Atlas, The Next Generation robotics (video)

Pretty amazing next generation robotics.

A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain and help with navigation. This version of Atlas is about 5' 9" tall (about a head shorter than the DRC Atlas) and weighs 180 lbs.

There is still a long way for the "Terminator".. still looks creepy thou

a reply to: kloejen

Is it just me or did that thing look pissed when it pushed itself up after being knocked over?

Skynet.

a reply to: ExNihiloRed

Was just talking about this, Seems skynet has found it's ground troops...

Watching it stagger like a drunkard and quickly turn into an athlete was kinda creepy.

Pretty sure this is our replacement.

I realize they gotta put the thing through it's paces, but being that it is humanoid makes it seem cruel. Also, I notice it can only really interact with things labeled with giant code labels on them.

originally posted by: AshOnMyTomatoes
I realize they gotta put the thing through it's paces, but being that it is humanoid makes it seem cruel. Also, I notice it can only really interact with things labeled with giant code labels on them.

When I watched it get bullied, I did feel an odd sort of empathy like, "hey, leave the poor guy alone he is just trying to pick up that box, you jerk!"

It's fallen and it CAN get up.

Long ways to go before it replaces us, but it's easy to both overstimate AND underestimate. Steam engines in the 19th century were not impressive. Some even scoffed at them and continued using horses. But the engines kept improving, while the animals didn't.

They're right now looking at our brain adn trying to figure it out. Nothing can be done to stop it except outright banning its research--doubtful to say the least. What will occur? Nobody knows the future.

Don't forget people are using the robots. As the future becomes today, we may not use them like we've always used them:
www.newscientist.com - Thought control makes robot arm grab and move objects...
www.popularmechanics.com - A Prosthetic Hand That Restores the Sense of Touch...

a reply to: kloejen

Very cool, but he did look a little drunk and constipated.

Unsettling. It is fascinating.

I still find myself underwhelmed by the physical design of the robot. It's just so heavy and bulky, which I assume is mainly due to the massive battery it needs to carry around. I would like to see more elegant light weight designs which are made from materials like carbon fiber and reinforced plastics instead of steel. And instead of just motors turning joints it should utilize a complex muscle system which allows more freedom of movement. Back in 2014 I read an article titled Fishing Line Makes for Superhuman Artificial Muscles, it's ideas like that which will lead to truly advanced robots. Also the default walking motion of this robot is rather rigid and inefficient. The only time it really makes natural movements is when it's in trouble.

The default walking motion needs to be more adaptive, every step should be analyzed and updated in real time so that mistakes can be avoided before they even happen. For example when it's trying to move over the small mound, it continues walking with the same rigid motion and then gets into trouble, only just managing to rectify the situation. If it saw the mound coming and adjusted its style of walking the problem would have been much less likely to occur. However I don't really think trying to hand-code the walking algorithm is the best approach. What they really need to do, is create a very realistic virtual simulation of their robot, then use a genetic algorithm to evolve a walking algorithm which is capable of overcoming any obstacle.

a reply to: ExNihiloRed
When it was getting pushed about I almost expected it to attack the man or at least push him back, and I was getting annoyed on behalf of the robot. Still it is both cool and staggeringly creepy?

Better watch the aggravation level of the little feller. Remember the beginnings of the Planet of the Apes ? That is what lead to the Revolution...
And ithis being a robot with a CPU for a brain all that was stored in a memory retention storage somewhere.

originally posted by: ExNihiloRed

originally posted by: AshOnMyTomatoes
I realize they gotta put the thing through it's paces, but being that it is humanoid makes it seem cruel. Also, I notice it can only really interact with things labeled with giant code labels on them.

When I watched it get bullied, I did feel an odd sort of empathy like, "hey, leave the poor guy alone he is just trying to pick up that box, you jerk!"

Exactly and I'm sure in the future there will be a debate about Robot rights because people can abuse them pretty badly but some people will have empathy for the bots.

