[HN Gopher] Caltech M4 Robot Flies, Rolls, Walks, and More
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Caltech M4 Robot Flies, Rolls, Walks, and More
Author : tromp
Score : 132 points
Date : 2023-06-27 16:19 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.caltech.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.caltech.edu)
| syntaxing wrote:
| The driving to walking transition is pretty darn cool. Using the
| propellers to lift itself up is pretty smart. But overall, this
| seems like an absolute reliability nightmare.
| TX81Z wrote:
| Also what if a twig gets in the wheel? Seems like it wouldn't
| be able to fly then.
| samstave wrote:
| The good news is that when the battery dies, it has no moving
| parts!, keeping it simple.
|
| EDIT:
|
| What would be really neat ; putting little inflatable pontoons
| on those skids.
|
| That thing is awesome, however, with the hard plastic wheels,
| and the way it scapes them back into forward wheels, I feel
| like this is a dead-in-the-water-flaw.
|
| Imagine trying to scrape the wheels back into place on sand, or
| any other terrain obsticals that will prevent the pulling the
| wheels in.
|
| Instead, it should move the pivot joint and allow for the
| wheels to be lifted up, gull-wing-style, then straightened and
| then placed down like feet, lift the body, then drive....
|
| That thing will die in water without pontoons (the wheels/tyres
| maybe) -- and also not relying on scraping hard Big-Wheel stile
| plastice tyres along whatever surface.
| mc32 wrote:
| It's probably a one use disposable solution when something
| critical needs to be delivered somewhere, be it peaceful
| (medicines) of bellicose (explosives) or anything in between.
| WalterBright wrote:
| Found another picture of it:
|
| https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/terminator/images/0/08/HK_...
| bastardoperator wrote:
| What is the practical application for robots like these?
| Ozzie_osman wrote:
| Unfortunately, usually killing people.
| yazzku wrote:
| It's usually more productive to ask who's paying for the
| research than to try to answer that question directly.
|
| And the answer for these projects usually: the military
| complex, possibly through one or two levels of indirection of
| government/federal grants.
| NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
| Kill all humans?
| runamuck wrote:
| Caltech developed the first triple-changer Transformer. More than
| meets the eye!
| barbariangrunge wrote:
| Notice the cute, baby/pet like music for for tech that will be
| used by militaries in the near future
| jcims wrote:
| At least they named it appropriately.
| TX81Z wrote:
| Came to post this comment and you beat me to it. I think it
| deserves an overdub with some very intense industrial techno or
| the Terminator theme.
| civilitty wrote:
| Black Mirror episode _Metalhead_ playing on a TV in the
| background or picture-in-picture would be most fitting, I
| think.
| carimura wrote:
| my exact first thought. black mirror to the soundtrack of a
| photo app.
| dj_mc_merlin wrote:
| The main benefit I can think of for the military is the ability
| to approach zones that have anti drone equipment via the
| ground. Noise isn't really a concern since grenade drones fly
| too high and kamikaze drones rely on speed and
| unpredictability. Not sure how much better approach on wheels
| would be than just flying low, either.
|
| The tradeoff is presumably higher cost and less reliability.
| Additionally, less ability to carry mass than if it just flew.
|
| I can't imagine a way this would be too useful but obviously a
| lack of imagination isn't proof..
| low_tech_punk wrote:
| Today we are announcing two revolutionary products:
|
| A drone and a car.
|
| A drone and a car.
|
| A drone and a car.
|
| ...
| antiviral wrote:
| context for the uninitiated:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnrJzXM7a6o&t=130s
| EGreg wrote:
| Remember people. Robots don't kill people. Pe-- oh wait
| djaychela wrote:
| I noticed the terrified terrapin at 0:40 in the video as much as
| anything else! Impressive idea though, being able to be multi-
| modal. It'll be interesting to see how quickly that is copied and
| made available to Joe Public.
| SeanLuke wrote:
| I don't see any walking.
