Video: Cutting-edge autonomous robot badly fooled by … ball on a stick
posted at 11:07 pm on April 17, 2007 by Allahpundit
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MIT’s finest in action. I don’t want to be defeatist here, but, um, I’m thinking we might not see Westworld in our lifetime.
Now I’m depressed.
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LOL!
jaleach on April 17, 2007 at 11:10 PM
Dude. That is an extremely complex problem. What they’ve accomplished is amazing. Trust me.
spmat on April 17, 2007 at 11:12 PM
It’s just amazing man can’t even come close to duplicate what happened spontaneously from the primordial ooze huh?
TheBigOldDog on April 17, 2007 at 11:12 PM
How ’bout “West-Hollywood World”…Friday night around 3am?
This ‘bot would fit right in!
JetBoy on April 17, 2007 at 11:16 PM
If only the engineers had millions of years they could “evolve” the ridiculously complex engineering behind real life, eyes, nerves, blood cells. As we know, even the smartest of engineers aren’t even close to as smart as unguided “millions of years”, and can’t compete with the fantastic and unrivaled design seen in nature.(/sarcasm)
RightWinged on April 17, 2007 at 11:17 PM
I don’t want to hear the jibber jabber. I want my fembot and I want it now.
Allahpundit on April 17, 2007 at 11:17 PM
He ain’t got nothing on ASIMO!
EnochCain on April 17, 2007 at 11:17 PM
Mark my words, some iteration of this robot will be in a brothel in Nevada in 10 years. Of course it will be covered in silicone and it won’t be tennis balls it is grabbing.
Bill C on April 17, 2007 at 11:20 PM
The Kirsten Powers model I presume….
Jack M. on April 17, 2007 at 11:20 PM
heh heh heh
NTWR on April 17, 2007 at 11:23 PM
Nothing beats the Gyroscope robot that came with my Nintendo NES.
Vincenzo on April 17, 2007 at 11:26 PM
Bill C,
Brothel workers today are all siliconed up already!
:D
Faith1 on April 17, 2007 at 11:29 PM
Time to start planning for that cryogenic freeze.
Slublog on April 17, 2007 at 11:30 PM
Nah she’s olds news to Allah. He dared to direct snark her way in a post.
Hey what were you expecting Allah? Optimus Prime?
Theworldisnotenough on April 17, 2007 at 11:30 PM
LOL, In that case Allah you are going to have to wait.
For the rest of the HA members I agree with spmat, The fact that Allah’s soon to be fembot could track so while is impressive.
F15Mech on April 17, 2007 at 11:30 PM
You should be able to find plenty of those around AP. Heck, you can make a phone call and have as many as you want in about an hour ;)
TheBigOldDog on April 17, 2007 at 11:33 PM
Maybe its just got an ocular imbalance.They should see about that….and maybe change the oil filter.
spazzmomma on April 17, 2007 at 11:33 PM
That’s like the perfect robot model of a severely drunken human. Bravo, MIT!
frankj on April 17, 2007 at 11:39 PM
There’s no pleasing some people …
mikeyboss on April 17, 2007 at 11:42 PM
That pistony arm is *eerily* like the T-800’s. Something about the metal one’s eyes seems to say, “One day, you will bow to me…”
flip on April 17, 2007 at 11:44 PM
Aww, when am I gonna get my HK-47 droid?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HK-47
Bad Candy on April 17, 2007 at 11:46 PM
I don’t get the “badly fooled” part.
The robot did what it was designed to do: track a yellow ball and attempt to grab it.
This is quite amazing.
unamused on April 17, 2007 at 11:47 PM
Perhaps you’ll settle for an inflatable sheep
mikeyboss on April 17, 2007 at 11:48 PM
Not bad for one year’s work for a Ph.D. dissertation. Not bad at all.
For further work he could get funding from Saudi Arabia for checking those Jew melons for signs of HIV.
pedestrian on April 18, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Darned impressive. The fact that the robot could follow the ball at all and at LEAST reach out for it, well…wow. And that he actually got ‘hold of it a couple of times? Double wow.
Color me impressed, even if his reaction times seems to be about the same as someone with a few stiff drinks in him. :)
Bob's Kid on April 18, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Good to see Arnold making movies again.
Jim Treacher on April 18, 2007 at 12:11 AM
Is that Cog? Or a newer version? It is trully amazing if you consider the robot was “taught” how to move its arm to grab at things, not merely programmed to target a green sphere and try to move towards it.
Neo on April 18, 2007 at 12:25 AM
These arent the droids your looking for ? Move along… move along…
William Amos on April 18, 2007 at 12:28 AM
Johnny 5!
EnochCain on April 18, 2007 at 12:33 AM
No their not those girls are natural…from what I have heard…from Ace.
Bill C on April 18, 2007 at 12:52 AM
That’s exactly what I thought – just need a Steve Guttenberg (sp?) and Ally Sheedy appearance.
Rick on April 18, 2007 at 1:05 AM
Yep…I’ve been that stoned….I think…..
TBinSTL on April 18, 2007 at 1:14 AM
I’ll always go for the Cherry2000. Nothing else comes close. When I get mine, I’ll cry like a baby, an angry, hungry baby…
TBinSTL on April 18, 2007 at 1:16 AM
Wheee look at the pretty ball.
You mean the ones with guns in their breasts? No thanks.
Speakup on April 18, 2007 at 1:34 AM
Machine gun jubblies?
flip on April 18, 2007 at 1:41 AM
Heh,
I just noticed the line below the pic on the front page.
