BB-8 was only phase one
December 29, 2015 12:43 PM Subscribe
While Boston Dynamics will probably continue making the Skynet/Hellspawn robots for the foreseeable future, Disney has recently unveiled a wheeled robot that can climb vertical surfaces.
ok guys the fanfare page for the movie is down and I needed my SW fix for this minute and thank you so much for posting this.
I want one! (mostly to freak my roommate out by having it climb on her window)
posted by numaner at 1:02 PM on December 29, 2015
I want one! (mostly to freak my roommate out by having it climb on her window)
posted by numaner at 1:02 PM on December 29, 2015
I'm disappointed that the BB-8s for sale from Sphereo don't have anything interesting inside the head unit. A camera / live feed could have been nifty.
posted by pwnguin at 1:06 PM on December 29, 2015
posted by pwnguin at 1:06 PM on December 29, 2015
A camera / live feed
Because a government surveillance state isn't scary enough, let's bring Disney into the fold.
posted by Fizz at 1:08 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Because a government surveillance state isn't scary enough, let's bring Disney into the fold.
posted by Fizz at 1:08 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Disney already knows. Disney is inside you.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 1:12 PM on December 29, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 1:12 PM on December 29, 2015 [13 favorites]
Its developers allow only that it “extends the ability of robots to travel through urban and indoor environments.” This offers little indication as to how it might serve Disney’s purposes...
Well how else do you expect them to enforce IP once spiders attain sentience and start uploading episodes of The Jonas Brothers to The Pirate Bay?
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:14 PM on December 29, 2015
Well how else do you expect them to enforce IP once spiders attain sentience and start uploading episodes of The Jonas Brothers to The Pirate Bay?
posted by Atom Eyes at 1:14 PM on December 29, 2015
wait, so when I went to see Lion King in theaters and they handed out the free Zazu toys that has a nifty looking eye and goes "Scar is watching!" that wasn't jus... oh god... oh gods the things I've done in front of it!
posted by numaner at 1:14 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by numaner at 1:14 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
So - my inner geek is less impressed by the Disney name attached and more impressed by ETH Zurich (home of Niklaus Wirth, inventor of such things as the Pascal, Modula & Oberon languages as well as the Oberon OS.
Also (apparently, without Wirth) - the Oberon descendent Bluebottle operating system.
And apparently a lot of other well known sciencey folks had a relationship with ETH, too (including Einstein)
posted by symbioid at 1:20 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also (apparently, without Wirth) - the Oberon descendent Bluebottle operating system.
And apparently a lot of other well known sciencey folks had a relationship with ETH, too (including Einstein)
posted by symbioid at 1:20 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also this is really clever!
posted by symbioid at 1:20 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by symbioid at 1:20 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Because a government surveillance state isn't scary enough, let's bring Disney into the fold
Boston Dynamics is owned by Google. Your worries are misplaced if the worst you can imagine is your government.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 1:25 PM on December 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
Boston Dynamics is owned by Google. Your worries are misplaced if the worst you can imagine is your government.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 1:25 PM on December 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
For many of us, the real news here may be that Disney has a research division in the first place.
pretty much my immediate thought. god help us when google and disney inevitably merge
neat robot tho!
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 1:33 PM on December 29, 2015
pretty much my immediate thought. god help us when google and disney inevitably merge
neat robot tho!
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 1:33 PM on December 29, 2015
I agree on the clever, but I don't know if this necessarily makes a robot any more mobile. If you can generate enough negative lift with a set of rotors to make a car stick to a wall, you can just as easily flip them around and fly.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2015
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2015
so it's a helicopter type thing?
posted by Annika Cicada at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2015
posted by Annika Cicada at 1:35 PM on December 29, 2015
yes but when does it transform into a rave bro?
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:53 PM on December 29, 2015
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:53 PM on December 29, 2015
so it's a helicopter type thing?
Well, drone type thing, I guess..
The question is, why do this? Maintaining position or moving along a vertical surface probably isn't any more energy or power efficient than simple drone flight, but I guess it would be much more stable in all weather conditions. There might be a point to it, sort of..
posted by Chuckles at 2:24 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, drone type thing, I guess..
