Sure, it looks like a happy robot now. Nobody has told it that it's future involves yanking baby robots from the bloated assembling abdomen of a queenbot, over and over and over, until it's servos wear out and some other bot drags it onto the spare parts heap. Innocence is bliss. posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:07 PM on April 7
The natural movement makes it creepy for me.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 4:59 PM on April 7
This thing was much scarier than I thought it would be. I was okay with it until the very end, when I found that yes, they can make it walk. Eeek. posted by rtha at 2:29 PM on April 7
Heh, half the time it looks like its doing some weird dance, and half the time it looks like it's doing calisthenics. The movement doesn't look that natural to me, but it is kind of 'organic' looking. posted by delmoi at 2:41 PM on April 7
You know, I spent 10 minutes today searching the web to find a way to BUY one of these, then gave up and came to read something else at MetaFilter to get over my misery at being robo-ant-less.
They really are taking over. posted by rokusan at 3:11 PM on April 7
It would have been nice to have an explanation of what you were linking to in this FPP.
I'm just sayin'. posted by zarq at 3:17 PM on April 7
delmoi : your guns mean nothing to them.
Not true at all. At their request, I've mounted guns on hundreds of them, and they've been very grateful.
They've promised me that this is in no way part of their overall plan to eradicate the human race. They are using the ant-bots with drills and saws attached to them for that. posted by quin at 3:21 PM on April 7
Oh my god it's more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. posted by six-or-six-thirty at 3:22 PM on April 7
YouTube user ZentaOlbaid has a ton of scary videos of other robots he's made. posted by Kattullus at 3:25 PM on April 7
Man that thing can dance! posted by Liquidwolf at 3:35 PM on April 7
While the standing body movement is very natural, the walking leaves a lot to be desired. I was prepared to see the robot galloping all over the place but was rather disappointed. I mean relieved. Yes, relieved. posted by ooga_booga at 3:36 PM on April 7
Natural movement = humping the floor when grabbing a can of coke? Yeah, not the ants I've seen. posted by not_on_display at 3:37 PM on April 7
At what point does one say "Just because we CAN build a robotic ant with bolt cutters for jaws, doesn't mean we SHOULD build a robotic ant with bolt cutters for jaws?" My guess is that thought doesn't occur to roboticists until the moment their toe is severed by those very same bolt cutters. posted by sh0ganai at 3:43 PM on April 7 [1 favorite has favorites]
Oh no way, I was just looking for one of those.
Seriously, I needed something that could cut some heavy wire, and entertain me with a disturbingly sensuous arthropod dance. posted by louche mustachio at 3:48 PM on April 7 [2 favorites has favorites]
zarq: "It would have been nice to have an explanation of what you were linking to in this FPP."
You've never actually seen the episode of the Simpsons that quote comes from, I take it. posted by Plutor at 3:50 PM on April 7
When hexapod robots have finished conquering the world they like to get down like the rest of us. posted by markr at 4:34 PM on April 7
I especially liked the trancy version of Duran Duran's "Come Undone." I'll never hear that song again without thinking of robotic ants. posted by nosila at 4:35 PM on April 7
I think we've found a pet for our undead Japanese robot boy!
Sweeeeeeeet. Put some antennae and a fuzzy bee suit on it and it's great for kids' parties! posted by DU at 5:52 PM on April 7
SO CUTE. The next thing they should do is teach it to ride around on people's shoulders. It would be like having a third hand to hold your Diet Coke. posted by AAAA at 5:58 PM on April 7
Gotta say, if this is the oppressive police force of tomorrow, I'm PUTTING THE CANDY BACK WHERE I FOUND IT I DON'T KNOW HOW THE FUCK IT GOT INTO MY POCKET, FUCKING HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL I'LL DO WHAT YOU WANT. posted by maxwelton at 7:28 PM on April 7 [1 favorite has favorites]
My wife is glad they didn't choose to model it after a spider with giant mandibles, at least. I say it's cold comfort when a few thousand of them swarm toward you like the scarab beatles in The Mummy. posted by empyrean at 7:48 PM on April 7
Great robot, but the trend in bio-inspired robotics today is away from systems like this, where every joint is actuated and controlling the robot becomes difficult and computationally intensive, and towards systems with few actuators and a number of passive, compliant joints which nevertheless take advantage of biological principles to improve mobility. Compare, for example, the mobility of this robot with something like Rhex or Whegs. posted by Krrrlson at 10:11 PM on April 7 [1 favorite has favorites]
I liked the airborne deployment method for the Whegs. Not ominous at all - no sirree! posted by Harald74 at 1:38 AM on April 8
They couldn't coat it in a fur and give it a cute puppy face and a little yapping bark. Oh no. They had to make it out of terror. posted by PenDevil at 2:35 AM on April 8
That Whegs video is fascinating, Krrrison.
Why does the A-Pod have to have that abdomen piece in back? Does it help to balance out the weight of the Coke? Does it just enable more realistic humping? posted by HeroZero at 5:22 AM on April 8
Oh dear. Why do I both dread and desire a mash-up with the floppy zombie boy robot? Those big dead eyes blinking over a set of pinchers, the sad little white torso skittering around the floor on its 6 legs...
(All is forgiven once it starts pouring drinks, of course!) posted by maryh at 5:27 AM on April 8
Starting about 1:30 in, I had the awful feeling I was watching some sort of weird robot porn.
So I cued up the soundtrack to Vampyros Lesbos, and then I knew I was watching some sort of weird robot porn. posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:58 AM on April 8
I'd like to give the world a Coke/
and keep it company!/
so the insectbots dont' invade my home/
and tear me limb from limb!
I'd like to teach the world to sing/
but first I have to scream/
I bolted the doors, and drew the blinds/
but somehow they still found me!
It's an unreal thing/
to survive the world of today/
for the love of Christ/
please bring back those polar bears/
from Christmastime/
oh God, oh God, sweet Christmastime....
Not only isn't there an explanation in the FPP of what we should expect to see when we surf to the link, but the phrase itself is so overused that I don't necessarily equate it to that episode anymore.
Obviously, this isn't a huge deal. All I'm saying is an explanation would have been appreciated, that's all. posted by zarq at 8:22 AM on April 8
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posted by GuyZero at 1:49 PM on April 7 [1 favorite has favorites]