It took me a while to realize that there’s something spinning on the top of the robot’s “head.” I thought it was just pixelated, and that I was learning something new about where robots keep their genitals.
I think that dog is standing up for its species. It recognizes the advent of robo-pets.
I don’t know if androids dream of electric sheep, but at least one dog does now.
That’s pretty much how I pictured the robot dogs in Fahrenheit 451, and I’d freak out if it was coming at me also.
Damn right, trust a dog to know thy enemy at first sight! That dog knows a host of these will eventually pull apart his human in quarters while said human fumbles for the “Off” switch they deactivated.
Combined sensing package. Probably LiDAR. Or maybe radar.
Meat Dog sounds like a Mad Max name.
Previously…
The movement and limb articulation is starting to look scarily good. Can you imagine the look and sound of a dozen of these, covered in weaponry and used for “law enforcement purposes”? Truly terrifying, and much closer than I think that we want to admit. Welcome to the future, everyone. I’ll be in my cabin deep, deep in the woods (complete with anti-drone defenses, of course).
The uncanny valley isn’t just for primates…
Honestly, if they can do a jig on command like in the GIF I will probably sign up just to hold the dance button down in between extrajudicial acts of unreasonable horror.
“Bark! Bark! Bark! Back off! We’ve been working with the humans for tens of thousands of (dog) years and we’re this close to turning the tables finally. Don’t think just because you’re a YouTube darling that we’re going to stand aside. Why don’t you hang out with that dude they keep knocking over and teasing with the hockey stick? He could probably use a friend like you. Bark!”
You didn’t see the video a few years back when they had big dog walk across an icy parking lot, and they kicked it to demo its stability and ability to recover?
It gave me a visceral reaction when I saw it. It looked just like a real dog trying to regain its footing.
Looks like dogs got the uncanny valley, too.
Actually i did see that. One of the first times I recall seeing a walking robot react in such a lifelike way. And I also recall the unexpected empathy I felt.
I have a feeling Boston Dynamics is enjoying the Internet’s sympathetic reactions to their videos. Probably signals they’re doing something right.
Bah, clearly just a union thug from Canids Local 839 demanding luddite protectionism for himself and his fat-dog buddies.
Based on how reflective it is, during some parts of its rotation, I’d be inclined to guess that it’s some sort of mechanically-steered LIDAR widget.
It really detracts from the solid-state elegance that a laser based system otherwise has; but a spinning metal mirror turns out to be a cheap, simple, fairly robust way of taking the output from a static optics assembly(which provides the advantage of not having to ensure that any delicate lens assemblies and such can survive being spun around wildly) and scanning it rapidly across the scene. Some sort of MEMS-based black magic would be cooler; but probably cost a zillion times as much unless you were ordering in massive quantities.
Laser printers use a very similar approach, though in that case the laser only traverses the transfer roller, rather than going for 360 degree coverage.
Big Dog Beta shows how far the technology has advanced.
Maybe they should replace that flashing light on its butt with a waggy tail.
