Forgive me, but I have to rant a bit here. I'm not blaming Engadget, but this video was so incredibly boring. So the bot can swing its arms. Yippee. When I see one of these bots walking up and down steps (appropriate for their size) and doing true blackflips without landing on their backs, wake me up.
Why don't these guys who make these videos actually do something interesting with these bots? It's a minute or two or five of the same boring and/or slow repetitive motions over and over that we've seen ten thousand times where the bots aren't doing anything - certainly not anything interesting.
And when they actually do manage to video them doing something a bit more, like walking, their feet are so slippery on the bottoms that the most of the bots slide all over the place, constantly fall over, and barely make any progress. Haven't any of these guys ever thought of gluing some non-slip rubber or something to the bottom of the feet so these bots can actually grip the surface they're walking on and move without slipping and sliding everywhere? The bots take a 4" step and slide 3" back. I don't get it.
I know some bots are gaining more speed, but they also need to make more of these bots faster. All too often, they're too slow and the bots take too long to do things. I mean, I love robotics, but for a variety of reasons, these vids just bore me to tears.
Months ago, I saw some video on You Tube of a Futaba HPI-G bot that was REALLY fast and flexible. I also saw another vid of a similar bot that was also fast and flexible and practically dancing circles around another competing bot. It was the only video I had seen in years that didn't put me to sleep. Both are examples of the speed and some of the capability I like to see. The best these bots can do is perform fast somersaults of sorts, but they're getting closer to performing backflips. They're not quite there, but they're getting close.
They also need to give these little bots fingers and thumbs so they can actually pick things up and quickly manipulate the objects in a variety of ways - by setting down, swinging, or throwing.
And finally, they need to give the bots more strength. Extra speed and balance can compensate for lack of true power to whatever degree - but I've seen so many bot-wars, and when they swing to attack their opponent, it barely does a thing - it's like a little itty-bitty tap that has little to no effect - makes the fights really boring. I realize there's only so much you could expect from a little bot, but it makes you want the bot to swing harder and produce some actual results.
For me, I just want to see much more real-world progress instead of just arms swinging, or a bunch of scuttling across the floor, or bots falling over. It starts to make you wonder what on earth is actually happening in the world of robotics and what all these little exhibitions are for besides a bunch of geeks and nerds playing with their toys.
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Forgive me, but I have to rant a bit here. I'm not blaming Engadget, but this video was so incredibly boring. So the bot can swing its arms. Yippee. When I see one of these bots walking up and down steps (appropriate for their size) and doing true blackflips without landing on their backs, wake me up.
Why don't these guys who make these videos actually do something interesting with these bots? It's a minute or two or five of the same boring and/or slow repetitive motions over and over that we've seen ten thousand times where the bots aren't doing anything - certainly not anything interesting.
And when they actually do manage to video them doing something a bit more, like walking, their feet are so slippery on the bottoms that the most of the bots slide all over the place, constantly fall over, and barely make any progress. Haven't any of these guys ever thought of gluing some non-slip rubber or something to the bottom of the feet so these bots can actually grip the surface they're walking on and move without slipping and sliding everywhere? The bots take a 4" step and slide 3" back. I don't get it.
I know some bots are gaining more speed, but they also need to make more of these bots faster. All too often, they're too slow and the bots take too long to do things. I mean, I love robotics, but for a variety of reasons, these vids just bore me to tears.
Months ago, I saw some video on You Tube of a Futaba HPI-G bot that was REALLY fast and flexible. I also saw another vid of a similar bot that was also fast and flexible and practically dancing circles around another competing bot. It was the only video I had seen in years that didn't put me to sleep. Both are examples of the speed and some of the capability I like to see. The best these bots can do is perform fast somersaults of sorts, but they're getting closer to performing backflips. They're not quite there, but they're getting close.
They also need to give these little bots fingers and thumbs so they can actually pick things up and quickly manipulate the objects in a variety of ways - by setting down, swinging, or throwing.
And finally, they need to give the bots more strength. Extra speed and balance can compensate for lack of true power to whatever degree - but I've seen so many bot-wars, and when they swing to attack their opponent, it barely does a thing - it's like a little itty-bitty tap that has little to no effect - makes the fights really boring. I realize there's only so much you could expect from a little bot, but it makes you want the bot to swing harder and produce some actual results.
For me, I just want to see much more real-world progress instead of just arms swinging, or a bunch of scuttling across the floor, or bots falling over. It starts to make you wonder what on earth is actually happening in the world of robotics and what all these little exhibitions are for besides a bunch of geeks and nerds playing with their toys.
Dude. It's a toy. Chill.
@Shadowfox
Dude. It's only an opinion about a boring robot video and a toy that I never cared about to begin with. Chill.