Warning: the cutting-edge autonomous robot may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds,
If the cutting-edge autonomous robot begins to smoke seek shelter and cover head.
The cutting-edge autonomous robot ingredients include “an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space”
The cutting-edge autonomous robot ingredients are not to be “touched, inhaled, or looked at” if exposed due to rupture.
Sorry Allah that is a fembot I want no part of.
F15Mech on April 18, 2007 at 1:44 AM
Let’s not forget your interest in Gay Robot.
Rick on April 18, 2007 at 1:54 AM
Seems like a motorized rendition of Paula Abdul.
Time to lock up the WD-40!
Shy Guy on April 18, 2007 at 1:57 AM
Robotic science is going to revolutionize our world, in good ways and ways we can’t imagine. Way, way cool.
Halley on April 18, 2007 at 2:00 AM
And there it is.
Rick on April 18, 2007 at 2:01 AM
He did fine. It’s not like he grabbed his own eyeball or anything.
Besides, that’s clearly an olive on the stick. He’d just been slowed down by the preceding martinis.
Tanya on April 18, 2007 at 7:38 AM
I am afraid you will have to settle for this for now, Allah. Unless, of course, you already have one….or two…or
ej_pez on April 18, 2007 at 8:19 AM
dammit!
http://www.realdoll.com
ej_pez on April 18, 2007 at 8:20 AM
With machine gun jumblies or are you going to engage in unspeakable acts with it?
Something tells me AP sits around watching re-runs of the Bionic Woman.
csdeven on April 18, 2007 at 8:27 AM
I mentioned on another forum that I ran into Domo while at lunch one day. I tried interacting with him, but he just looked at me dumbfounded. To be honest I wasn’t really that impressed.
But then I realized they had done something amazing, because everyone looks at me that way.
ballz2wallz on April 18, 2007 at 8:37 AM
Looks like me searching for my alarm clock!
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on April 18, 2007 at 8:40 AM
I’m not so sure I like this.
Why temp the machines by teaching them to grab you by the balls?
I mean, when the uprising comes, and it will, we will certainly need them.
I need to rest now, anybody seen my tinfoil?
CBarker on April 18, 2007 at 8:50 AM
I don’t see why Allah’s depressed. The robot was clearly following the ball around with its eyes. How soon can we have a gatling gun mounted on it?
Golden Boy on April 18, 2007 at 9:10 AM
It just shows you how advanced John Edwards is when he combs his hair.
right2bright on April 18, 2007 at 9:14 AM
What I found fascinating was that it didn’t look all that different from a baby learning to do the same. Just give it time to grow up.
taznar on April 18, 2007 at 9:29 AM
He does kind of look like Hector from Saturn 3…
Lehuster on April 18, 2007 at 9:31 AM
One can hope the real fembots are more gentle to balls. No grabbing like that. Mama mia!
It’s nice to know that MIT is geared in the right direction though. It was kinda flat, though. They should work on that too.
lorien1973 on April 18, 2007 at 9:45 AM
OK, I’m not going to snicker at them, because I have enough trouble assembling Ikea furniture. That robot was pretty amazing, as far as I can see. Hats off to those folks– they’re going to go far.
morganfrost on April 18, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Judging by the color, I think they were teaching it to grab Kermit by the balls. The target market for this model must be French chefs.
fogw on April 18, 2007 at 10:17 AM
Heh. I read this quickly and thought it said “Just give it time to throw up.” Well, that’s what babies (and drunk people) do, right?
aero on April 18, 2007 at 11:04 AM
I’m wondering how much better a, say, 2 year old would do.
When it wasn’t throwing a temper tantrum, that is.
jeffshultz on April 18, 2007 at 11:10 AM
In its defense, it does handle the ball about as well as Terrel Owens.
Blacklake on April 18, 2007 at 11:26 AM
This is just too damn creepy.
Gwillie on April 18, 2007 at 1:49 PM
TBinSTL,
Seranity reference, 20 points!
I want to know when will they work that arm into a harness with a neural interface so amputees can lead a more normal life (as long as they dont have an itch down below, that hook finger looks dangerouse)
Wyrd on April 18, 2007 at 3:52 PM
I’m not sure I want a left-handed fembot!
DR Good on April 18, 2007 at 4:44 PM
In Soviet MIT, happy fun ball taunts YOU!
Video also subtitled:
“Stop waving your stick around and just GIVE ME THE DAMNED BALL, jerk!”
I’m thinking, personally, that when you’re building and training an AI, perhaps “taunting” needs to be considered carefully.
Merovign on April 18, 2007 at 7:08 PM
LoL. I wonder how many people here are old enough to recollect the Cherry2000.
Lawrence on April 18, 2007 at 7:12 PM
Oh, that rascal, Asimo!
fusionaddict on April 18, 2007 at 7:50 PM
It ain’t the hardware that matters, it’s the intent of the software designers.
Who generally know nothing of the evolution of consciousness, instinct, the cortex, desire or care.
They are intent on mimicking what they have not plumbed.
And, as the story “Forbidden Planet” warned half a century ago, they will unwittingly release monsters from the id. (Empowered by the highest and most devasatating power that our technology and science have achieved. Self-replicating, unified by wireless whispers, and abysmally non-human.)
Unaware what that even signifies until it will be too late.
profitsbeard on April 18, 2007 at 9:48 PM
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