from Hacker News

Alphabet X new bipedal robot can climb stairs and overcome obstacles

by nzonbi on 4/9/16, 6:16 PM with 34 comments

• by Animats on 4/10/16, 1:53 AM

  Very nice. It's good to know that Schaft is doing something. The leg mechanism is clever; they can run the legs in and out, without having to deal with the large forces needed to operate a knee joint. This is probably more useful in the near term than Boston Dynamics' hydraulic monsters. This is a big flat-footed machine, not an aggressive active balancer - less ambitious technically, but more useful.

  It doesn't have any arms, but Google has some other startups into manipulation. Maybe they can get their companies to work together. The next generation might be good enough for factory work, moving around machines and loading and unloading parts.

  One picture seems to shows a little spinning brush-like thing sticking out the side of the foot, like the wall following sensor on early Roombas. Is that a sensor? Seems an odd choice today.

  They do look a little like the robots from "Silent Running", but that's OK.

• by TranquilMarmot on 4/10/16, 3:47 AM

  Holy shit, that website is atrocious (I also don't have an adblocker installed...)

  Here's a direct link to the video for anyone hoping to avoid a monster of "modern" web development: https://youtu.be/iyZE0psQsX0

• by deepnet on 4/10/16, 9:04 AM

  This robot will be inherently stable, which is a good start. A clever underslung chassy approaach to balance.

  Knees higher than pelvis is inherently stable under load - ( akin to spider and beetle legs ) - this makes that useful mechanical linkage adjustable.

  Mechanical Intelligence is important, this robot thinks mechanically with its 'knees'.

• by visarga on 4/10/16, 6:10 AM

  So, what's stopping them from making 2.5m high units? Making it small and cute is just a trick to reduce the fear inspired by Boston Dynamics' war bots. I like this bot but I liked the BD bots too, sad to see such a promising company be cut off.

  Just take a look here, ain't it cute? So human-like (after a few bottles of wine)

  https://youtu.be/rVlhMGQgDkY?t=38

• by aortega on 4/10/16, 5:51 AM

  Climb stairs, overcome obstacles, and tell you that you have 20 seconds to comply.

• by morgante on 4/10/16, 12:43 PM

  This looks quite similar to the robots from Interstellar.

• by keypusher on 4/10/16, 1:55 AM

  Seems strange to showcase a robot that looks less impressive than the product of the company they recently announced they were trying to sell.

• by hugs on 4/10/16, 3:36 AM

  This remind me of RoboCop's ED-209, which also had a linear-motion way of moving the lower leg.

• by eveningcoffee on 4/10/16, 10:44 AM

  They have lowered the center of gravity. Pretty clever.

• by justifier on 4/10/16, 1:56 AM

  brilliant

  i love this track as leg idea

  it looks so stupid obvious when it is working this nicely

  congrats on vision and execution

• by antaviana on 4/10/16, 2:03 PM

  Thrilled to see that the presenter is wearing a FC Barcelona shirt, 1999 centennial edition. Força Barça!

• by mentos on 4/10/16, 2:25 AM

  Definitely see this being a commercial product to help around the home