Amazing Robot Dexterity

August 1, 2009 12:34 AM

Astounding robotics demofeaturing three dribbling, catching, stick-twirling fingers from the future, but right now
posted by mhjb (20 comments total)

I know all I ever do is repost hackaday entries but this is so good it'll make your jaw drop.
posted by mhjb at 12:34 AM on August 1

wow, this is kinda freaky. It shows that when robotics is mature, robots will operate on a completely different timescale.
posted by Merik at 12:44 AM on August 1

Yesterday's penny arcade strip touches on the timescale thing.
posted by jeffj at 1:27 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]

I foresee amazing new vibrators that will make me (more) obsolete.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:45 AM on August 1

Boo-ya patch in progress for v2 release.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:59 AM on August 1

I for one &c &c &c
posted by cthuljew at 3:23 AM on August 1

For Boo-ya, there's Topio.
It's got a laughably long way to go for its goal of being able to play serious table tennis, but that's what they said about chess-playing computers 50 years ago.
posted by MtDewd at 4:36 AM on August 1

remember how the only thing left of the first Terminator was a hand, right?

and the only thing we see in these videos is a hand, right?

think about it
posted by jammy at 5:12 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]

Wow. In the future, all robots will be flipping us off during their dog-and-pony demos. AMAZING!

No seriously, this is impressive. Robotic hands are very difficult problems. it is a little bit dog-and-pony (what else can this hand do? Play the piano? Type 200 WPM? Impatiently tap fingers on a table VERY FAST?) but the speed of the movement -- coupled with what appears to be a vision system integrated with it? -- is pretty cool.
posted by olinerd at 6:19 AM on August 1

More robot dexterity: Robots arms pitching and hitting baseballs (YouTube video).
posted by PsychoKick at 7:07 AM on August 1

robots will operate on a completely different timescale.

Also that in a robot, you can make a "hard" problem easier by throwing faster hardware at it, which effectively makes it happen slower.
posted by smackfu at 8:46 AM on August 1

whatever. that robot dribbles some balls big deal. somebody has to give it the ball and it's floppin' all around and just manages to somehow hit the ball a few times before woah! WTF robot the ball gets away on you and what do you do? you just sit there like a little bitch because your ball isn't there anymore because you suck and do you go after it NO you useless legless bitch you just sit there and go WTF and wait until someone else gives you something you suck robot.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:10 AM on August 1 [2 favorites]

I am reminded of the clip in the District 9 trailer where the robot catches the shoulder-launched missile (at 01:57). Plausible.

Also, jeffj, your penny-arcade link is a perfect underscore of the timescale issue.
posted by bz at 10:22 AM on August 1

Cybraphon even tweets.
posted by trev at 11:21 AM on August 1

Holy hell. This brought the fact that the world that I live in twenty years from now is going to be completely different than anything I can imagine right now. It really is going to be the future soon.
posted by MrVisible at 11:37 AM on August 1

The more interesting thing is how many things aren't at "electronic" speeds now. How long does it take for a flash drive to show up after you plug it in? Why isn't it instant?
posted by smackfu at 12:23 PM on August 1

robot news blog.
posted by garlic at 1:35 PM on August 1

But can he bust a move?
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:33 PM on August 1

I love this and and all the other super-amazing robot threads now existing or that will soon exist in that amaaaaaazing future we call The Future.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 8:16 PM on August 1

so combine this with a robot that can run and let the games begin :P

also re: district 9, is anyone else reminded of that embassy vfx demo awhile back!?
posted by kliuless at 6:29 AM on August 3 [1 favorite]