The latest from our friends at Boston Dynamics to haunt us!

August 17, 2021 11:53 AM

Now they're multiplying.
posted by indianbadger1 (73 comments total)

Yeah, but can they do the 18" mega wall?
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 12:10 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

It's interesting, something about the precision of the movement makes it almost look like claymation as opposed to real video.
posted by KirTakat at 12:12 PM on August 17, 2021 [8 favorites]

So Boston Dynamics has got their robots to the point where they now look a bit like me trying to do parkour.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:18 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

Life imitates CGI animation.
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:30 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

> Yeah, but can they do the 18" mega wall?

Where have they gone, the little people of Stonehenge?
posted by spacewrench at 12:33 PM on August 17, 2021 [35 favorites]

Gotta say, I was impressed with the back flips. I assume that they're running a pre-programmed course, but even given that, the balance and precision is really amazing. I know we always joke about these things ending up as hunter-killers and maybe they will, but there are so many useful and compelling things that these kinds of robots could do to help people. Maybe I'm a hopeless optimist, but I hope we get to see some of that cool stuff someday. It would be pretty great to see one of these things enter a burning building and rescue some people without risking additional lives to do it!
posted by dellsolace at 12:34 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

But can they ollie?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:45 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

Was the one on the right dripping from his backside at the end there?
posted by jpziller at 12:45 PM on August 17, 2021

But can these robots qualify for a boat loan?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:46 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

You just KNOW one of these fuckers has ALREADY held and fired a gun.
posted by Krazor at 12:47 PM on August 17, 2021 [19 favorites]

They forgot the music... (via Maciej Makuła on Twitter)
posted by automatronic at 12:53 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

N.Y.P.D. Robot Dog’s Run Is Cut Short After Fierce Backlash: The Police Department will return the device earlier than planned after critics seized on it as a dystopian example of overly aggressive policing

ARCAB
posted by gwint at 12:57 PM on August 17, 2021 [30 favorites]

I'm impressed by how quiet they are. I remember when their fist dog-like robots were louder than lawnmowers.
posted by scottatdrake at 12:58 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

I assume that they're running a pre-programmed course

Yes, I believe that the course is set, but the robots must adapt on-the-fly, maintain balance, etc.

Was the one on the right dripping from his backside at the end there?

There's a behind the scenes that goes a bit into the failures, some of which do involve some... fluid leakage.
posted by JSilva at 1:00 PM on August 17, 2021 [7 favorites]

I want to see the wheelchair replacement version, with a seat for a human. I guess these babies still cost $10 million apiece right now, though.
I may have been confused, but I thought I saw a giant tractor trailer with Boston Dynamics on the side on Route 3 in NH a few months ago.
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:06 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

Great googly moogly. Last time I saw these things they had an external power wire. They are now doing all that with onboard battery power?
posted by BeeDo at 1:07 PM on August 17, 2021 [7 favorites]

Having recently read C. Robert Cargill’s Day Zero, I can’t say watching this video was a good idea.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:13 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm too lazy to actually go look it up but does anyone know how long these things can run on a single battery charge? Because I see stuff like this and assume we're gonna be full on Skynet before long but not if they eat batteries like my Big-Trak did back in the 1970s.
posted by bondcliff at 1:14 PM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]

Was the one on the right dripping from his backside at the end there?

Ah, man- this is my third oil change today. Something's wrong with me.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:15 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them.
posted by mollweide at 1:21 PM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]

Pure evil.
posted by molecicco at 1:22 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

I'm dead when the robot apocalypse comes, because I see these kinds of things and my first reaction is always "these guys are adorable" and then I just end up here.
posted by thivaia at 1:25 PM on August 17, 2021 [8 favorites]

My only hope is for AI to advance so quickly that Skynet goes into full indiscriminate kill-all-humans mode before a small cadre of billionaires programs these bots into very discriminate kill-all-undesirable-humans mode.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:28 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

They sure do enjoy rubbing it in our faces.
posted by Beholder at 1:29 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Now they're multiplying.

For those afraid to click, this was not robot porn.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:46 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

Faint of Butt, there's always the possibility that they try to program Skynet for maximum resource exploitation, and it determines that all of those billionaires look an awful lot like untapped resources. Should buy us some time to cut the hydraulic lines.
posted by sysinfo at 1:48 PM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]

Yikes, the little one-arm hop over the rail was just too uncanny valley for me. But these things are always fun to see from an engineering perspective.

