

The latest version of the LittleDog robot  - pcof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUQsRPJ1dYw&feature=player_embedded

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vitobcn
I find amazing how difficult it is to successfully perform apparently trivial
tasks such as walking.

There's more information about the 'LittleDog' on the Boston Dynamics website:
<http://www.bostondynamics.com/>

I was really impressed 2 years ago by their video of the 'BigDog':
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww> (check out t=40s)

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pohl
Yes, the way it recovered from that kick is incredible.

And, if you'll forgive me, here's one additional link for anyone who hadn't
yet heard of Big Dog. (Unlikely, I know...)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXJZVZFRFJc>

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po
If you saw the original Boston Dynamics BigDog Youtube video, should check out
the version that researchers here in tokyo have come up with:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5BPrlOVX2o>

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tel
Anyone with some robotics experience able to explain more about the floating
base inverse dynamics control system and what sort of accommodations make it
so much more powerful than PD?

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kd5bjo
I don't know too many specifics, but it looks like their PD example was
controlling the joint position. That means that if the ground isn't where the
robot expects it to be, the leg will still assume the same position and cause
the robot to fall over.

The dynamic force control system is, instead of controlling the leg position,
controlling the amount of force that the leg is exerting on the ground. This
means that the leg may end up in a different position than the walking
controller intended, but the overall effect on the main body should be similar
to what was expected.

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sjsivak
Is it just me or does that thing look like a headcrab:
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Headcrab.jpg>

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joshu
I thought it looked very insectile.

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mooneater
Its been said before, but needs to be repeated every time:

The implications of this line of R&D are horrific.

Removing the risk of say, US soldier casualties, combined with media control,
and with "merely" the current level of inhumanity of political leadership,
would be a very ugly mix indeed.

So yeah, its hard for me to get excited about the tech in this case.

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motters
They're only horrific if they're misused. Robots like this will also have
plenty of non-military applications - especially in agriculture. Legged
locomotion opens up the possibility of cultivating land which was previously
inaccessible to conventional farming automation.

It should also be said that there is nothing inevitable about the close
association between robotics and the military - it's just an artefact of
American culture and the idiosyncratic way in which high tech research gets
funded in America.

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StrawberryFrog
_They're only horrific if they're misused._

Given that this whole line of research is funded by the US military, what do
you mean by "misused" ? Wouldn't "used" be more accurate?

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motters
Under "misuse" I would include things like:

Use of robots for the purpose of prosecuting a war crime

Use of robots to carry out an act of terrorism

Indiscriminate use of deadly force by autonomous robots

Use of autonomous robots in a military context without proper supervision (for
example, not being able to deactivate them once deployed).

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moultano
The most effective thing to get me off my ass and studying is to see something
I should conceivably be able to create, but have no idea where I'd begin.

Can someone link to a good introduction to how the control systems for
something like this work?

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ique
You should take in a couple of lectures of the "Introduction to Robotics"
class on iTunes U.
[http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Feed/itunes.sta...](http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Feed/itunes.stanford.edu.1614970099.01614970102)

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sbarre
I want one of these to walk my dog at 6am on Sunday when it's raining.

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derwiki
until your dog falls in love with it ;-)

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sbarre
then maybe I'd have little cyborg dog puppies.. how awesome would that be??

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staunch
Why can't it move 10x or 100x faster? Is speed constrained by computation or
something else?

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modeless
Pertinent facts from one of their papers: [http://www-
clmc.usc.edu/publications/K/kalakrishnan-IROS2009...](http://www-
clmc.usc.edu/publications/K/kalakrishnan-IROS2009.pdf)

The robot drives its motors at 400 Hz based on control signals coming in at
100 Hz from an external computer. 100 Hz is probably the limit of the sensing
system they're using, which is a motion capture system external to the robot.
(Notice the reflective marker balls on top of the robot and also on the
terrain.) My guess is that's the limiting factor here, though supporting a
higher rate would probably also require faster software, and I have no idea
what the limb speed/precision limits of the robot are.

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BoppreH
Very impressive. Sci-fi stuff.

I just found the big stair demo cheap. That "jumping" behavior looked hard-
coded (and it was implied by the narrator) and seemed to possibly damage the
robot. Still impressive, but a lot less so than the other demonstrations.

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cianestro
So inspiring. Reminds me of the Disney movie "The Brave Little Toaster":

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbBEfZ8fK9Y>

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nostromo
I like how they end the video with the perspective of what it will look like
when you're being chased by one of these guys.

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chaosmachine
Indeed. Imagine an 8 foot tall version coming at you. Tanks of the future?

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DeusExMachina
Immagine they are not controlled by humans. Even more scary.

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melling
Imagine if they could efficiently vacuum your floor and mow your lawn. We're
still a long way from robot world domination.

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nostromo
The "funny" thing is that it's probably easier to make a robot-killer than a
robot that will cook me a variety of healthy meals.

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rsheridan6
Yeah, after you have motion down, you would just need to be able to detect a
heat signature and shoot at it. I doubt that's very difficult compared to what
they've already done.

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DeusExMachina
Next advancements of this technology:

\- running

\- jumping

\- seek and destroy

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joshu
Definitely. I will add it to my list: <http://creepyrobots.tumblr.com/>

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Tichy
OMG, is the laundry bot for real? Want!

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thefool
honestly this is just frightening.

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jasonostrander
I personally find unseen UAV's raining missiles down on our heads to be much
more terrifying. I'm actually quite excited about this tech. The first thing I
thought when I saw this video was one of these things walking on the surface
of Mars.

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frederickcook
Agreed re: the UAV comment. Imagine a world where big brother is watching
everything you do, and can kill you from the other side of the world with the
press of a button, with absolutely no warning, with no way for you to defend
yourself, and no way to attempt to explain your actions to someone.

A walking robot is much less terrifying.

The first thing I thought was that countries such as Cambodia could one day
exist without landmines.

