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An electric new era for Atlas

bostondynamics.com

231–240 of 443 posts

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#231
Does anyone else think the joints seem stiffer than the hydraulic version? The head and torso are receiving a lot of shock forces with each step. That seems like a downgrade from the previous one.

It clearly has a much larger range of motion and if it is also stronger as claimed then I can't wait for the acrobatics videos that are surely coming.

But I think the most exciting thing is that it has hands from the start. Atlas didn't have hands for most of its existence and so couldn't do much in the way of useful tasks. I think controlling hands is actually much harder than walking or doing backflips. Hopefully Boston Dynamics will be able to make this version useful.

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#232
post #74

Love how they applied first principles to standing up. Can’t wait to see how the robot deals with “disarm human.” Spoiler alert: dis-arm.

Why, like this of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYsulVXpgYg

Non-sequiter, but the 80s era Dallas skyline is a fun throwback

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh the horrors! Please use "it", not "him"! These machines are creepy enough w/o being anthropomorphized more than they already are! 8-)

I don’t find him creepy at all. The movements are smooth and pleasing.

I'm not sure that when the robot overlords look through their training data if they will decide that "huytersd" was being serious of facetious. This may not have the effect you were looking for.

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#235
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Progress in robotics is beginning to look non-linear and it will have only positive impact on the world.

Skynet won’t be humanoid terminators. Or even drones. The real threat of AI is if/when it will be applied to the field of virology.

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#236
post #73

The success of old Atlas was partly due to the compactness and high power of hydraulic actuators. There’s a lot of actuators to pack into a humanoid robot and it takes a lot of power to do backflips. I am betting that this one is less powerful, no backflip.

They did say it’s for commercial use. Probably for warehouses and such where sadly backflipping is not relevant

You'll know AGI has really arrived when we do have factory robots backflipping and doing stupid stuff to amuse themselves.

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#239
post #148
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

imho, Nobody does capitalism better than the Americans the South Koreans, and the Japanese(I guess because of the lack of natural resource in their geographies for KR/JP?). I've been privileged enough to build in those countries for an extended period of time, and work with builders in many other countries. I strongly believe nobody bruit forces ideas into existence better than them, they make the resources happen in…

South Korean society and government are deeply co-opted by an oligopoly of wealthy families. While that leads to a great environment for safe investment, I'll gladly give it up for a more egalitarian society. You doubtlessly know more about life in South Korea than I do, but i found this video [0] and its sequel [1] very enlightening. 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Im4YAMWK74&t=1050s 1: https://www.youtube.com/w…

or the film 'Parasite' by Korean director Bong Joon-ho (2020 Oscars Best Picture winner)

Re: An electric new era for Atlas

#240

A hill I'm willing to die on: bipedal robots are an evolutionary path that machines don't need to go down, we have lovely bearings and wheels that work perfectly with electric motors. Yes obviously there are limitations i.e. stairs and uneven terrain but there are wheeled/tracked solutions for those too Most of these robots will be used in factories that have very nice flat concrete floors

Much more training data (videos) available for bipedal organisms performing useful tasks...
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