(inb4 "famous last words")
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 2:00 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

It even syncs up fairly well with The Office.
posted by sysinfo at 2:18 PM on August 17, 2021

A brief blooper reel is available (and is also somehow comforting).
posted by Kat Allison at 2:21 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

My coworkers in another business group bolted their acoustic imaging sensor onto a Spot and I think it's actually kind of nifty.
posted by mookoz at 2:35 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

Leadies, Philip K Dick's surface robots that guard the giant fiefdoms, after the Nuclear Wars. They keep the humans underground.
posted by Oyéah at 2:35 PM on August 17, 2021

Farenheit 451 "Mecanical Hound" vibes....
posted by mightshould at 2:36 PM on August 17, 2021

with the discussion on the Pinkertons and the big rush on elite private security contractors for the 1% ("oh but they'll just turn on the Rich Folk and take it all") I think we are seeing someone's idea of an answer to that problem unfold, at any rate.
posted by elkevelvet at 2:45 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

N.Y.P.D. Robot Dog’s Run Is Cut Short After Fierce Backlash: The Police Department will return the device earlier than planned after critics seized on it as a dystopian example of overly aggressive policing

The department changed its plans, he said, after the device became a “target” for people who he said had improperly used it to fuel arguments about race and surveillance.

“People had figured out the catchphrases and the language to somehow make this evil,” Mr. Miller said.

To be fair, "What the FUCK is that" doesn't take huge amounts of figuring out.
posted by flabdablet at 3:32 PM on August 17, 2021 [10 favorites]

Horrifying.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 3:37 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

I do not like these things one bit.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 4:02 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

Power shouldn't be an issue too much longer as they're working on a engine for them that runs on a slurry of mostly water, with some proteins, ions, and iron in suspension.
posted by glonous keming at 4:14 PM on August 17, 2021 [32 favorites]

Robocop but with a real Bot! Scary.
posted by CRESTA at 4:16 PM on August 17, 2021

Farenheit 451 "Mecanical Hound" vibes....
I'm thinking more of Snow Crash rat things.
posted by MtDewd at 4:19 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

This is not a technology any human should be doing (need to ban ai's from even thinking about it too). Killing people is so so much more profitable than helping people, I have no doubts as to applications of this.
posted by unearthed at 4:20 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

I wonder. Can they enter American Ninja yet?
posted by Rabarberofficer at 4:40 PM on August 17, 2021

I’d love to live in a world where advances in robotics were enjoyable and newsworthy in and of themselves, to be celebrated as a furthering of the science and a sign of our ingenuity. Unfortunately, we live in this world, where press releases like this are part of normalizing the presence of robotics in daily life, and where NYCs mistake in rolling out their robo dogs was doing it before the inevitable movie or tv show (likely aimed at kids) that features a Boston Dynamics robot that becomes a beloved mascot for said film or show. Once the toys are out and widespread, NYCPD, then you can have your surveillance bots and crowd control drones.

This isn’t the future I signed up for, and I don’t think I’m alone in that.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:46 PM on August 17, 2021 [17 favorites]

There's a behind the scenes that goes a bit into the failures, some of which do involve some... fluid leakage.

Or was it just some Pringles over break?
posted by thecincinnatikid at 6:29 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I saw this on Reddit earlier today, with lots of enthusiastic comments about exploring asteroids and similar fantasies. These things aren't going to asteroids, they're going to our next Afghanistan, and they're coming soon to a protest near you, too. Robots getting shot and blown up won't arouse moral compunctions in the general public, which means people will take even less of an interest than they currently do in what the war profiteers are doing, which means these things will pay for themselves a million times over! High fives all around, ain't technology wonderful.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 6:42 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]

Next thing you know, they’ll be doing CrossFit and then those damn robots will never shut up...
posted by azpenguin at 6:55 PM on August 17, 2021 [13 favorites]

TikTokers, please pay attention and take a lesson from this clip: the nat sound of these machines stomping around makes for a way more engaging (and chilling) video without having some incongruous music covering it up!
posted by theory at 7:15 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]

There are applications where these kinds of devices could be useful, assuming they work as promised. Tests are ongoing now, to see how they function when performing mine inspection work, for example. I'm not saying Boston Dynamics' technology won't be used for warfare--I'm absolutely sure it will be--but some people can see a potential for less harmful usages.
posted by sardonyx at 7:21 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

there's always the possibility that they try to program Skynet for maximum resource exploitation, and it determines that all of those billionaires look an awful lot like untapped resources. Should buy us some time to cut the hydraulic lines.

After they've proven that they're heroes? Wow, humans are the real monsters. [start looking at my "Skynet Was Right" T-shirt idea again]
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:59 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

I want to see the wheelchair replacement version, with a seat for a human.

Get in the robot, Shinji!
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 8:04 PM on August 17, 2021 [6 favorites]

This reminds me of one of the pioneers of helicopters, I cannot remember which one, who was haunted by the extensive use of helicopters by the militaries and sought solace in the notion that as search and rescue machines they saved more lives than they took. I wonder if the engineers at Boston Dynamics will have the same qualms.
posted by Pembquist at 8:39 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]

It took a lot of takes to get it right though
posted by jmauro at 8:49 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]

The best part of this sort of thing is the Existential Risk bros who are simultaneously developing AI and robots as fast as possible for profit AND warning us about the coming singularity/robot apocalypse/whatever so they can sell books.
posted by freecellwizard at 8:51 PM on August 17, 2021

Surely the Robolympics cannot be far off.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:11 PM on August 17, 2021

For those afraid to click, this was not robot porn.

