like saying crash dummies need
to have guns and machine vision), Boston Dynamics has shown that it likes
releasing potentially mid-path projects for other-than-ultimately-intended
purposes (makes perfect sense from a testing perspective). So I wonder what
Sand Flea could be working towards other than surveillance? 11 lbs./30 ft is
not bad considering a quad copter of similar size would be probably max 4-6
lbs. So maybe they are gearing it up for heavier payloads. Nothing like the
400 lbs alpha dog carries (at that point, assuming similar tech, the Sand Flea
would have to be big enough to basically just roll over single-story
buildings), but perhaps an explosive payload or something in the neighborhood
of 10-20 lbs.

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Qworg
The Sand Flea would be able to monitor an area for far longer and is much
quieter than a quadcopter. Also, the Sand Flea can enter buildings/caves, and
likely carry a small munition load.

The REF doesn't invest in things that aren't ready to go to the sandbox. I
think this is far further along than mid-stage.

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jwarzech
All I could think of while watching it was 'its a parkour robot!'

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ajratner
Haha. Someone should do a web scrape of all parkour club directories, and then
look at the intersection of that set with Boston Dynamics' team... could
explain some things

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ChrisNorstrom
Fantastic news, we are now one step closer to Pirate Bot / Wireless Internet
Broadcasting robot that can circumvent internet shutdowns.

As regulations clamp down on internet free speech and authorities give
themselves the power to administer internet blackouts during protests. This is
the best way to respond in order to re-balance power back to democracies and
people.

Now we need to make it a bit bigger and start working on the rechargeable
battery pack, solar panel, kinect 3d camera, gps, and long range wireless
router (the longest range wireless router allowable by law is a 1 watt router
with a 1,200 foot range called Bountiful Router) but I'm sure you can extend
the range much further with an illegal hacked version, and use repeater units
to send signals further.

Basically a rogue mars-rover for Earth that sends out pirate signals. The
future is horrifyingly awesome.

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larrys
I wonder how it determines the height to see if it can leap or not.

I would think also it could be engineered to climb the side of the building by
simply creating a triangle shape and motoring up the side or with some kind of
suction.

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jwarzech
I am assuming that its not autonomous and the angle/thrust is either pre-
programmed for the demo or is human operator controlled.

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MrFoof
I'm thinking just basic geometry and some rangefinders and other sensors. It
needs to know how high off the ground its rangefinder is, and how far away the
base of the target is. Once it knows that, it's some basic arithmetic to
determine the height of its target landing area. Set a trajectory, charge for
both the distance and height (and possibly to compensate for wind) and you're
done.

There's some implementation subtleties I'm sure, especially considering your
launch surface may vary, but that's the gist of it.

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jonah
Their RHex bot is pretty impressive too:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISznqY3kESI>

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Artary3
This is so awesome! I was a big fan of the Big Dog but this thing is slick and
might be my new favorite robot!

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summerdown
We need to put a camera on this and send it to Mars

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slavak
What, am I seriously the first one to say this? I don't care what this thing
is supposed to be used for; I want one!

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Brock_Lee
That's really cool and Boston Dynamics is amazing but there's most certainly
not a 30ft jump in that video.

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Tipzntrix
Now we just need a Clifford the Big Red Dog robot.

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mattbaker
Doesn't the building jump look really fake to people? The image changes at
0:16 right before it pops up. I call bullshit.

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mlpqlm
I don't _necessarily_ call bullshit, but I can't help but question what was
cut out.

