Boston Dynamics-designed RiSE V3 robot climbs poles, haunts dreams
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 14th 2009 12:42AM
posted May 14th 2009 12:42AM
The folks at Boston Dynamics have already made quite a name for themselves in the world of creepy robotics, but it looks like they're not ones to keep all their know-how to themselves, and they've now lent the University of Pennsylvania's Kod*lab a hand with this new RiSE V3 pole-climbing robot. That, as you've no doubt surmised, is a followup to RiSE V1 and V2, which were developed without the help of Boston Dynamics and were more suited to climbing flat surfaces than poles. In addition to a vastly different leg mechanism, this latest model also makes use of some brushless DC motors that increase the power density to let it climb poles at rates up to 22cm per second, which the researchers say make it well-suited for a wide range of tasks. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the bot mostly seems to work remarkably well, although it's obviously not quite ready to tackle critical jobs all by itself just yet.
[Via Hacked Gadgets]
[Via Hacked Gadgets]
First!
to die by the hands of this pole monster...
Engadget needs to bring back the "Lowest Rank" status
I need a "robot" to climb my pole.
Well.. I just peed a little...
Runaway, anyone?
I wonder if these have the skin-rot poison injectors....
I was just thinking the same thing, I was checking the pic for Tom Selleck, or the creepy villain with no eyebrows
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_(1984_film)
Best sci-fi-robot-gene-simmons-movie ever.
Boston Dynamics? More like CyberDyne! Destroy them before they bring about the Robopocalypse!
Massive Dynamic? They're up that way by Boston aren't they?
Yes, this and the Big Dog will be dreamhaunting me.
Once you see a Boston Dynamics robot, you can't "unsee" it.
Those guys must have a liquid metal CEO, no?
Boston Dynamics: Helping you steal cable since 2009
Giving robots the ability to climb poles? That's just suicidal!
These bots will sabotage mankinds dependency on electricity and plunge the world into darkness
By tapping into street lighting! It all makes sense now. They'll take our lighting and use the power for themselves.
We'll all be saved by John Connor next week
I really wonder how the young and totally uncool Edward Furlong managed to grow up into totally non nerdy Christian Bale. =/
I would only be afraid of these if they were bipedal humanoid robots. I'm pretty sure I could get away from this thing.
@Krieg213
That creepy villain you speak of is Gene Simmons.
The video does not seem to be working right now...
What happens when it hits the climbing pegs or other things attached to the pole.
All jokes about John Connor aside, whenever I see or hear about the crazy stuff Boston Dynamics is constantly coming up with, I get the chills a little. There is some strange stuff crossing over into the reality of warfare from the world of anime and science fiction. Makes the radio,map, compass and an M1 Eyeball that I used to work with seem absolutely primitive in comparison.
What's with the robophobia on all tech-related blogs and forums?
Because 50% of Humanity (all the religious nutjobs and other stupid people) still think robophobia and technophobia in general is required, even mandatory for responsible and "ethical" use and development of new technologies.
That aside in this forum it's only a joke, all of us here would love to welcome and worship our future robot overlords.
Doesn't look quite ready to circumnavigate the pegs sometimes found near the tops of poles, certainly over here in the UK.
I wonder if it will be more skilled than the BT engineer who cut a clients internet off for a day this week when trying to fix someone elses line....
I for one welcome our tree hugging robot overlords.
This is totally Fringe science... Boston Dynamics --> Massive Dynamics... coincidence? I think not. Where's the ZFT when you need them?
P.S. Did you see the watcher in the video?
By tapping into street lighting! It all makes sense now. They'll take our lighting and use the power for themselves.
that was supposed to be a reply to 3rdsun. I've seen replies go wrong for a lot of other people but this is the first time it's happened to me :(
I'm just hoping they incorporate plenty of these pole-friendly features into my first personal fem-bot. Already saving up for it! ;-)
Reminds me of the tree-climbing crabs in Zanzibar. Though none of them got inside my hotel room, they were scary critters.
Just a small correction. All versions of RiSE were developed with the help of Boston Dynamics.
http://kodlab.seas.upenn.edu/RiSE/RiSEV1
For some reason I see a squirrel pelt around this and the ability to fly....... Which tells me to avoid any and all squirrels.....
[posts requisite Skynet joke]