 |
Oh Great, Fence-Climbing Robots
More terrific news, science fiction movie fans. Roboticists who apparently don't go see scifi movies are working to bring fence-climbing robots into being. Just great.
(Start at 25 seconds for fence climbing)
Ghost Robotics, however, thinks it can do better. It's working on the Ghost Minitaur, a dog-sized quadruped bot that could cost $1,500 or less when it hits mass production. Its direct-drive electric motors both keep the cost down (since the springiness is dictated by software, not hardware) and let it pull off feats that you don't see in far pricier machines. As Ghost Minitaur can sense contact with objects through the motors themselves, it can not only climb stairs, but scale fences and even open certain kinds of doors.
My lack of enthusiasm comes from my many viewings of the 1984 film Runaway, starring Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons from the rock group KISS. Michael Crichton wrote and directed this unjustly neglected movie, which featured fence-climbing hexapod insect robots with acid-tipped stingers, which I hope roboticists are not working on.
(Spider-Robots attack Tom Selleck in Runaway)
Via Engadget.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/7/2016)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Liquid Metal Shape-Changing 'Soft Robotics'
'A mimetic poly-alloy... 'What the hell does that mean?'' John Cameron, 1991.
Walmart’s Autonomous Robot Bees
Are you allergic to autonomous robot bees?
Soft Robotics - Now With 3D Printed Sensors!
'A series of chemelectric afferent nerve-analogues, which permitted it to gauge to an ounce the amount of pressure necessary to snap a bone...' - Roger Zelazny, 1966.
Scaly Yet Soft Robotic Snake
Love those robotic sneks.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
IBM's Grain Of Sand Computer
'Our ancestors... thought to make the very sand beneath their feet intelligent...'
Liquid Metal Shape-Changing 'Soft Robotics'
'A mimetic poly-alloy... 'What the hell does that mean?''
The Hammock Caravan And Italo Calvino's Octavia
'Now I will tell you how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made.'
Super-Resolution Microscopy Provides '4D' Views
View the magnified interior of living cells.
Have I Seen The Tesla Roadster Story Before?
'Only it wasn't a vessel. It was an automobile...'
Watch 'Do You Trust This Computer' For Free Today
Thanks for making this available, Elon.
Self-Driving Car Ticketed
This just missed making my day.
Elon Musk Tweets Versions Of Clarke's Operation Cleanup
'Fortunately, the old orbital forts were superbly equipped for this task.'
Burner Generates Temporary Phone Numbers
'Interesting phone system he's got, by the way...'
Walmart’s Autonomous Robot Bees
Everyone loves bees.
EA Created AI That Taught Itself To Play Battlefield
Harmless fun for computer scientists.
Is Teleportation A Death Sentence?
'A long trail of dead, he thought, left across the stars...'
New Brain Scanner Lets You Move Around
'In Bob Arctor's living room his thousand dollar custom-quality cephscope crafted by Altec...'
Can An Entire Brain Be Simulated In A Computer?
'The miles of relays and photocells had given way to the spongy globe of platinum iridium about the size of the human brain.'
Physicists Try To Turn Light Into Matter
If E=mc squared, then... m=E/c squared!
Save Your Brain's Connectome, Upload Yourself Elsewhere
'You've got remote storage. How regular is the update?'
