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Humanity is well on its way to a real-life Terminator uprising
The recent release of Terminator: Dark Fate saw both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton reprise their iconic roles and James Cameron's return as a writer and producer. While the sentient killing machines depicted in the Terminator franchise are comprised of CGI and Hollywood special effects, plenty of real world research is going into developing robots with similar capabilities, just without the murderous intent (we hope).
GE's bringing good things, and massive robots, to life
Welcome to Time Machines, where we offer up a selection of mechanical oddities, milestone gadgets and unique inventions to test out your tech-history skills. America was in the middle of a post-war economic boom during the '50s and industries were in a rush to build the future, often with outlandish results. RCA-Whirlpool was busy whipping up the "miracle kitchen," chock-full of mod-cons to make the Jetsons jealous, and Simplicity Mfg. Co.'s air-conditioned, bubble-domed lawnmowers arrived to ease the painful process of landscaping. General Electric (GE), a longtime hotbed of innovation and research, had various projects underway, including engineer Ralph Mosher's Cybernetic Anthropomorphic Machine Systems (CAMS). Mosher was building man-amplifying tools that would allow users to control robotic appendages with natural human movement. Not to be left out, the US Army was plotting the future of rough- and remote-terrain vehicles, and it had its eye on GE and Mosher's work.
Robot Hall of Fame inducts Big Dog, PackBot, Nao and WALL-E (video)
It's the sort of ceremony that's so magical it can only occur on even-numbered years. Inventors, educators, entertainers, college students and media folk gathered at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA tonight for the 2012 inductions to the Robot Hall of Fame, a Carnegie Mellon-sponsored event created to celebrate the best of our mechanical betters. This year, the field included four categories, judged by both a jury of 107 writers, designs, entrepreneurs and academics and the public at large, each faction constituting half the voting total. The show kicked off, however, with the induction of 2010 winners, the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, the da Vinci Surgical System, iRobot's Roomba, the Terminator and Huey, Dewey and Louie, a trio of robots from 1971's Silent Running. The first 'bot to secure its spot in the class of 2012, was the programmable humaoid Nao, from Aldebaran Robotics, which beat out the iRobot Create and Vex Robotics Design System in the Educational category. The PackBot military robot from iRobot took the Industrial and Service category, beating out the Kiva Mobile Robotic Fulfillment System and Woods Hole Oceanographic's Jason. Boston Dynamic's Big Dog ran over some stiff competition in the form of Willow Garage's PR2 and NASA's Robonaut to win the Research title. And WALL-E triumphed over doppelganger Johnny Five and the Jetsons' Rosie in the Entertainment category. Relive the festivities in four minutes after the break.
Robot Hall of Fame voting begins for class of 2012, Johnny 5 learns where BigDogs sit
It's that time again: time for Carnegie Mellon to roll out the red carpet and welcome the crème de la crème of the robotics world into its halls. Since 2003 the school has been selecting the best of the best and inducting them into the Robot Hall of Fame. Past honorees have included everything from LEGO Mindstorms to the Terminator. This year's list of nominees is no less impressive, with celebrity bots Johnny 5 and WALL-E pitted against each other in the entertainment category, while NASA's Robonaut takes on the PR2 and BigDog under the banner of research bots. There will also be two other inductees awarded a spot in the hall in the consumer and education category and the industrial and service field. Best of all, for the first time ever, Carnegie Mellon is letting the public vote on the inductees. And, while PETMAN was snubbed yet again, he's not letting that get him down -- the Boston Dymanic's biped just keeps on struttin'. Hit up the source link to cast your vote before the September 30th deadline and check back on October 23rd to see who's granted a podium speech.
HyQ is the latest all-terrain quadruped bot, tells Big Dog to bring it on (video)
You might not know this, but you can literally never have enough all-terrain quadrupedal robots... at least according to us (John Connor might disagree). So, while HyQ from the Italian Institute of Technology might bear more than a passing resemblance to Boston Dynamic's Big Dog, we won't hold it against the creators. The Hydraulic Quadruped robot (HyQ for short) was first dreamed up in 2008, but the project is only now coming into its own. Researchers at IIT took the bot for a stroll outside of the confines of a laboratory and treadmill for the first time. They've also stepped up the treadmill testing by bumping up the incline and practically throwing obstacles at it. Impressively, HyQ holds his own, even as his creators pelt it with shipping pallets. Check out the video after the break to see the cybernetic crawler in action.
Boston Dynamics Alpha Dog makes Alyx Vance's pet look like a toy (video)
Boston Dynamics' BigDog is one of our favorite insane-level DARPA projects; a robotic pack-mule that can carry 400 pounds of kit for troops. At some point, the Massachusetts mechanics decided the bot would be far better if it was the size of a bull, or, you know, an SUV. The Alpha Dog loses the un-stealthy buzzing noise of its predecessor, has a range of 20 miles and can take much more punishment. If you check out the video after the break, you'll see two people unsuccessfully attempt a takedown on the monster -- Half-Life 2 diehards might experience a combat flashback at the mere sight of it. AT-AT Jr is expected to see field testing sometime next year when it won't have a test bed of rocks to contend with, but the US Marines. Mark our words: we expect 'em to appear in every nightmarish dystopia of the 2020s, and take a starring role in the forthcoming Robopocalypse.
Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns
FROG (Four-legged Robot for Optimal Gait) has a ways to go before it can become a real dinosaur. The camouflaged robot is a prototype of a triceratops skeleton designed by Dr. Wei Wang and a number of PhD students at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Automation, and is downright timid compared to, say, Boston Dynamics' horn-wielding BigDog robot. It has joint angle sensors, acceleration sensors, a pan-tilt camera, and a number of other sensing devices. The robot has a Linux system inside and communicates wirelessly with a host computer -- though it still requires a plug for power. Dr. Wang hopes that the 'bot will show up in museums or other dinosaur exhibits when it's a bit more complete. He balks at comparisons to our beloved BigDog, however, since it has DC Motors and isn't hydraulic, so don't expect this herbivorous reptile to carry your luggage over rocky terrain any time soon.
