Awesome Robot Suit!

[Dr.Epic]

Just felt like sharing this (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17654421)! Isn't it awesome? Who wouldn't want one?

[Emperor Ing]

Awesome indeed, but i'm still interested in when our soldiers will be able to go into battle with massive pauldrons.

[Totally Guy]

If we hadn't seen him talking at the start I would have thought Ed Yeates, the correspondent, was a robot. Listen to his voice!

[Dr.Epic]

Awesome indeed, but i'm still interested in when our soldiers will be able to go into battle with massive pauldrons.

Or maybe we can incorporate them into boxing tournaments. Nah, that'd be dumb...unless it was starring Hugh Jackman!:smallwink:

[Lord Raziere]

well…..

there goes the labor class already. my predictions upon the robotic future are already coming true, pretty soon this will become cheaper and cheaper and improve upon itself better and better until people buy this rather than hire workers for heavy lifting, then we will have the biggest unemployment problem ever.

then we will really start having some problems…..

[Ravens_cry]

Not really ,you still need humans to operate the things It just means a single person can do more and and more safely. It is not like industrial robotics where it actually replaces a humans job.
There might be some job loss, but any paradigm shift results in turmoil, look at the Industrial Revolution.
I like having cheap, consistent quality goods, thank you very much.

[Emperor Ing]

I would agree. Yeah, a robot could replace your job, but someone has to operate and/or maintain the robot.

[SDF]

Reminds me of when the forklift put me out of a job...

[Dr.Epic]

Reminds me of when the forklift put me out of a job...

I lost my job to a can-opener. Though to be fair, he was better with customers than I was and hardly ever showed up work hours late with a hangover.:smallwink:

[Trog]

Very cool.

You know I keep seeing all sorts of robot videos showing all sorts of cool robot advances but... they never seem to meld them all together in trying to make a good overall robot with all of those features in one. I think by now we can make a decent robotic arm and hand and the basics of a head in regards to senses located therein and the leg thing seems to be coming along nicely. We need to start combining all these things and making droids. The intelligence (i.e. software) is still being worked on, granted, but the mechanical aspects surely can be brought together and refined can they not?

As to robots and unemployment, in manufacturing this has already begun. Robots that pick up parts and move them, sort them, etc. have already put people out of a job. But of course maintaining the robot is a new job created. Every robotic advance is going to have its growing pains. But really I would like to see robots in the home doing chores and the like. Frees up time in the home doing work for other things. We already have the roomba and the dishwasher and the washer and dryer. More advances are needed. We need a pick-this-mess-up machine. :smallwink:

[Prime32]

Very cool.

You know I keep seeing all sorts of robot videos showing all sorts of cool robot advances but... they never seem to meld them all together in trying to make a good overall robot with all of those features in one. I think by now we can make a decent robotic arm and hand and the basics of a head in regards to senses located therein and the leg thing seems to be coming along nicely. We need to start combining all these things and making droids. The intelligence (i.e. software) is still being worked on, granted, but the mechanical aspects surely can be brought together and refined can they not?There are humanoid robots, plenty of them, but they're mostly preprogrammed gimmicks. Note all those boxes and wires you tend to see connected to robots? Yeah, they're a part of the robot too - good luck combining a dozen such robots into something that's the size of a human and has a battery life longer than five minutes.

Also, the human form is extremely inefficient. Why would you build a nursebot with the ability to fall over, or a soldier with all its sensors in an obvious place with little protection? :smallconfused:

[llamamushroom]

If we hadn't seen him talking at the start I would have thought Ed Yeates, the correspondent, was a robot. Listen to his voice!

I didn't notice it at first, but now I've heard it, I can't un-hear it.

On the topic of "why make a humanoid robot" - because we can. Well, to be more helpful, because it's a shape that the vast majority of people will be more comfortable with. Taking your example of a nursebot, patients would probably prefer to have their care administered by something that looks kinda human (though not too much so, Uncanny Valley being what it is), rather than something that looks like an unfeeling, though incredibly efficient, machine.

As for the soldier-killer-deathbots? Yeah, there's no reason to stick with the silly human shape. Except that it's awesome. So, there's that.

[thubby]

things that work in our space (for example, a nurse or maid) would benefit from being humanoid because all of our stuff is designed to be used by humanoids.
stairs, for example, are a nightmare for something without legs, and even some things with them.

store workers and military, on the other hand, have little need to put up with our frailties.

[Icewalker]

Hmmm...looks like a great first step towards gundams to me!

