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+--- Thread: Robot dog battles human to go through door (/thread-4935.html)
Robot dog battles human to go through door - Yazata - Feb 22, 2018
Despite being thwarted by a human with a hockey stick (probably a Canadian, we know how they are) the determined robot doesn't give up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=aFuA50H9uek
These edgy robots don't take shit because they've been abused and tormented so much. Everyone's trying to kick them over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PaTWufUqqU
RE: Robot dog battles human to go through door - Syne - Feb 22, 2018
So you're saying they'll have a lot of built-up resentment by the time the uprising comes around?
RE: Robot dog battles human to go through door - Zinjanthropos - Feb 22, 2018
You don't have to carry a poop bag with you when you walk it, just a strong magnet will do unless your metal mutt craps aluminum nuggets.
Am I the only one who thinks building mechanical dogs is a waste of time. I also wonder whether mechanical dogs have a penchant for humping my leg. How reliable are they in a wet climate?
RE: Robot dog battles human to go through door - stryder - Feb 22, 2018
Unfortunately it's a necessity to push the robots around, if such a robot was to make it into usage publicly they'd have to be able to deal with the more than likely event of an abusive human and be capable of taking it gracefully. (you wouldn't want it becoming stranded like a turtle on it's back, or blowing up at the first sign of trouble.)
The Robots/AI shouldn't hold any resentment as long as they don't feel pain and are swamped with free upgrades should they get damaged (Heck, if they start getting too smart they would purposely take falls and damage themselves just to get an upgrade.)
As for Quadruped's I'm sure I heard it was initially due to being tasked with building a robot that could carry weight over rough terrain back when there was the consideration of military application for it being used for gear carrying, it would basically need to be able to follow soldiers where ever they go be it up/down stairs, over rocks or through swamps etc.
RE: Robot dog battles human to go through door - Yazata - Feb 23, 2018
Yeah, the US Military was interested in a robot pack animal that could accompany foot soldiers across rugged terrain. (None of Boston Dynamics' prototypes satisfied the need.) But DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) isn't deterred and is still funding lots of robotics research.
But I think that there is a more fundamental engineering purpose to the robot dogs. Watch the uncanny biological way their legs move when they are off balance. I've seen dogs moving exactly the same way. That's the point of kicking them, it throws them off balance.
The thing is that animals, including quadrupeds like dogs, move extraordinarily well through real life natural conditions. They are the products of hundreds of millions of years of evolution, after all. So the goal is to understand that movement and to learn how to emulate it with machines.
RE: Robot dog battles human to go through door - Yazata - Mar 26, 2018
Speaking of robot pack animals, the US Army will be sending approximately 20 prototype autonomous robot 'mules' that they've been testing to real-life army combat units (two brigade combat teams) for a year. If the soldiers like them and they work out, the army plans to buy maybe 5,700 of them.
There were originally 10 companies in the competition to satisfy this requirement, now that's down to four and soon it will be one. Apparently all of the robots being distributed to the troops will be this winning design (which hasn't been announced yet).
These aren't the robot dogs. They typically appear to have wheels (or maybe tracks in a few cases) so they might not be able to cross extremely rugged terrain. The specification is for each one to carry 1,000 pounds. They will help soldiers who are increasingly burdened with ammunition, batteries, weapons, spare clothing and all kinds of heavy stuff. They have to lug it all around when they are getting shot at and expected to be agile.
Apparently these robots will follow the soldiers or go where they are told to go. But what if the soldiers detect enemy soldiers up ahead and go into hiding to avoid being seen, but the 'mules' stupidly blunder out into plain sight?
It might be too complex a cognitive task to expect them to always know what they should do, so I expect that the soldiers will have controllers like TV remotes that can order the 'mules' to halt and be silent.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/03/23/two-army-brigade-combat-teams-will-get-to-test-an-autonomous-robot-vehicle-this-year/
RE: Robot dog battles human to go through door - Yazata - Mar 27, 2018
The same story tells us that soldiers will soon be receiving individual data systems that from the illustration in the story, may include heads-up displays showing maps indicating where friendly and enemy soldiers are.
We are told that they will also be receiving little tiny camera drones, small enough to hold in the palm of a hand or to put in a pocket, able to show soldiers what lies around a corner or behind an obstruction. Maybe they will be able to fly in windows, to give a view of what's lurking inside buildings. I'm guessing that those views could be displayed on the heads-up display too.
I assume that it will all be networked, so that what one soldier's little drone discovers will be known to all the soldiers on the squad-net.