| octernion wrote:
| clearly you have a strong grasp of the article's content
| SeanLuke wrote:
| > Joints on the wheel assemblies allow M4 to execute a
| walking motion. In M4's current iteration, the walking motion
| is mostly proof of concept. However, with anticipated
| advances, future M4 generations could possess the ability to
| effectively walk across broken terrain that a wheeled robot
| would struggle with.
|
| Except that the provided demonstration isn't walking any more
| than using a Segway is walking.
| Mimmy wrote:
| Agreed, the headline is a bit misleading. It can fly, roll on 4
| wheels, or roll on 2 wheels.
|
| The latter is interesting, but doesn't constitute "walking",
| especially when the point of walking (as a preferred method of
| locomotion) is to be able to step over obstacles or onto
| platforms like stairs, which rolling on two wheels obviously
| can't accomplish.
| letmeflyhome wrote:
| They should have had the legs extend up and down to prevent
| scratching the wheels.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Gotta save _something_ for the next iteration, to get the MVP
| shipped!
| ackbar03 wrote:
| Like a machine gun
| civilitty wrote:
| I can't imagine they'll sell many units _without_ a machine
| gun.
| c22 wrote:
| For landing I wonder if you could fold the wheels in first and
| just fall back into driving stance.
| christkv wrote:
| Countdown until its made into a weapon.
| JimtheCoder wrote:
| I was thinking more in the direction of a toy for kids aged
| 8-15.
| scrps wrote:
| Those better be some rich kids. 10 year old me would have
| jump at the chance to tinker with a functional drone like
| that.
| JimtheCoder wrote:
| It would have to be targeted to the kids with workaholic
| parents who neglect to spend time with their children, and
| thus need to spend big to demonstrate that they do, in
| fact, love their offspring.
|
| The children in question would use the toy for 3 or 4
| weeks, get bored of it, and move on.
|
| We all know these people...
| RobotToaster wrote:
| Those things aren't mutually exclusive.
| civilitty wrote:
| Scale up the rotors, put a gun on it, and bam, fully autonomous
| mobile artillery!
| christkv wrote:
| Add an explosive and it will pursue you. First flying and
| when you try to hide in a bunker it transforms and rolls on
| in after you.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Scale the whole thing down to the size of a cockroach, and
| put a poison tip dart on it!
| scotty79 wrote:
| I really hope development goes in this direction. Infantry
| should be obsoleted as soon as possible.
| barbariangrunge wrote:
| Infantry soon being obsolete is a way of saying that
| people will no longer be able defend themselves from
| near-future weapons
| kspacewalk2 wrote:
| Except with drones of their own.
| jl6 wrote:
| The biggest/baddest drones will be available to the
| richest/baddest people, just like all military tech. This
| is not a great future.
| varjag wrote:
| Any defense over quantities has a statistical nature. You
| only need to die once.
| civilitty wrote:
| That way all us civilian Zam Wesell wannabes can have a
| go at it too!
| melling wrote:
| Drones are the future of warfare so you are a little late to
| complain about drones being used for warfare. The race is well
| under way.
|
| "...used by both Russia and Ukraine for surveillance and for
| delivering bombs, goes for around US $2,000. You can get 55,000
| of them for the price of a single F-35"
|
| https://spectrum.ieee.org/amp/drone-warfare-ukraine-26602790...
| jylam wrote:
| "Drones are the future of warfare so you are a little late to
| complain about drones being used for warfare. The race is
| well under way"
|
| So it's not the future of warfare then by your own words,
| that's the present situation. What are you complaining about
| ?
| fivre wrote:
| https://thenewpress.com/books/theory-of-drone is a neat read
| from the (not that much) earlier period where drone warfare
| was asymmetric, trying to contextualize it in the broader
| history of warfare.
| jackallis wrote:
| well, now all it needs is capability to swim and there goes
| humanity.
| kijin wrote:
| Just make the body waterproof, and it will be able to move
| around in water just fine using the drone propellers.
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(page generated 2023-06-27 23:00 UTC)