DailyDirt: Better Robots Keep Coming
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Robot research has made some remarkable advances over the years, but we don’t quite have Star Wars servant droids or helpful general-purpose household bots from the Jetsons yet. While we’ve gained some autonomous vacuum cleaners, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Here are just a few robotic advances to be aware of before droids try to conquer their wetware creators.
- DARPA’s robotics programs have been developing cool and useful robots for decades, and one of its latest demonstrations is a set of robotic hands (and arms) that can change a tire (almost). This bot won’t be replacing F1 pit crews any time soon, since it hasn’t quite mastered putting the tire back on (and it’s painfully slow), but it shows that robot hands are almost ready to do some everyday tasks without human supervision. [url]
- Mechanical computers aren’t too common nowadays, but they could make a comeback in artificial muscles. Robot muscles that can respond reflexively to stimuli might lead to better robots that can navigate dynamic environments. [url]
- Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robot is almost creepy in how it moves like an animal — hitting that Uncanny Valley of robotic movement. Recently, BigDog has been given a head/neck appendage that can hold and throw heavy things, adding to its Frankenstein-look of a cobbled together collection of robot body parts. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: artificial muscles, automation, bigdog, droids, robots
Companies: boston dynamics, darpa
Comments on “DailyDirt: Better Robots Keep Coming”
bigdog can play catch with itself...
http://24.media.tumblr.com/aa1fc03454cf933befa7545884c139ee/tumblr_mj5o82X2jM1qz4u07o1_500.gif
“If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, “
yes, I would like to read interesting and awesome stuff, when you propose to post some ???
“Mechanical computers aren’t too common nowadays”
yes, right.. !!! you think.. (oh clearly no you don’t).
what is described there is a mechanical realisation of a digital computer in mechanics.
Something that is don’t ALL the time, in millions upon million of daily, and constantly used applications.
A mechanical computing element, such as the gear box of your car for example. Or the volume control on your analogue radio. (performing logarithmic calculations on an analogue signal). Billions and billions of analogue computing elements are used ALL THE TIME..
possibly one day you’ll find some ‘interesting’ and even awesome stuff. But so far… we’ll no.
Roxxxy the Sex Robot
How could you not include Roxxxy.
US Roxxxy, a $7,000 to $9,000 interactive doll that was unveiled at an adult entertainment expo in 2010, can be programmed with different personalities such as frigid Farrah and wild Wendy, Mars noted.”
http://health.discovery.com/sexual-health/videos/first-sex-robot.htm