These bots are really great. We're early in the process so we will not see C-3P0 yet. These bots will really get interesting when they're equipped with machine intelligence. In about 20-40 years they may be hunting down humans in war zones the same way the robot kept going after the box.

Imagine giving a bot equipped with machine intelligence a picture of your target. It will hunt them down like the terminator. You can see the robot would not stop going after that box.

Boston dynamics was bought by google last year I have been wondering what is to their intentions with these robots

Edit: last year I watched a movie called ex machina I don't want to give away spoilers but how the guy created the AI for his androids was using the algolrythins from his giant search engine, basicall y imagine Google and Facebook is using ALL human input to map synapses to intelligence. Idk...

I think robots will not really replace humans in the mainstream, I think both robots and humans will be superseded by a hybrid being, a cyborg. Right now as I am sitting here. I have a system plugged into me, replacing the nerves that makes me breathe, so instead of being plugged into a respirator, I have a little box in my phrenic nerve that stimulates my diaphragm to contract and relax. Many of us already have pacemakers, vagal stimulators, etc. Already some deaf people can hear by means of cochlear implants, and vision is already in the experimental phase.
Sure, machines are better than us in some aspects, but the human brain is far from being superceded by a computer. A human-machine hybrid can take the best of both worlds and can become a better organism than each can do on its own.

a reply to: kloejen

Was I the only one who thought "poor little robot" when he was getting bullied by his human ?

Robots are going to bring about a collapse in society, why ? They'll get programmed to do the jobs that lower class perform, working tills, stocking shelves, serving food, you know the jobs that the majority of people do. So what's going to happen when all these jobs vanish overnight to the robots ? How are the lower class going to earn money when there's no jobs for them to make money ? If we don't as a society move away from money then there's going to be a massive problem when technology removes a large percentage of jobs.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
I still find myself underwhelmed by the physical design of the robot. It's just so heavy and bulky, which I assume is mainly due to the massive battery it needs to carry around. I would like to see more elegant light weight designs which are made from materials like carbon fiber and reinforced plastics instead of steel.

The discovery of carbon nanotubes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes has already changed science and technology, and will continue to do so. These tubes are the strongest, hardest building materials ever invented by man. They're useful from the microscale (just above atomic size), all the way up to the extreme macroscale- futurists have put together realistic plans to use carbon nanotech to build an elevator to space, or to engineer megastructures the size of the Earth's orbit around the sun. Some of these are far out ideas, well beyond what will be achieved in any of our lifetimes. But In the near future, only 20-30 years from now, affordable mass production of these materials will become possible, along with processes for weaving them into tightly packed sheets and panels. These processes will become cheaper every year thereafter. Imagine building the structures and components of the robots out of these ultra-strong, ultra-lightweight materials.

Now realize the military has ALWAYS been 30-50 years ahead with black projects when it comes to cutting edge tech like this.

I'm a little freaked out.

a reply to: Discotech

I think you nailed it right there! Totally agree!

The robots are never gonna take over in a "wise" manner as hollywood tries to portray. The mean thing here is cheap labor. Back to slavery, and this time no one can argue if the bots got a soul, right or not, because they have not!

The thing is that intelligence is too complicated to put down into 1's and0's, and therefore a long dream for the elite. If it was possible... do you think we would be here discussing it ?

Bots follow logic. And the best known results are neural networks, study that, quite amazing, but still a very long way from the terminator nightmare!

But hey... every thought of first life to be electric? Compare to life as we know it, what is most complex? real life or robots? Maybe life are created by simple machines (which it kinda is on our planet with single cellular organisms), to evolve naturally, and the machines just died... or moved on ? Define life?

What if all planets evolved natural biology and diversity, but no intelligence? We gotta admit we are a speciel kinda...

a reply to: neoholographic


I recommend testing them against steel wire bolas before investing.

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

This is light years beyond the initial iteration. Look up some of their earlier videos. The original Atlas was large, noisy, top heavy, clunky, and required tethers to stay upright. The original was a model T, this thing is a corvette.