DIY 'Giger' robot walks after 100 hours of human work
By Donald Melanson 
posted Nov 4th 2009 3:24PM
posted Nov 4th 2009 3:24PM
Alright, so this so-called "Giger" do-it-yourself robot may not truly be Giger-esque, but it did cost upwards of $10,000 and take more than 100 hours to build, which is enough for us to forgive a little mis-naming. The biggest expense (and time sink), it seems, came as a result of the builder's decision to use professional-grade servos instead of the usual DIY fare, which are both finicky and pricey (between $200 and $300 apiece). After a bit of fine-tuning, however, our pal "Tyberius" was able to get the bot to show off a few moves for the camera, and even walk across the desk without toppling over (he's apparently looking to give it a more natural gait next). Head on past the break to see for yourself.
Giggity.
Make more Gigers to pick my cotton fields.
I'm calling ICE right now to get my immigrants deported.
thats actually nb considering its home build
*Newsflash in 2011* Teen builds robot in three days
*Newsflash in 2015* 10 year old child builds knife wielding robot from kitchen utensils
ahh the end of the world is upon us :)
Personally I look forward to exosuits and the like; much more fun and crysis-like
the knife weilding robot was not found but the 10 yr old was taken into custody.
i would have named it the t0001 just to spook people.
Don't kid yourself; we're not getting to 2015.
10g's for that little guy huh? probably should have spent the cash on programing lessons.
Programming lessons? LOl
I think the biggest mis-naming here is calling it DIY.
Yep. Should be DUI.
All it needs is some lasers and a cannon.
I struggle to walk after 7.5 hours of human work!
an inch further and that thing would have fallen to its death.
It moves just fine...if it's Christopher Walken!
This is what ten grand buys you?
I think if I had ten grand and a hundred hours to invest, I'd spend a chunk of both on a trip to the Bahamas, instead, LOL...
if I had ten grand I would buy two HAL 5 exo-suits and inflatable oversized boxing gloves.
Now you're talkin'! LOL...
exosuit 1 $4,200
exosuit 2 $4,200
2 pair inflatable gloves $20.68
TAX $547.34
------------------------------------------------
Total $8968.02
Extra cash= $1031.98
little cesars pizza x194 $1030.14
leftover $1.84
I could get 2 exo-suits, inflatable boxing gloves, pizza for 194 days and still have enough to refill my double gulp. I think I deserve a research grant.
kick ass comment bob.
Epic comment bob epic comment.
Great... a $10,000 RoboSapien.
no, it's the Cylons! They've found planet Earth!
it walks like it represents the Lollipop Guild...
Ahhh, wook at the cute wittle wobot! Who's a cute wobot? You are! Yes you are! Yes you are!
Gaahhh!! Call an ambulance!
within ten years these things will be shuffling along your street. Are You Ready?
And in 2000 we'll have Flying cars! and Jetpacks!
yes because all predictions must lack credibility if ever there was at least one inaccurate prediction.
Did anyone else get ED-209 vibes from this video once it started walking? For reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ED-209
that red flashing eye just reminds me to a bunch of robots who nuked some humans on a distant planet and started hunting the rest down, who escaped on some spaceships with the leading ship called Galactica ... damn I miss that show...
It is painfully clear to this reader that the comments exhibited so far are those by people with zero practical experience in the fields of robotics and mechanical engineering.
The hand-made CNC machined brackets and body are exquisite examples of design. The servos are so far out of reach of the correspondents here that they clearly can't begin to conceive of their application.
Most importantly, as the author noted, the gait is a work-in-progress. Bipedal gait design is an open and on-going area of research in every university and corporation with a robotics research program: has been for decades, will be for decades more. As further noted by the author, these first-steps exclude the IMU and exclude additional hours of tuning required for optimization.
Envy will eat you up inside. Go build something and stop coveting that of your betters. Given enough time, energy, and money invested - and even more importantly - intelligence and natural aptitude - you might someday hope to equal the execution demonstrated here.
--- Jodie
I, for one, welcome our $10,000 robot overlords with their exquisite CDC machined brackets.
@adrenalynn
Calm down. Here are today's meds.
Your point being? You think the creator of this robot is looking to engadget for critical dialogue about his/her achievements and ways to improve it? Seems like it's under control and looking good. In other words...duh?
i like the moving red KITT light on its face
Next up: the 30-foot version.
That's freakin' awesome!
What'd be really impressive, is if they can get the design smaller and get the movements/response time close to that of a human. Once they manage that much, they'd just need to figure out a system to control the things (project Natal to robot or Emotiv EPOC with computer assistance) intuitively and we could see a whole new form of entertainment unfold. Watching tiny humanoid/animal-like robots fight each other in battles similar to that only previously seen in "giant robot" anime titles.
Even cooler would be something along the lines of Clamp's "Angelic Layer" series, where such technology is simplified to the point that it's widely available as a children's toy, but performs impressively enough that people would gladly pay to see skilled players battle it out.
The idea is to make them bigger, not smaller. Smaller would be more underpowered and less capable.
This looks a little like a stop motion video. maybe it is my computer and the youtube I am watching but it has black frames intertwined in the clip which signals a double exposure. He should post a new video with a clock so that it will prove that this is for real.
It's either your computer or your eyes, there are no black frames. It's real. If it were stop motion, the hand-held camera sway would not be smooth. I don't think he'll post a second video just for people with wonky computers.
Meh, wimpy robotics servos. The ones to run are Vstone VS-SV3310 327kg-cm compared to 64kg-cm for the ones he's running.
What is it with robots having such a hard time walking? Even Boston Dynamics' bots look pretty awkward at it.
Let me know when it can do the dance from thriller.
Ok. I feel like the kits available make this look like a serious waste of time and money. What is the end goal?
I have no problem with trying to build a better mousetrap. But I am not seeing it.
I CALL FAKE. YOU CAN SEE THE GUY THROUGH THE ARMHOLES.