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Humanoid Robot Actuators

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Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#21

Post by rob74 »

elil17 wrote: post #17
rob74 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isaac Asimov already explained that better than I could ( https://www.reddit.com/r/asimov/comments/pm84ud/why_robots_a... ): > Besides that, our entire technology is based on the human form. An automobile, for instance, has its controls so made as to be grasped and manipulated most easily by human hands and feet of a certain size and shape, attached to the body by limbs of a certain length and joints of a certain typ…

Right, but: 1. Asimov wrote that because he needed robots to be indistinguishable from humans for plot reasons. 2. We do 99% of our tool use with our arms and hands. We are already very good at building robot arms. We are getting better at robot hands. We can build robot legs, but they're very expensive and they pose a major safety risk for the robot itself and surrounding humans (because the robot can fall if there…

You can still have a humanoid robot that looks very different from an actual human (and most robots from Asimov's novels were of that kind, although one of the main characters wasn't - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Daneel_Olivaw).

Ok, so maybe a robot with wheels could solve most tasks, but it would still be severely limited: couldn't climb stairs (which would make it unsuitable as a domestic robot in a house or multi-storey flat), couldn't drive a car, truck or any other vehicle designed for humans etc.

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#22

Post by Joel_Mckay »

Animats wrote: post #14
Fraterkes wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand pre-computation making the “software” problem of locomotion easier, but how does it help with the hardware problems laid out in the article, ie repeated very high load over a very short amount of time?

BD used hydraulics for a long time. Works, but inefficient. You have to carry the actuators, the tank, probably a hydraulic accumulator, the pump, valves, and the power source for the pump. That's why BD's machines were so big. Someone at Google said "We need to have a conversation about hydraulics", and the dog robot in 2019 was the first all-electric machine.

BD was under business pressures, and a computerized automaton doing baked ninja back-flips with servos is more impressive than inexpensive FK/IK demos dead-lifting 1000lbs. Google broke that company with their opinions.

Even if private labs have a viable platform solution, people won't care unless they can clone it for free. Not a lot of incentive for design change, but building Kryten 2X4B-523P would be hilarious. =3

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#23

Post by Tanxsinxlnx »

barbegal wrote: post #6
aardvarkdriver wrote: post #3

Why the AI "engineering expert"? Seems to take some credibility away from what otherwise could be an interesting and informative read.

Yeah I couldn't get past so many issues in the AI generated illustrations. Not useful at all when they are completely wrong.

right

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#24

Post by moffkalast »

barbegal wrote: post #6
aardvarkdriver wrote: post #3

Why the AI "engineering expert"? Seems to take some credibility away from what otherwise could be an interesting and informative read.

Yeah I couldn't get past so many issues in the AI generated illustrations. Not useful at all when they are completely wrong.

Even the video is generated. The whole thing is just slop upon slop, I'm amazed that it got to the top of the front page here. I suppose it's a genuinely impressive amount of fakery all integrated together.

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#25

Post by bloak »

rob74 wrote: post #15
elil17 wrote: post #10

I simply do not understand why you would ever prefer a fully humanoid robot as opposed to a humanoid torso on some other locomotion system.

Isaac Asimov already explained that better than I could ( https://www.reddit.com/r/asimov/comments/pm84ud/why_robots_a... ): > Besides that, our entire technology is based on the human form. An automobile, for instance, has its controls so made as to be grasped and manipulated most easily by human hands and feet of a certain size and shape, attached to the body by limbs of a certain length and joints of a certain typ…

It seems that he wrote that in a book published in 1953, but it's weird, I find, that he was imagining a robot driving a car. I would have thought he would have imagined that cars would become robots well before there would be humanoid robots wanting to drive them. So by the time you have a humanoid robot wanting to drive a car it's just one robot talking to another robot, electronically. And knives and forks are for eating, which humanoid robots presumably don't need to do, and is it likely that humanoid robots will need chairs in the same way that humans do? Altogether, a bad set of examples, I find. Perhaps the thesis would be more convincing with some better examples.

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#26

Post by po1nt »

rob74 wrote: post #15
elil17 wrote: post #10

I simply do not understand why you would ever prefer a fully humanoid robot as opposed to a humanoid torso on some other locomotion system.

Isaac Asimov already explained that better than I could ( https://www.reddit.com/r/asimov/comments/pm84ud/why_robots_a... ): > Besides that, our entire technology is based on the human form. An automobile, for instance, has its controls so made as to be grasped and manipulated most easily by human hands and feet of a certain size and shape, attached to the body by limbs of a certain length and joints of a certain typ…

Why not make a robotic chair? Why not build our environment out of specialized robots instead of using a hammer for everything?

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#27

Post by gpugreg »

This is AI slop and the article contains some of the worst illustrations I have ever seen. Most do not make any sense mechanically. Here are the worst ones:

- The "orbiting threaded rollers" in figure 6 are not meshing with anything (not that they could, since they are orientated in the wrong direction).

- The ball of the ball screw in figure 7 deforms the screw and the roller screw "meshes" with a flat surface.

- The guy on the pogo stick in figure 14 is jumping himself rather than putting his feet on the stands of the pogo stick.

- In figure 16, a key penetrates the elastomer skin of the optical tactile sensor, destroying it.

- The gears in figure 20 touch perpendicularly.

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#28

Post by ofrzeta »

gpugreg wrote: post #27

This is AI slop and the article contains some of the worst illustrations I have ever seen. Most do not make any sense mechanically. Here are the worst ones: - The "orbiting threaded rollers" in figure 6 are not meshing with anything (not that they could, since they are orientated in the wrong direction). - The ball of the ball screw in figure 7 deforms the screw and the roller screw "meshes" with a flat surface. - Th…

Is it? Now I feel bad for having posted it. I mean, I know some stuff but not enough to judge over all the content in this article. It's unfortunate but from glancing over I thought it was a comprehensive and useful resource. I guess I will just give up on the Internet or something like that.

Re: Humanoid Robot Actuators

#30

Post by BoppreH »

gpugreg wrote: post #27

This is AI slop and the article contains some of the worst illustrations I have ever seen. Most do not make any sense mechanically. Here are the worst ones: - The "orbiting threaded rollers" in figure 6 are not meshing with anything (not that they could, since they are orientated in the wrong direction). - The ball of the ball screw in figure 7 deforms the screw and the roller screw "meshes" with a flat surface. - Th…

- Figure 3 has "elboly actuators" for the elbow joints (zero hits on Google for the term).

Could it be just the illustrations? I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge the text contents.

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