The question is, why do this? Maintaining position or moving along a vertical surface probably isn't any more energy or power efficient than simple drone flight, but I guess it would be much more stable in all weather conditions. There might be a point to it, sort of..
posted by Chuckles at 2:24 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
BB-HoTP
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 3:18 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 3:18 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
The question is, why do this? Maintaining position or moving along a vertical surface probably isn't any more energy or power efficient than simple drone flight [...]
Wheeled vehicles can carry a lot more weight than aerial ones, and they don't crash when they lose power. These fans don't need to carry the vehicle's weight; they just need to maintain friction against a vertical surface. The motive wheels power the ascent, just as they power movement across a horizontal surface.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:22 PM on December 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Wheeled vehicles can carry a lot more weight than aerial ones, and they don't crash when they lose power. These fans don't need to carry the vehicle's weight; they just need to maintain friction against a vertical surface. The motive wheels power the ascent, just as they power movement across a horizontal surface.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:22 PM on December 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
The question is, why do this? Maintaining position or moving along a vertical surface probably isn't any more energy or power efficient than simple drone flight [...]
Herding geckos.
Graffiti / billboard printing.
Dynamic camouflage.
Surface texture mapping.
Target acquisition.
posted by yesster at 3:36 PM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Herding geckos.
Graffiti / billboard printing.
Dynamic camouflage.
Surface texture mapping.
Target acquisition.
posted by yesster at 3:36 PM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Air Hogs has had a toy version of this type of technology since 2008. Here's their current version.
posted by fairmettle at 3:48 PM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by fairmettle at 3:48 PM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Because a government surveillance state isn't scary enough, let's bring Disney into the fold
Disney already monitors and influences the behavior of millions, through a small empire of tidy, efficient totalitarian surveillance states. They're called "theme parks"...
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:50 PM on December 29, 2015
Disney already monitors and influences the behavior of millions, through a small empire of tidy, efficient totalitarian surveillance states. They're called "theme parks"...
posted by Strange Interlude at 3:50 PM on December 29, 2015
These fans don't need to carry the vehicle's weight; they just need to maintain friction against a vertical surface. The motive wheels power the ascent, just as they power movement across a horizontal surface.
The fans would have to push against the wall with *more* force than the weight of the vehicle for the wheels to maintain traction, assuming the coefficient of friction was less than 1. (COF is typically < 0.5). It is more efficient to use the fans to lift the vehicle directly, which is definitely what is happening here. That's why the vehicle is built flimsy and light like a quadcopter.
The design is basically a complex prop-guard. Personally, I've seen the idea done better.
posted by Popular Ethics at 5:53 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
The fans would have to push against the wall with *more* force than the weight of the vehicle for the wheels to maintain traction, assuming the coefficient of friction was less than 1. (COF is typically < 0.5). It is more efficient to use the fans to lift the vehicle directly, which is definitely what is happening here. That's why the vehicle is built flimsy and light like a quadcopter.
The design is basically a complex prop-guard. Personally, I've seen the idea done better.
posted by Popular Ethics at 5:53 PM on December 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Air Hogs version fairmettle linked above is a more efficient approach. Instead of trying to push against the wall, it draws a vacuum and lets the atmosphere do the pushing. Kind of like an inverse hovercraft. The design only works if the little wipers underneath can make a reasonable seal against the wall though, so it couldn't transition as nicely as the Disney/ETH Zurich vehicle.
posted by Popular Ethics at 5:58 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Popular Ethics at 5:58 PM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
FWIW, it looks like the us military is discontinuing funding for the Boston Dynamics robots:
http://www.popsci.com/marine-robot-mule-too-loud-for-war
Apparently the gas engines are too loud, and they're too hard to repair in the field should anything go wrong.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:23 AM on December 30, 2015
http://www.popsci.com/marine-robot-mule-too-loud-for-war
Apparently the gas engines are too loud, and they're too hard to repair in the field should anything go wrong.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:23 AM on December 30, 2015
You could say the same about donkeys.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:08 AM on December 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:08 AM on December 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
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