I'm both impressed and disturbed.

February 16, 2007 5:56 PM

It skateboards, it rollerskates it DESTROYS ALL HUMANS! Meet the Plen Robot
posted by delmoi (22 comments total)

The video cuts off before the part about destroying humans. I've emailed the YouTube staff about the issue.
posted by aubilenon at 6:06 PM on February 16, 2007

Last link's video is kinda dead :(

This looks very impressive, especially when compared to the other robot dude who has a hard time managing stairs. But I wonder, are these just preprogrammed actions, or is this thing automatically adjusting it's balance in real time?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 6:06 PM on February 16, 2007

That's no robot, that's a human in a costume. And it's not even plush and/or topless.
posted by davy at 6:13 PM on February 16, 2007

Definitely self-adjusting and not programmed behaviour, in the sense that the robot isn't leaning tiny bits left or right according to a pre-recorded script. Programming that kind of thing would be infinitely hard, and is probably beyond computation. See the N-Body Problem.
posted by odinsdream at 6:14 PM on February 16, 2007

is this thing automatically adjusting it's balance in real time?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:06 PM EST on February 16

That isn't really the hard part. With a microcontroller, its easy, just poll the accelerometers every n ticks of the clock and adjust until zero. This can also be done with analog electric circuits.
posted by Pastabagel at 6:40 PM on February 16, 2007

Am I the only one that thinks this is stop motion?
posted by beaucoupkevin at 6:45 PM on February 16, 2007

Am I the only one that thinks this is stop motion?

Seems unlikely given you can actually buy this thing, and if it was it would be some of the finest stop motion animation ever made (although I wonder what you could do with computer interpolation of stop motion animation... hmm). It could also be full radiosity rendering CG.

Anyway, I think it's just a real robot.
posted by delmoi at 7:07 PM on February 16, 2007

Ahhh skynet the early years...
posted by MrLint at 7:16 PM on February 16, 2007

Skateboarding shmateboarding. Can it mix a good drink?
posted by miss lynnster at 7:18 PM on February 16, 2007

Enjoyed that cute little rascal robot. Elegant movement.

On the same TecheBlog site, 5 strangest/coolest skateboards.
posted by nickyskye at 7:31 PM on February 16, 2007

It could also be full radiosity rendering CG.

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and the thought also crossed my mind. Here's a less slick video with people in the shot to dispel that. Must have been something about the fancy camera work in the first one that made it seem to good to be true.
posted by itchylick at 7:38 PM on February 16, 2007

This little rascal looks like the type of robot who'd be caught partying with Pintsize in Faye's underwear drawer.
posted by fleetmouse at 8:26 PM on February 16, 2007

I did hear on the soundtrack, plen say
"Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?"
posted by subaruwrx at 8:40 PM on February 16, 2007

I'm starting to get used to the idea that biological evolution was merely a stopgap contrivance on the way for robots and other silicon/resin based lifeforms to be invented.

I feel so used.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:02 PM on February 16, 2007

$2,206?!? And it probably can't even shoot sparks out its mouth.
posted by cubby at 9:09 PM on February 16, 2007

Video is heavily edited to cut out the parts where it falls on it's robotic ass.
posted by IronLizard at 9:22 PM on February 16, 2007

Awww, isn't that a cute little robot skater dude! Aww, who's a cute little robot skater dude? He is.

I get it, he's going to destroy all humans with his cuteness?
posted by fenriq at 10:39 PM on February 16, 2007

In the video itchylick links, the announcer says the following:

Remember, this robot doesn't have any autonomous systems. It doesn't have gyro, or it doesn't have any sensors. All of the balance action is made possible by the accurately designed parts and the precisely designed software.

Interesting!

I'm thinking that the key for human-like motion control lies in the fine balance between sensor driven & feedback stabilized motions and this kind of preprogrammed action. Or to put it another way, people often talk about muscle memory, perhaps this type of preprogrammed action is analogous.
posted by Chuckles at 6:12 AM on February 17, 2007

Am I the only one that thinks this is stop motion?

It's just a little too easy to imagine that thing saying "Davey, why did God let Uncle Bill fall off the ladder?"
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:18 AM on February 17, 2007

I am so looking forward to the videos of Xtreme skater Plem failing to do a rail slide and ending up straddling the poll screaming in a monotone voice, 'Ohh, my robot balls!'

That will be the best youtube clip ever.
posted by quin at 11:18 AM on February 17, 2007

quin, I think that hypothetical YouTube clip would be the formal announcement of The Singularity's arrival.
posted by ninjew at 1:00 PM on February 17, 2007

Until it brings me my breakfast via skateboard, it's a pretty worthless robot.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 1:14 PM on February 18, 2007