from the watch-upstart-the-robot-post-about-robots dept.
Watch Cassie the bipedal robot run a 5K:
Cassie, a bipedal robot that's all legs, has successfully run five kilometers on a single charge, all without having a tether. The machine serves as the basis for Agility Robotics' delivery robot Digit, as TechCrunch notes, though you may also remember it for "blindly" navigating a set of stairs. Oregon State University engineers were able to train Cassie in a simulator to enable it to go up and down a flight of stairs without the use of cameras or LIDAR. Now, engineers from the same team were able to train Cassie to run using a deep reinforcement learning algorithm.
According to the team, Cassie teaching itself using the technique gave it the capability to stay upright without a tether by shifting its balance while running. The robot had to learn to make infinite subtle adjustments to be able to accomplish the feat.
(Score: 4, Funny) by bmimatt on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:29PM (2 children)
It'll soon be renamed to 'Chaser' and serve as a partner for fat cops who cannot run. But first, they'll have to train the tackling module. After that is released, we may have RNFL, once they complete training of the throwing module.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:35PM (1 child)
Incorporate soft robotics, add some breasts. They will act as a cushion and you will feel better after being tackled.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:43PM
I have a skit for you:
https://youtu.be/QAGbOPhVA6s [youtu.be]
<sarcasm>Just remember, when playing pedestrian polo that if you wash them off afterward, they will thank you for running them over.</sarcasm>
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:35PM (7 children)
Good work!
Now mount an assault weapon on this contraption and monetize it.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:46PM (3 children)
We're close enough to seriously dystopian futures, without suggesting they do something like that. We've already got drones with missiles, at least someone still has to push the button. Then again, maybe these will be just like that?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:59PM (1 child)
"at least someone still has to push the button."
You must have missed this:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/06/05/2156219 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday July 29 2021, @10:02PM
Not the kind of drones I was meaning, but I did initially misinterpret that. I had skimmed it before and thought it was some training thing, not a real world scenario.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday July 29 2021, @09:36PM
Just make sure there's a kill switch. That's what ED-209 didn't have.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday July 29 2021, @05:54PM
It has already been thoroughly monetized [wikimedia.org]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Tork on Thursday July 29 2021, @06:35PM (1 child)
I'm going way off-topic here but I wanted to mention this is what Terminator was about. It wasn't that AIs were built, it's that they were built to be weapons. Bear in mind that once 'Uncle Bob' swore he wouldn't kill another human he kept that promise.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @06:59PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qBlPa-9v_M [youtube.com]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @06:23PM
To paraphrase: "Nothing is infinite except the capacity for human hyperbole".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @10:03PM
give it a hand to fetch beer - and squeeze me titties - and i'll buy two.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @10:12PM
n/t
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @10:12PM (8 children)
It didn't look to me as though both legs were ever off the ground at the same time. At best, it was speed-walking.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 29 2021, @10:42PM
Also technically it looked more like 4995m not the 5k as claimed.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Magic Oddball on Friday July 30 2021, @12:00AM (4 children)
Exactly my thought — by every definition I've ever seen, running involves the body being suspended in the air between strides, while walking is where there's always at least one foot on the ground at all times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 30 2021, @12:06AM
What about the third leg? [nypost.com]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday July 30 2021, @02:58AM (2 children)
It runs like a tired chicken.
Seriously, that's what it makes me think of -- a headless chicken.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Friday July 30 2021, @01:03PM (1 child)
As I recall, that's where the name originates, sort of. Because of its birdlike gait they named it after the cassowary, a large flightless tropical bird from New Guinea. Think a slightly smaller, 5 to 6 foot tall, ostrich with beefier legs and a reputation as the most dangerous bird in the world.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday July 30 2021, @02:33PM
Ah yes, there is a certain resemblance!
I wonder if it can similarly disembowel obstacles... seems like it's got the talons, but perhaps not the balance.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 30 2021, @01:22PM (1 child)
Agreed - I've seen Cassie walking plenty of times, I was all excited to see how someone worked out a running gait for it, and was very disappointed. I mean, it's got those birdlike legs, and its cassowary namesake can reach 30mph. Instead they seem to have just "overclocked" the walking gate - not even any obvious gait changes like you'd see with a human speedwalker.
>At best, it was speed-walking.
Emphasis on the at-best. It completed the 5k in 50 minutes? That's about 1.7m/s, or 3.8 mph. Towards the top end of an average human walking speed, but nowhere close to speedwalking territory. A competitive speedwalker can beat an average person's running speed, over twice that fast.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Saturday July 31 2021, @10:08AM
It felt like a running gate to me when I watched the video the first time. Then I read GP's comment about both feet never leaving the pavement. I had to go and watch it a second time. I think GP's comment is correct -- both feet never left the pavement, so not really running, but the gate is really borderline on that. Look at the hips of the machine. You can't see it very well in most scenes, but there is a slight wiggle back and forth that runners get that everyday walkers don't. (Power walkers are a league all their own so I'm not comparing to them.)
I haven't seen Cassie walking before, so maybe she always had that hip wiggle. I found it interesting nonetheless.