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How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

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Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#171

Post by Notorious_BLT »

yarcob wrote: post #92
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This won't end well. Care to expand on that? I'm very cynical about Boston Dynamics, given that - as far as I can tell / know - they've only done tech demos and again as far as I know don't have significant commercial success, or their robots doing things outside of (carefully orchestrated) tech demos. disclaimer: I never actually looked on their website for user cases or whatnot.

As soon as they make a usable remote control for that robot the US military is going to buy a bunch of them and attach machine guns and use them to shoot up "suspected terrorists". Looking at what the US military has been doing with drones, that scenario doesn't seem that far fetched.

Given the success (inasmuch as one can call it that) they've had with drones, why bother with mounting a gun on a robot that can barely run for longer than an hour? Wouldn't a remotely-piloted/autonomous vehicle with guns mounted on it be much more efficient than a robot walking around on 2 legs?

I guess I just struggle with understanding how this changes anything.

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#172

Post by ufmace »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #164
ufmace wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a little unclear about exactly what morality they are advocating for. The nature of weapon technology transforms the way society works. In the era of sword and shield, for example, combat effectiveness is hugely dependent on raw upper body strength. That means that strong healthy men rule all domains, while women, children, any men not in top physical shape are helpless before them. In the modern era of mecha…

Your second paragraph seems rather simplistic to me. Less-able men with more ability to marshall resources/rewards can convince more-able men to be their proxies by paying them . How would they have the ability to do that? Technology, knowledge, cunning, guile. How long has it been since the king was the best fighter in the realm? I mean, seriously?

Well yeah it's simplistic, since it's 2 sentences. I'm not really prepared or qualified to write a 30 page paper on the nature of medieval combat. Yet there seems to be an obvious truth to it.

There are of course exceptions, such as persuading or paying someone else to fight for you, or concealing a weapon, getting someone to trust you, and stabbing them in the back, etc. It still seems to shape much about reality to know that the majority of people will have no chance of ever winning a remotely fair fight against the enforcers of whoever is in charge.

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#173

Post by thatguy0900 »

0x0203 wrote: post #146
unixhero wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She did an amazing job and is talented for sure. I still absolutely hate those robots. This won't end well.

I think that unfortunately, when it comes to the public perception, that the movie Terminator did to robotics and AI what Jaws did to the Great White shark. This seems to have permeated western culture in a way that makes it very difficult to have much serious and honest discussion about the technology and I suspect is actively holding the field back. My perception is that in other countries, like Japan for example,…

Boston dynamics itself was started with military funding. Robotics will be an industry with a lot of blood on its hands, even if it does do good as well.

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#174

Post by jfengel »

jacobolus wrote: post #97
sargun wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to ask a question. In the article they say the following: > We definitely learned not to underestimate how flexible and strong dancers are—when you take elite athletes and you try to do what they do but with a robot, it’s a hard problem. It’s humbling. Fundamentally, I don’t think that Atlas has the range of motion or power that these athletes do, although we continue developing our robots towards that,…

As a parent of small kids who just watched the video, I would say 2–3 year old seems about right, assuming kids who do a lot of running around. 3-year-olds can move with significantly more grace (the motions are more intentional, fluid, subtle, and steady, and seem less scripted) than these robots, but definitely can't do a jump precisely the same 10 times in a row, so it's not really apples to apples. Maybe age isn'…

I think your estimate of 6-7 is closer to right. I'm not a parent but as a ballet dancer I get involved in a lot of Nutcrackers, which are showcases for entire schools at all levels.

The 5-and-under crowd just generally swarms around the stage, with little attempt at "dance". The 6-8 year olds are beginning to dance, at about this level -- though I would say I saw a few movements by the robots that were remarkably expressive.

It's a bell curve, and there is certainly a right tail of kids who are far better than these robots at age 6-8. The median, however, is about on par.

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#175

Post by tandr »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #173
0x0203 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that unfortunately, when it comes to the public perception, that the movie Terminator did to robotics and AI what Jaws did to the Great White shark. This seems to have permeated western culture in a way that makes it very difficult to have much serious and honest discussion about the technology and I suspect is actively holding the field back. My perception is that in other countries, like Japan for example,…

Boston dynamics itself was started with military funding. Robotics will be an industry with a lot of blood on its hands, even if it does do good as well.

It is unfortunate, but - Internet have started as an ARPA project. First rockets to space started with military funding.

Question is... what are current goals of Boston Dynamics? Do they even see these robots used for non-military widely used scenarios - construction, medical care, first-responders etc? Are these things even possible for the things where cost is an important factor (unlike military, where cost is not that important)?

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#176

Post by mellosouls »

bigbizisverywyz wrote: post #80
jessep wrote: post #2

My sister choreographed this dance, and I’m a little unhappy that she isn’t mentioned here by name. She’s brilliant, and I want her to get credit. Her name is Monica Thomas. Her dance company is called Mad King Thomas. Here is her brand new Twitter account: https://mobile.twitter.com/onetruebonc Her sense of humor is captured by her choice of the song “Do you love me”, which is a winking but still charming reference…

I personally would have loved to see a human dancer dancing alongside the robots, that would have given an interesting comparison.

You can see a side-by-side comparison with the original artists in the video linked in my comment here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25687540

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#177

Post by tandr »

Notorious_BLT wrote: post #171
yarcob wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as they make a usable remote control for that robot the US military is going to buy a bunch of them and attach machine guns and use them to shoot up "suspected terrorists". Looking at what the US military has been doing with drones, that scenario doesn't seem that far fetched.

Given the success (inasmuch as one can call it that) they've had with drones, why bother with mounting a gun on a robot that can barely run for longer than an hour? Wouldn't a remotely-piloted/autonomous vehicle with guns mounted on it be much more efficient than a robot walking around on 2 legs? I guess I just struggle with understanding how this changes anything.

Weight of what it can carry might be an important factor.

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#178

Post by brlewis »

jackhack wrote: post #144
qayxc wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ah, its battery runs for 90 minutes. Yep, and that's best case, too (e.g. not running Lidar or complex processing for autonomous function at the same time). Minutes sounds a bit shorter than it is, but nevertheless anything with an endurance under 2 hours cannot run for hours pretty much by definition ;)

It's about perspective. Imagine being pinned down by a squad of these things for "only" 60 minutes. Or being pursued through the forest or an urban environment. That 60 minutes would feel like a very long time. For a glimpse of this, check out the videogame Generation Zero (1980's Sweden overtaken by armed robots, including robot dogs).

That would be terrifying, but a squad of trained humans is still more terrifying. If you're worried about what a military is going to do, robots are mostly a distraction.

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#179

Post by jordache »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #6
jessep wrote: post #2

My sister choreographed this dance, and I’m a little unhappy that she isn’t mentioned here by name. She’s brilliant, and I want her to get credit. Her name is Monica Thomas. Her dance company is called Mad King Thomas. Here is her brand new Twitter account: https://mobile.twitter.com/onetruebonc Her sense of humor is captured by her choice of the song “Do you love me”, which is a winking but still charming reference…

I would so love to see some of the original concept videos with the humans who were dancing, I hope they release it. Honestly, I think a "how we made this" video would be just as popular as the robots dancing.

yep! a how we made this video for the robot dance would be much much more compelling than one of those video for an apple headphone

Re: How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

#180

Post by nisse72 »

mudita wrote: post #123
mromanuk wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. Wouldn’t be cool if the robots dance along humans, replacing iconic videoclips or scenes? Like the scene of Jerry (from Tom & Jerry) dancing with Gene Kelly https://youtu.be/2msq6H2HI-Y Or Paula Abdul “Opposites attract” https://youtu.be/xweiQukBM_k

This duet between a human dancer and an industrial robot might interest you as well: https://youtu.be/Q-sK-s_TzN0

Here's a similar video, where the same robot plays table tennis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIIJME8-au8

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