Atlas robot does parkour • Hacker News Board

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#81

Post by IndySun » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

delgaudm wrote: post #8

I'm not a particularly pessimistic person in general, but I don't know ...this tech, while cool, feels like the precursor to a worse future in general. Maybe I've seen too much sci-fi, but these robots look like optimizing for future soldiers, law enforcement etc. Given all the other Self-Driving / Facial Recognition / Loss of Privacy / Deepfake / "AI is bad at recognizing $situation"-type posts, and as all these tec…

How do you prosecute a robot that kills the wrong person? It's not possible. Would you then logically move on to prosecute the software programmer? And for what crime? Is it murder?

(side note : ios slide to type will not allow the spelling of murder, try it.)

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#82

Post by implements » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

That’s cool and all, but how long before they can manage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx-vUsShk9U (Robot fight in “Outside the Wire”).

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#83

Post by vorpalhex » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #18

What can I do to defend myself against killer robots? Seriously, is there something simple that I can put in my glovebox of my car to use in case these robots start getting scary? Is there a simple household good that will work well against these, until they start explicitly shielding against stuff?

For a very aggressive answer, I would go for one of those shotguns with two magazine tubes you can switch between. Anti-drone projectiles in one and rifled slugs in the other.

Less destructively, a good net launcher seems like it'd stand a decent chance at fouling things but they are usually single shot and inaccurate at any kind of range.

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#84

Post by wonderwonder » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

delgaudm wrote: post #8

I'm not a particularly pessimistic person in general, but I don't know ...this tech, while cool, feels like the precursor to a worse future in general. Maybe I've seen too much sci-fi, but these robots look like optimizing for future soldiers, law enforcement etc. Given all the other Self-Driving / Facial Recognition / Loss of Privacy / Deepfake / "AI is bad at recognizing $situation"-type posts, and as all these tec…

I could see this. Especially robot armies marching back into the middle east. I can also see robot caregivers for the elderly. Or in cities built for pedestrians a robot walking next to you carrying your shopping bags or escorting your kids to school with a live video feed back to the parents. Fire trucks pulling up and 50 robots jumping out and running into a burning building to carry people out. Could go either way, or both.

Edit: I think from a seek and destroy perspective we are much more likely to go the cloud of small drones route than these. These would serve as an armed / peace keeping / law enforcement. presence but would not be nearly as effective in a real combat situation as the drone swarm.

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#85

Post by eplanit » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:42 PM UTC

delgaudm wrote: post #8

I'm not a particularly pessimistic person in general, but I don't know ...this tech, while cool, feels like the precursor to a worse future in general. Maybe I've seen too much sci-fi, but these robots look like optimizing for future soldiers, law enforcement etc. Given all the other Self-Driving / Facial Recognition / Loss of Privacy / Deepfake / "AI is bad at recognizing $situation"-type posts, and as all these tec…

The only missing parts are the weapons themselves.

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#86

Post by thisisbrians » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:42 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #63

Any ideas why the physics looks slightly off like gravity is slightly too slow? Maybe it’s slow motion or sped up? Or I’m wondering if it looks like both feet are off the ground when really only one is and supported by the other?

I thought the video was fake. It doesn't look right to me, but maybe that's just uncanny valley?

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#87

Post by ArtDev » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #46

delgaudm wrote: post #8

I'm not a particularly pessimistic person in general, but I don't know ...this tech, while cool, feels like the precursor to a worse future in general. Maybe I've seen too much sci-fi, but these robots look like optimizing for future soldiers, law enforcement etc. Given all the other Self-Driving / Facial Recognition / Loss of Privacy / Deepfake / "AI is bad at recognizing $situation"-type posts, and as all these tec…

Boston Dynamics was initially DARPA funded and intended for military uses, so you're not wrong. The weird thing is that the more I study history, the more I think that the real dystopia started a century (and perhaps a couple millenia) before I was born, and we're just so adapted to it that we think it's normal. Take the "[Ro]bot" out of your headlines and those would be headlines from today, and if you ignore that t…

My favorite scifi series is the Polity Universe by Neal Asher.

The Polity are these benevolent AI that rule humanity after "The Quiet War". It is called that because not a single shot is fired because they just take control of all hightech weapons and technology one day.

The books would be considered utopian scifi if the rest of the universe wasn't so gritty. Which is why it is my favorite series.

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#88

Post by bserge » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:44 PM UTC

trenning wrote: post #29

Can we brainstorm how you would compromise one of these robots? I don't think I've seen discussion about how you would stop one in an adverse situation. Hogtie cowboy style? Taser? Paint splashed over sensors?

Bullets, lasers, paint, bricks, rope, pipes, anything that works on a human and more.

Doesn't seem particularly hard if they're in range.

Now if they're sniping you from a mile away, that's a bit worse.

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#89

Post by only_as_i_fall » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:44 PM UTC

Are these incredibly expensive or have a regulatory hurdle or something?

I feel like we've been seeing increasingly sophisticated demos like this for over a decade now and yet nothing has really made it to market that I can tell.

Maybe there just literally aren't many good use cases for the types of robots made by Boston dynamics?

Re: Atlas robot does parkour

#90

Post by thisisbrians » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 4:45 PM UTC

moralestapia wrote: post #7

Anyone else thinks the video looks a lot like CGI? Nice job, nonetheless.

It looked fake to me immediately. Maybe just uncanny valley since the movements are not very human-like — I'm not sure. But the lighting on the machines looks all wrong to me (although the shadows do look accurate, and the audio also seems convincing).