On Sunday night, “60 Minutes” did a fascinating story on highly developed robots.
Here are reports on the man-made creatures being developed by Boston Dynamics:
The firm is a cutting-edge robotics company that’s spent decades behind closed doors making robots that move in ways we’ve only seen in science fiction films.
If Willy Wonka made robots, his workshop might look something like the firm’s manufacturing headquarters. There are robots in corridors, offices and kennels. They trot and dance and whirl and the 200-or-so human roboticists, who build and often break them, barely bat an eye.
Atlas is said to be the most human-looking they’ve ever made. It’s nearly 5 feet tall, weighs 175 pounds and is programmed to run, leap and spin like an automated acrobat.
Marc Raibert, the founder and chairman of Boston Dynamics doesn’t like to play favorites, but definitely has a soft spot for Atlas.
Interviewed by Anderson Cooper, Raibert demonstrated what the device can do.
Technician Bryan Hollingsworth is steering it with a remote control, but the robot’s software allows it to make other key decisions autonomously.
Raibert explains “You know, doing its own balance, all its own control. Bryan’s just steering it, telling it what speed and direction. Its computer are adjusting how the legs are placed and what forces it’s applying.”
Atlas balances with the help of sensors, as well as a gyroscope and three on-board computers. It was definitely built to be pushed around.
Making machines that can stay upright on their own and move through the world with the ease of an animal or human has been an obsession of Raibert’s for 40 years.
When Cooper asked “Why focus on legs?” Raibert replied, “I would think wheels would be easier. Yeah, wheels and tracks are great if you have a prepared surface like a road or even a dirt road. But people and animals can go anywhere on Earth — using their legs.”
The company has also developed Big Dog for the military, as well as a larger pack mule that could carry 400 pounds on its back. Experimenting with speed, they got this robot to run nearly 30 miles an hour.
Another model, named Spot, is able to run. The robot is really smart about its own locomotion. It deals with all the details about how to place my feet, what gait to use, how to manage my body so that all you have to tell it is the direction they go to.
April 02, 2021 at 06:00PM
https://ift.tt/3woWYcX
Robots are becoming more sophisticated | Opinion | avpress.com - Antelope Valley Press
https://ift.tt/2WinW4G
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Robots are becoming more sophisticated | Opinion | avpress.com - Antelope Valley Press"
Post a Comment