ONE GIANT LEAP FOR ROBOT-KIND: Local robot company now has humanoids jumping over logs and leaping up stairs! [VIDEO]
Image credit: Boston Dynamics via YouTube…
WALTHAM – I’m basically speechless — perhaps shaking a little — after watching the following Boston Dynamics video released just 14 hours prior to this report!
Boston Dynamics is a robotics design company that has been around since 1992. It’s headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, and they’ve been making robotic dogs and stuff. Interesting, engaging, remarkable… but what you’re about to watch takes things to a whole ‘nother level.
HN has been following the development of these Waltham robots, especially the humanoid models, gradually evolving over the years with their seemingly harmless little “baby steps…”
… but now this! What you’re about to see is different, literally a giant leap forward for robot-kind!
A real game changer for the robot community.
“The rise of the robots…”
Judging from online comments, some humans are alarmed, fearful we’ve reached the point of “no return,” with one commenter reminiscing, “oh well, humanity has had a pretty good run…” — there’s even online talk of arming these burly metallic hunks with .50 caliber machine guns, etc (watch the video before you laugh) — while others are hopeful the new technology will be used to do good; deployed to do more kinder and gentler things.
The imagination runs wild with applications, benign and nefarious. Yet some remain optimistic, believing these robots will be used to save lives…
… but what do you think?
(Please leave your thoughts on HN Facebook…)
According to Wikipedia, “Boston Dynamics is best known for the development of Big Dog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military with funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and DI-Guy, software for realistic human simulation. Early in the company’s history, it worked with the American Systems Corporation under a contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) to replace naval training videos for aircraft launch operations with interactive 3D computer simulations featuring DI-Guy characters. The company is a pioneer in the field of robotics and it is one of the most advanced in its domain.”
The following Boston Dynamics Video was released just 14 hours prior to this report…
[PRESS PLAY]
Example of some earlier developments…
CLICK HERE to visit the Boston Dynamics website!
P.S. – Today’s Hytown Vignette is brought to you by B-52’s… [Crank it!]