Honestly I’m not sure what does it for robots but they were celebrating something at the end there.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:14 PM on August 17, 2021

It would be pretty great to see one of these things enter a burning building and rescue some people without risking additional lives to do it!

I dare say Boston Dynamics' PR department is already working on it. Even a staged fire using rescue dummies would win a lot of hearts and minds among people who don't think too deeply about this stuff.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:51 AM on August 18, 2021

I am wondering if the humanoid form is more for tech demo purposes?

Wouldn't a quadruped like their dogs or even other shapes not rooted in biology at all be more stable and efficient?
posted by uncle harold at 2:12 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I am wondering if the humanoid form is more for tech demo purposes?

I think there's also a bit of Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image” in play.
posted by bonobothegreat at 2:45 AM on August 18, 2021

Synchronised swimming next. Bet they'd be great at that.
posted by pipeski at 2:57 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

They sent a slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair. It caught up with him on a street called Chandni Chauk and came scrambling for his rented BMW through a forest of bare brown legs and pedicab tires. Its core was a kilogram of recrystallized hexogene and flaked TNT. He didn't see it coming. The last he saw of India was the pink stucco facade of a place called the Khush-Oil Hotel.

William Gibson, Count Zero

posted by DreamerFi at 3:00 AM on August 18, 2021 [11 favorites]

The 'arm' movements are creepy - do they need that to balance? Really? Or is it just to lure people into empathizing with them. No, I don't like this at all. Once they swap in all the swarming research that's been done with quadcopters - arm them up - no sir, I don't like this at all.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:00 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Robots getting shot and blown up won't arouse moral compunctions in the general public

People seemed to get in an awful huff about property damage last time around so they'll probably spin this into "innocent police bots brutalised by violent mobs" and double down on the worst applications.

Ghidorah's point above of wanting to celebrate this but being unable to do so because we all know exactly how these types of advances will be applied by the ruling powers is exactly where I fall as well.

For folks who think this is just pessimistic projection, here in London they've already pushed through a public facial recognition system with a 81% failure rate. These bots will be walking our streets far before they're ready or safe whether we like it or not.
posted by slimepuppy at 4:14 AM on August 18, 2021 [4 favorites]

Got fully confused, thought this was Corridor's Bosstown Dynamics, and was waiting for someone to attack the robot/the robot to flip out.
posted by MattWPBS at 4:42 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

My coworkers in another business group bolted their acoustic imaging sensor onto a Spot and I think it's actually kind of nifty.

Does this have an advantage over a sensor platform that's just on normal wheels? I assume Spot can handle uneven floors a little bit better, but most production areas are probably pretty flat (or complex enough that even Spot can't get there)
posted by ymgve at 4:55 AM on August 18, 2021

I'm surprised at how human the movements look. I suppose this is a conscious decision to make them more palatable to the general public, because I'm sure there's more optimal ways to move if your not constrained by having a human body.
posted by signal at 5:57 AM on August 18, 2021

I think human bodies are very well designed for moving in a human environment. If your objective is to create a robot that can can climb stairs, open doors, and take a cab or subway to get to its job, you're going to end up with something that mimics the human form.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:14 AM on August 18, 2021 [4 favorites]

Military Applications? NOOOOO! I created it to help mankind not to harm it!!
posted by storybored at 6:37 AM on August 18, 2021 [5 favorites]

What Joe in Australia said. A lot of robotics involves looking at how animals move (including human animals) to figure out how nature solved some complicated problems, rather than trying to figure it out from scratch.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:53 AM on August 18, 2021

Synchronised swimming next. Bet they'd be great at that.

Great idea! We should conduct the first trials in deep ocean waters.
posted by flabdablet at 7:15 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I was just thinking of those AI movement optimization videos, where the final movements don't look human or in fact like anything on the planet earth.
posted by signal at 7:53 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Think of how much you could charge for the opportunity to hit the robots and they not fight back. Maybe you can first dress them as someone you'd like to hit.
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:03 AM on August 18, 2021

I love Boxslyt
posted by otherchaz at 10:12 AM on August 18, 2021

All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again...
posted by bowline at 10:53 AM on August 18, 2021

I think human bodies are very well designed for moving in a human environment.

It's the other way round, surely? Humans design an environment to suit their own bodies, which means that's the environment a successful robot has to negotiate, which means the robots tend to take human shape.
posted by Paul Slade at 5:23 AM on August 19, 2021