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MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

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Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#61

Post by ZenoArrow »

JesseObrien wrote: post #59
ZenoArrow wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no reason that technological progress from the US government couldn't be driven by NASA rather than DARPA. I suspect many peace-loving people would prefer to see that.

"No reason", other than the massive budget constraints NASA faces, and has been facing yearly since the end of the Apollo program. https://static.nationalpriorities.org/images/charts/2015/tot... See that Science heading there on the chart? It's hard making the world a better place on a 0.7% budget. DARPA, however has access to that Military heading, 16.3%.

Perhaps you're missing my point. I'm suggesting that money from the military spending budget could be moved over to NASA without losing any ability to drive forward new technology.

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#63

Post by SuddsMcDuff »

XCSme wrote: post #7

Well, it is very impressive, but still a very long way from what a real animal can do. What if the obstacle is at the edge of a canyon? It will suicide :D . Those tests are very restricted, but even after they will think the robot is ready, there will be cases they have missed in which it will fail.

Robot suicide, what an interesting prospect. I can't think of any surer sign that and entity has achieved consciousness, than when it makes the decision to end its own "life".

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#64

Post by SuddsMcDuff »

tagawa wrote: post #51
ajbetteridge wrote: post #45

So they can spend millions developing the robot, but the best they can do for tracking while they film from the side is a guy pushing another guy in a big plastic box on wheels. Way to go geeks!

I don't see the problem. It was quick and easy and got the job done - a nice avoidance of over-engineering.

It speaks volumes about their engineering principles - KISS is alive and well at Boston Dynamics :)

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#65

Post by s_kilk »

xixixao wrote: post #20
ZenoArrow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I'm not concerned with that. I'd be more concerned about powerful robots controlled by governments/corporations/anyonewhohasaninterestincontrollingyourbehaviour. Look at what's happening in Yemen. The population there lives under the fear of drone strikes by the US (that includes the civilian population). If governments are prepared to do that with drones, what reason is there to suspect they'll turn down…

I wish there was no reason for stupid warfare, but: Aren't they better off than the Vietnamese who lived under the fear of Napalm bombardment? (or, for that matter, Japanese fearing the atomic bomb) I don't think that robotics has significant negative impact on warfare (and I wonder whether it has a positive impact).

>> Aren't they better off than the Vietnamese who lived under the fear of Napalm bombardment?

Not really, instead they'll live in fear of Robot bombardment. Which is already happening today in (for example) Pakistan with US-directed drone strikes against civilians.

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#66

Post by marktangotango »

posnet wrote: post #24
icebraining wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

using something that's ground-based to impose control? I think we have that, they're called soldiers.

Which leads to the appeal of a mechanized infantry that never gets tired, never gets sick, kills without remorse, follows orders invariantly, doesn't eat or drink, has an upgrade path but most importantly can't be killed only destroyed or broken. Sure the first generation won't replace all soldiers and they may never replace them all. We will need logistics and support people of course. Its not a perfect solution. Bu…

G.I Robots have been postulated for quiet some time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Robot

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#68

Post by [deleted] »

JesseObrien wrote: post #59
ZenoArrow wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no reason that technological progress from the US government couldn't be driven by NASA rather than DARPA. I suspect many peace-loving people would prefer to see that.

"No reason", other than the massive budget constraints NASA faces, and has been facing yearly since the end of the Apollo program. https://static.nationalpriorities.org/images/charts/2015/tot... See that Science heading there on the chart? It's hard making the world a better place on a 0.7% budget. DARPA, however has access to that Military heading, 16.3%.

[deleted]

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#69

Post by ForrestN »

DanBC wrote: post #22
xixixao wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was no reason for stupid warfare, but: Aren't they better off than the Vietnamese who lived under the fear of Napalm bombardment? (or, for that matter, Japanese fearing the atomic bomb) I don't think that robotics has significant negative impact on warfare (and I wonder whether it has a positive impact).

Yes, in one sense people are better off with drones than they would be with land mines or cluster bombs or "shock and awe" style area-bombing. Those are (pretty clearly, IMO) war crimes. But still, it's useful to be worried about the potential "desensitising effect" of remote warfare. Is someone operating a drone subject to the same psychological pressure to avoid killing other humans as someone pulling a trigger? (T…

I think war is pretty desensitized, at least in the US, already. The military is so disconnected from the general public that there's no difference— if we hear that X civilians were killed by a drone or that X civilians were killed from a bomb or crossfire or whatever, I would argue that the response is generally the same.

And the people who make decisions don't really seem to care at all about this sort of killing except insofar as it creates backlash or has some other operational implication, which means the mode of killing doesn't really matter.

Re: MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump [video]

#70

Post by tgb »

SuddsMcDuff wrote: post #64
tagawa wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the problem. It was quick and easy and got the job done - a nice avoidance of over-engineering.

It speaks volumes about their engineering principles - KISS is alive and well at Boston Dynamics :)

Is this related to Boston Dynamics? The work looks very similar, of course, but I don't see their name associated to it. According to this article, Boston Dynamics has it's own "Cheetah" http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardwar...
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