The coolest thing about the ROPID robot is that it has very quick movements, and can jump about a quarter of its own height straight up in the air. Developed by Tomotaka Takahashi of Robo Garage at Kyoto University, the little robot can even respond to voice commands.
ROPID has everything I used to look for when picking teammates for (highly competitive!) pick-up games in college. Quick movements (great "quick"), good leaper and struts just a bit while walking up to the court.
(ROPID has style, leaping ability)
Robots that are able to move quickly are really starting to come to the forefront. This is in contrast to the science fiction robots that I remember from my childhood. Every depiction of a robot in movies was a slow-moving device; not surprising, considering that each one had a person inside it.
In sf literature, robots could be faster. For example, the usuform robot bartender in Anthony Boucher's 1943 story Q.U.R. was just as fast as a person in manipulating a drink shaker.
More recently, of course, CGI movie robots have gotten quicker. Sonny, from the movie I, Robot, has great 'quick' - and he's quite a leaper.
Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
Origin F1 Humanoid Robot's Facial Skin
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.' - Rog Philips, 1950.
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Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
Origin F1 Humanoid Robot's Facial Skin
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'