Those 4 leg robot dog things cross the uncanny valley

Molinaro

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Molinaro
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I see something inherently creepy about this video. And it is totally cool.
 
Here is a compilation video of all the different robots at Boston Dynamics:

 
It's the future. Humans are just a brief evolutionary step towards machine intelligence. Soon we'll all look like that.
 
macdoc said:
I think the creepy comes partly from the sound of the motors that sound like panting dogs.
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Ah.
I have no sound here.
But I'm not sure the sound of motors would make that much difference.
 
macdoc said:
I think the creepy comes partly from the sound of the motors that sound like panting dogs.
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You mean like this?




Not just creepy but totally terrifying!

*********** 2-strokes!!



Additional viewing:

 
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I think it's both cool and creepy, in part because I can't look at some of this stuff without thinking, not only of cool robotic pets, but how likely some version of this is to be killing someone or something. I suppose the big ones would suffer the same vulnerability as Star Wars At-At's, but how about the sand flea? Forget the animal analogues, and think of a little grenade carrying wall jumper. A fleet of those?
 
Tolls said:
Love that lot.
Though I do keep wondering when the robot that keeps being poked will finally go "sod this, I'm off!"
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I found myself getting angry when the robo-dog was kicked- just as I would with a real dog. Same when the more humanoid robot was being poked or its attempts to lift a load were being frustrated- it seemed so unfair. Purely emotional reactions that I am not trying to justify in terms of logic.

But I'm telling you- it may be just fine to do this right now, but some distant day, when computers finally do become self-aware (or can mimic it such that the difference is meaningless) they will "remember" these videos... And act accordingly.
 
It's the balance stuff which I found most impressive.

They've just interviewed a robots/ AI expert on Channel 4 News here who revealed that these things are controlled by someone with a joystick. You aren't seeing robots working things out for themselves. The arm reaching for the door handle, or the leap up onto the roof of a garage was great engineering, but still fully controlled by a human.
 
MikeG said:
It's the balance stuff which I found most impressive.

They've just interviewed a robots/ AI expert on Channel 4 News here who revealed that these things are controlled by someone with a joystick. You aren't seeing robots working things out for themselves. The arm reaching for the door handle, or the leap up onto the roof of a garage was great engineering, but still fully controlled by a human.
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I don't believe that.
 
Giordano said:
I found myself getting angry when the robo-dog was kicked- just as I would with a real dog. Same when the more humanoid robot was being poked or its attempts to lift a load were being frustrated- it seemed so unfair. Purely emotional reactions that I am not trying to justify in terms of logic.

But I'm telling you- it may be just fine to do this right now, but some distant day, when computers finally do become self-aware (or can mimic it such that the difference is meaningless) they will "remember" these videos... And act accordingly.
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They'll act according to their nature. One advantage robots have over humans is the certainty of their purpose, the confidence that they are made for that purpose, and the opportunity to fulfill that purpose.

Why would a robot with feelings feel resentment, over doing what it was made to do? Over being challenged, and meeting that challenge head-on in fulfillment of its life's purpose?

Kick a man, and he'll resent you for it... Unless he's an MMA competitor, he's in the Octagon, and his entire purpose there is to rise to the challenge of being violently assaulted. He doesn't resent the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, then. He welcomes them. He celebrates them. He tests himself against them and rejoices in the opportunity to prove himself.

Why wouldn't robots approach their day's work with the same joyful anticipation of being tested, and of passing the test? Why wouldn't robots relish the opportunity to demonstrate the balance and recovery that they were built to achieve?
 
They are still very clever robots doing particular tasks, they can walk from A to B, now at least one can open doors and make way for another to use collision avoidance to get to the target. It's limited intelligence, it can learn to improve these tasks, but give them a novel task and it can't do it,
 
but give them a novel task and it can't do it,
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ummm yup they can learn on their own

This Robot Learns New Tasks Like a Human

Maddie Stone
5/24/15 1:00pmFiled to: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

1266564503467568556.jpg

One thing robots are notoriously bad at is learning by doing. You can pack plenty of information into a robotic brain, but ask a bot to teach itself a new motor task—even one as simple as stacking blocks or unscrewing a water bottle—and you’re probably **** out of luck.

That, however, might be changing very soon. Researchers at UC Berkeley are now developing algorithms that robots can use to learn all sorts of tasks through trial and error, just like humans do. In practical terms, this could eventually lead to home service robots capable of handling any number of tedious tasks we’d rather not do—screwing in lightbulbs, plunging toilets, folding laundry.
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https://gizmodo.com/this-robot-learns-new-tasks-by-doing-them-like-a-human-1706567578
 
It's not uncanny valley if it looks nothing like the real thing.
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If sound and motions are close enough I'd argue that it is still uncanny valley. The way the first robot looked up at the door with it's head cocked.....

Humans have pretty primal responses to certain shapes, sounds and motions of potential predators regardless of detail. If your hair stands on end...that's a pretty good sign.
 
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MikeG said:
It's the balance stuff which I found most impressive.

They've just interviewed a robots/ AI expert on Channel 4 News here who revealed that these things are controlled by someone with a joystick. You aren't seeing robots working things out for themselves. The arm reaching for the door handle, or the leap up onto the roof of a garage was great engineering, but still fully controlled by a human.
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That is not accurate at all. Even the ability to walk is not a pre-programmed thing. When first activated they used random movements of each leg until they learned what was the most effective way to move and maintain balance.

They are goal oriented and learn through repeated trials.
 
Molinaro said:
That is not accurate at all. Even the ability to walk is not a pre-programmed thing. When first activated they used random movements of each leg until they learned what was the most effective way to move and maintain balance.

They are goal oriented and learn through repeated trials.
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I'll take this as unevidenced assertion until there is something to back it up. In the meantime......
 
macdoc said:
......The way the first robot looked up at the door with it's head cocked......
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........... was because someone pulled a joystick back and to the side, and you suffer from anthropomorphism (or the robot equivalent).
 
WIKI:

The onboard PC-level computer does sensing, actuator control and communications. LittleDog's sensors measure joint angles, motor currents, body orientation and foot/ground contact. Control programs access the robot through the Boston Dynamics Robot API.
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That's Little Dog.
We don't actually know what SpotMini uses. Boston are being their usual tight-lipped selves, just supplying these teasers,

I will say "PC-level computer" is pretty meaningless. No reason a PC can't drive the AI for one of these things.
 
MikeG said:
They've just interviewed a robots/ AI expert on Channel 4 News here who revealed that these things are controlled by someone with a joystick. You aren't seeing robots working things out for themselves. The arm reaching for the door handle, or the leap up onto the roof of a garage was great engineering, but still fully controlled by a human.
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I think that's quite likely. And if so, then the "intelligence" in figuring out how to get thru a closed door is not "artificial," and was not generated by the robot.

But that doesn't mean it is impossible to eventually achieve, and I have no doubt it will be.
 
mike g
........... was because someone pulled a joystick back and to the side, and you suffer from anthropomorphism (or the robot equivalent).
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We are talking about uncanny valley - has nothing to do with anthromorphism...entirely to do with mimicry of a live animal.

or are you one of those that thinks animals are "dumb". :rolleyes:
 
macdoc said:
mike g

We are talking about uncanny valley - has nothing to do with anthromorphism...entirely to do with mimicry of a live animal.

or are you one of those that thinks animals are "dumb". :rolleyes:
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:eye-poppi :rolleyes: What? Really? You think any of that is appropriate, or has anything to do with anything I've said?
 
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