Humanoid Robots are Coming!

 Robotics  

New videos of the Valkyrie and ATLAS robots preparing for the DARPA Robotics Challenge make the long visions of science fiction seem tangibly close to reality.

DARPAs Robotics Challenge last year required a lot of patience to watch. Most of the robots moved at a snail's pace through the obstacles, and left many wondering how the devices were ever going to be able to help in a disaster zone.

Related articles The What, Why, How, Who and When of the DARPA Robotics Challenge  Ayanna Howard On Making Robots Smarter  The Form of a Robotic Mind - Matanya Horowitz

In an exponential technology though, a little amount of time can produce a big change.  NASA's Valkyrie didn't make much of an impact at the December 2013 DRC trials, but it was a very late entry.  Based on the impressive video above, the development team has been putting in a lot of work to improve the mobility and control systems of the robot.

We are pretty used to seeing YouTube videos of robots with an indicator that the video has been sped up 4X or 10X to make it seem more impressive (and bearable to watch), but the Valkyrie video and the one below showing Boston Dynamics' ATLAS are playing in real-time.

Although not likely by this summer's finals, it does not seem to far out of the question that these robots will be moving at near human speeds during their tests very soon.  Also impressive is the balancing.  In both videos, the robots are tethered for safety, but he straps are visibly dangling loose.

ATLAS in the configuration shown here is still using the noisy hydraulics, not the new electric system, but if you just look at the lower portion of the robot, the legs do operate in a very human-like manner.

Valkyrie places each foot down very deliberately, with a definite thud, but then does some very impressive acrobatic balancing. The transitions between the moves are very fluid, and we have to appreciate how quiet the robot is too.

For those of us who have been following the development of these projects and others like the US Navy's SAFFiR, the progress has been noticeable and has us placed on a very realistic probability chart of very soon having science fiction-type robots as part of our lives.




SOURCE  IEEE Spectrum

By 33rd Square

Embed