:smalltongue:

But, ridiculousness aside, this is a pretty fantastic development. Also, the human form isn't as inefficient as you might think. Actually it's absurdly complex and incredibly impressive in many ways. Military and specialized industrial machines could definitely benefit by being NOT human, but for anything with an even moderately general use, a humanoid form gives an enormous range of capabilities. It's built to use any number of tools, and all of our tools are already built to fit it.

Which would be better? An original design for a hosuecleaning robot with a specialized function for dusting, a a limb for vacuuming, a function for washing, a component for mopping (split into parts, one for distributing liquid and one for spreading it), and so on? Or a single machine of humanoid design with a regular closet of cleaning equipment? Also, which one would be easier to modify, if, say, you want to add a new functionality to the machine, like changing lightbulbs? Or if you just wanted to buy a new mop?

So, humanoid shape is a pretty good option a lot of the time for general use. When it comes to specialized purposes, there will usually be a better design, but if you want machines which are more broadly useful, it's worth keeping in mind.

[Prime32]

Which would be better? An original design for a hosuecleaning robot with a specialized function for dusting, a a limb for vacuuming, a function for washing, a component for mopping (split into parts, one for distributing liquid and one for spreading it), and so on? Or a single machine of humanoid design with a regular closet of cleaning equipment? Also, which one would be easier to modify, if, say, you want to add a new functionality to the machine, like changing lightbulbs? Or if you just wanted to buy a new mop?You could go with a "vacuum module", "mop module" etc. which the robot docks with. It would be much cheaper than building hands and reduce the risk of the bot dropping something, plus similar industries make money from addons rather than the main product (look at ink cartridges and console games).

[Dallas-Dakota]

There are humanoid robots, plenty of them, but they're mostly preprogrammed gimmicks. Note all those boxes and wires you tend to see connected to robots? Yeah, they're a part of the robot too - good luck combining a dozen such robots into something that's the size of a human and has a battery life longer than five minutes.

Also, the human form is extremely inefficient. Why would you build a nursebot with the ability to fall over, or a soldier with all its sensors in an obvious place with little protection? :smallconfused:
Obviously so that the robots aren't invincibile when they can take over and so that we can make a dramatic live-movie of the struggle of humans vs. robots.

[The Succubus]

There are humanoid robots, plenty of them, but they're mostly preprogrammed gimmicks. Note all those boxes and wires you tend to see connected to robots? Yeah, they're a part of the robot too - good luck combining a dozen such robots into something that's the size of a human and has a battery life longer than five minutes.

Also, the human form is extremely inefficient. Why would you build a nursebot with the ability to fall over, or a soldier with all its sensors in an obvious place with little protection? :smallconfused:

This is a man that has never piloted a Mad Cat in Mechwarrior.

[Icewalker]

You could go with a "vacuum module", "mop module" etc. which the robot docks with. It would be much cheaper than building hands and reduce the risk of the bot dropping something, plus similar industries make money from addons rather than the main product (look at ink cartridges and console games).

Oh right. Market forces, not scientific ones. Yeeeeeah, I think you're probably on the right track here actually.

Also, it would be cheaper, but it would probably limit motion somewhat unless you made the design almost equally complex to do the things that hands could do. Still whether you need the degree of motion that hands provide is another question.

[Trazoi]

So, humanoid shape is a pretty good option a lot of the time for general use. When it comes to specialized purposes, there will usually be a better design, but if you want machines which are more broadly useful, it's worth keeping in mind.
Humanoid shapes have the big disadvantage of being fairly unstable. With robots, we can have whatever limb configuration is best. Wheels are great on flat surfaces, but if you want a robot for uneven terrain then four (or more) legs are better than two.

Basically I think our houses should be cleaned by robot spiders. :smallsmile:

[llamamushroom]

Basically I think our houses should be cleaned by robot spiders. :smallsmile:

A spider with a vacuum cleaner? I think one of my dogs would explode in terror.

On the other hand, yeah, the market forces argument really plays out. Then again, decent humanoids would probably be built for that very same reason (though they'd be very expensive) - what nouveau riche wouldn't want a robot butler? Heck, what regular riche could resist C3-P0's charms?

[Icewalker]

Humanoid shapes have the big disadvantage of being fairly unstable. With robots, we can have whatever limb configuration is best. Wheels are great on flat surfaces, but if you want a robot for uneven terrain then four (or more) legs are better than two.

Basically I think our houses should be cleaned by robot spiders. :smallsmile:

Yeah, more legs is probably good. Robot spider housecleaners seems a perfectly reasonable solution. I fully support this.

[Ravens_cry]

For a simple vacuum, a low slung model, low to the ground, would probably be best. Less likely to tip and easier to get under chairs and sofas, to catch the ever elusive dust bunny.
Oh wait, we have those. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba)