
Ivan Sutherland: 6 Legged Walker: CMU 1982 and 1983 [video] - tobijkl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMfU2FtSBk
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Isamu
Memories! I actually scanned the video several times to see if I was in the
background on the stairs. I remember seeing this being put though the paces in
this space (those were CS offices in the background, I don't think this drive-
through exists anymore.) Not sure that I saw Ivan driving the hexapod though.

There should be a Robotics Institute technical report about it, I recall
Claude Shannon wrote a whimsical poem about the the hexapod.

[edit] some context: Ivan was a founder of Evans & Sutherland, a
groundbreaking developer of computer graphics systems. From the wikipedia
page: "Most of the employees were active or former students, and included Jim
Clark, who started Silicon Graphics, Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, John
Warnock of Adobe, and Scott P. Hunter of Oracle."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_%26_Sutherland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_%26_Sutherland)

He is also known for Sketchpad, perhaps the first graphical user interface:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad)

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edge17
I'm pretty sure that's the Hammerschlag Hall faculty parking lot and the
staircase in the background is the one that goes up to Porter Hall.

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Isamu
This is adjacent to the current lot, the stair in the background is not the
current one. There used to be this paved area that went underneath the steps
to the entrance of Hamerschlag. There was also a loading dock there where I
assume this hexapod made it out from wherever in Wean Hall it was constructed.
This area is now occupied by lab space and from above is planted with grass.

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abrax3141
It lived in a garage under the bridge, on the Wean/Porter side, between the
cut and Hammerschlag.

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edge17
Lived as in, you never left the lab or actually lived?? I spent more time in
that building than almost anyone during my day, so 'lived there' is a loaded
term :)

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Animats
Oh, that thing. That was mostly Sutherland having fun.

It was followed by the OSU Adaptive Suspension Vehicle.[1] This may have been
the first walking machine with active computer control. Despite the claims of
off-road capabilities, it could at best handle a dirt road with a slight
slope. They got it to walk over a log, but that was with 5 legs locked and the
operator managing one leg with a joystick.

[1] [https://youtu.be/DIiD1JimBXQ](https://youtu.be/DIiD1JimBXQ)

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jacquesm
There is some progress...:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sBBaNYex3E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sBBaNYex3E)

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abrax3141
Coincidentally, the grad student who programmed the thing, Marc Donner, is now
director of global tech sites at ... wait for it ... Uber!

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ericb
What is that on the ground that rolls by it, stops by sewer grate, and then
rolls some more?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMfU2FtSBk&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMfU2FtSBk&feature=youtu.be&t=167)

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Isamu
I don't remember exactly but there may have been a small crab apple tree by
the entrance. This was below and in front of Hamerschlag Hall that I believe
is now filled in. The offices behind connected to the library floor of Wean
Hall.

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cfallin
Yeah, the old parking lot around Hamerschlag became the new fab / nanotech lab
when Scott Hall was built (finished 2016) -- they connected HH C-level to Wean
4, a major boon to winter-time indoor connectivity. Google Streetview has a
pretty good view of it:

[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4420983,-79.9460873,3a,75y,3...](https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4420983,-79.9460873,3a,75y,309.93h,82.94t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sw74WDtIey5XjBbKZYoSbCQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dw74WDtIey5XjBbKZYoSbCQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D359.47006%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656)

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PhantomGremlin
It's a short video. Everyone should watch it. Not necessarily for the walker,
which is somewhat primitive, though probably state-of-the-art for its time.
Watch the video for the accompanying commentary.

Ivan has such a simple, elegant way of explaining things. In just a few
sentences he clearly explained all the key elements of the walker.

That's a wonderful pedagogical talent. Another person with such a talent was
Richard Feynman.

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tpmx
Wow, it's taken us so long to get (something like) this thing going. 37 years
now, and Boston Dynamics is only now in the final steps of productizing v1.

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GeorgeTirebiter
Boston Dynamics' CEO, Marc Raibert, was a professor at CMU at the same time,
and Marc and Ivan are good pals. Little-known fact: Ivan convinced Marc to
start doing work in legged locomotion! So, in a way, Ivan is responsible for
modern legged locomotion by 'seeding' the field with a genius like Marc
Raibert! Here's some of what was going on at CMU at the same time as Ivan's
Walker:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_ZKXo6Rlg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_ZKXo6Rlg)

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bpicolo
This video was extremely cool. Thanks for sharing! Legged robots are so
endearing.

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GeorgeTirebiter
Glad you liked it. Boston Dynamics is an overnight success only 40-ish years
in the making... !

See also this Scientific American article of theirs
[https://www.academia.edu/28215739/Machines_That_Walk](https://www.academia.edu/28215739/Machines_That_Walk)

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Causality1
Interesting that they tried to design the walking motion from scratch and
ended up with a jittery, jerky mess with each leg moving one by one. I wonder
how they would've done if they tried to replicate the walking motion of real
six-legged creatures.

[https://i.imgur.com/tinN5vA.gif](https://i.imgur.com/tinN5vA.gif)

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jv22222
This looks and sounds like the retro back story side sequences in Lost (with
the Japanese professor)!

Anyway, awesome work, and amazing to see how long we've been thinking about
this stuff IRL

