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Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

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Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#61

Post by walshemj »

lmm wrote: post #6
homerowilson wrote: post #2

There are these things called "mules." They're quiet, can carry about 200lbs., and can refuel themselves as they go by eating grass and drinking water...

The logistics of keeping them fed and watered, having trained handlers, and treating them for injuries are nontrivial. And they're prone to unhelpful reactions in a firefight. There are good reasons they've largely been displaced by motor vehicles. Combining the go-anywhere ability of legged propulsion with the advantages of motor transport seems like a good enough idea to merit study.

And training a muleteer takes a long time also non mechanised units require a lot more logistic support.

The USMC small wars manual has a lot on how to organise an non mechanized unit that was mostly horse /mule and ox drawn.

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#62

Post by walshemj »

ceejayoz wrote: post #40
melling wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are they against militarizing robots? It pays the bills. They could start with consumers or business but it's harder to build a market. This makes it harder to fund further development. Once the technology is developed by anyone for non-military use, transitioning to the military is easy. There's not some magic that prevents consumer developed technology from reaching the battlefield.

> Why are they against militarizing robots? It pays the bills. Because money isn't everything? > There's not some magic that prevents consumer developed technology from reaching the battlefield. That doesn't mean you're required to actively help it along.

Google is based on the internet which came out of DOD research

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#63

Post by nitrogen »

wavefunction wrote: post #58
greglindahl wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a "random alternate convention", it's a highly used convention that you aren't familiar with. I wasn't familiar with it, either, until I moved to the Silicon Valley. Now I see it all the time.

It's a ridiculous "convention" and it's dubious what you mean by "highly used." Using Roman numerals for anything is a waste of everyone's time.

I don't think it's necessarily actually Roman numerals, but perhaps "mille", which means thousand. So thousand thousand means million.

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#64

Post by robbiep »

greglindahl wrote: post #52
cetacea wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most other people use a single M to mean million, and k for thousand. Can't we just use SI prefixes or spell the numbers out instead of using some random alternate convention?

This is not a "random alternate convention", it's a highly used convention that you aren't familiar with. I wasn't familiar with it, either, until I moved to the Silicon Valley. Now I see it all the time.

There is no Roman numeral m only M, so if they are sticking with convention shouldn't it be capitalised?

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#65

Post by PhasmaFelis »

grogenaut wrote: post #44
Animats wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BigDog's power pack was originally a constant speed gasoline engine driving a hydraulic pump and an electrical generator. That's the noisy engine in the earlier videos. The LS3 was supposed to have a new, quieter power pack developed with a small variable-speed Diesel engine. That was subcontracted out by Boston Dynamics. This is as good as it ever got: [1] It still sounds like a dirt bike. The hydraulic system used…

One big drawback not called out to electric is you have to power it to have it hold still. Hydraulic can just leave a valve closed which may or may not require power. Then again just have it "sit". This may not be the best tactically though in small group engagements as "sit" is movement and freeze is dead stop. I'll let people who know more about that debate it though.

> One big drawback not called out to electric is you have to power it to have it hold still.

How so? There are plenty of ways to mechanically lock a joint in place.

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#66

Post by PhasmaFelis »

greglindahl wrote: post #52
cetacea wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most other people use a single M to mean million, and k for thousand. Can't we just use SI prefixes or spell the numbers out instead of using some random alternate convention?

This is not a "random alternate convention", it's a highly used convention that you aren't familiar with. I wasn't familiar with it, either, until I moved to the Silicon Valley. Now I see it all the time.

It's "highly used" in a specific field and nowhere else. Outside of that field, you should use broadly-accepted conventions.

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#67

Post by PhasmaFelis »

pj_mukh wrote: post #28
jarmitage wrote: post #14

Can anyone in robotics weigh in on whether new approaches like pneubotics / otherlab [0, 1] make Boston Dynamics' super heavy/noisy/expensive robots irrelevant or not? That's what Saul Griffith has been saying at least [2], I'd like to hear an impartial take on it [0] http://www.pneubotics.com/ [1] https://otherlab.com/projects [2] "[...] we're the only game in town." 21:00 onwards https://youtu.be/gyMowPAJwqo?t=1263

Boston Dynamics' primary innovation is in the software/control design. The reason their robots are noisy is because they really haven't innovated a whole lot in the basic actuator design. That's not to say their mechanical design was easy, not by a long shot. It's super impressive stuff! Any new inventions that would make their mechanical design steer away from loud hydraulics would no doubt be amazing. However, with…

A lot (most?) of the noise comes from the engine, not the hydraulics, and the engine can't be replaced because sufficiently high-capacity batteries do not exist yet. That's not a problem that can be solved by innovative actuators.

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#68

Post by mapt »

OldSchoolJohnny wrote: post #37
hellofunk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speak for yourself. Diets motivated by iron deficiency are a real thing.

Although in modern times it's almost ridiculously hard to avoid added iron in food these days due to enforced fortification based on outdated ideas from the 1940's.

per http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/a-host-of-ills-when... , iron deficiency prevalence is 3% and iron excess intake prevalence is 12%.

Re: Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns

#70

Post by mulmen »

cetacea wrote: post #23
neiled wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.accountingcoach.com/blog/what-does-m-and-mm-stand...

I think most other people use a single M to mean million, and k for thousand. Can't we just use SI prefixes or spell the numbers out instead of using some random alternate convention?

I completely agree with you, while I know $40+mm means $40M it is only because of context, not because I actually parse it as "thousand thousand". In my mind mm is millimeter, even as an American.

HN is the only place I see this notation used.

The great thing about standards is there are so many to choose from.

https://xkcd.com/927/

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