http://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/03/04/150235/Quadruped-CHEETAH-Robot-To-Outrun-Any-Human
Apparently DARPA contracted a company to manufacture a cheetah bot that can move faster than a human.
The only thing lacking now is an AI, and support for the NTP protocol as well as glossy black paint.
Boston Dynamics? Ohey, those are the guys behind BigDog! yeah, if anyone can pull this off, it's them.
I rather doubt their CHEETAH will look as pretty as the graphic, though. Shame, I always had a soft spot for robot animals.
I did like the first comment.
"The real question is, will it turn into a music cassette?"
Quote from: llearch n'n'daCorna on March 05, 2011, 01:31:41 PM
"The real question is, will it turn into a music cassette?"
I still have mine somewhere :3
considering DARPA is also responsable for the blob bot and EATR robot, and was working on the poorly thought out 'flying humvee' i doubt this will end well
To be honest ,the blob bot looked kinda awesome... that is if we're thinking of the same thing.
This is kind of interesting:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/latest-geminoid-is-disturbingly-realistic
Regarding the comic, I'm still waiting for Ren to reappear. Annoying, but not much I can do about it.
regarding that beardbot- i would guess the reason why all that came before it looked horribly fake and plastic is because they always tried to make ultra smooth nubile young japanese women faces. this is probably the same reason why any woman with extensive plastic surgery looks frightening, without imperfections in faces we cannot relate to them.
of course this also has the uncanny valley effect- where if we made these robot people look like anime characters we would be just fine, having them look very similar to people is downright creepy, but if we make them look exactly like people they cease to be creepy and are once again accepted
regarding what VAE said about the blob bot- no, its the exact opposite of awesome. its a mostly deflated soccer ball that is slightly sticky and pulsates to move