Robotic Humor: Impressive & Funny
Won Over By Reality
By Tim Bayer
BRIGHTON New York—(Weekly Hubris)—4/4/2016—I have two related videos for you this week, best viewed in sequence. The first is footage of a technically impressive bipedal robot; the second provides a very funny perspective on the first.
(If you want to check out my last post before watching this week’s offerings, here’s a link back to “Dances With Wind.“)
Getting a bipedal robot to walk is difficult, to say the least. The next step—getting a bipedal robot to walk on slippery, uneven ground—is exceptionally difficult.
The solution is to create a robot that reads, and reacts and adapts to a changing environment. The Boston Dynamics Atlas robot possesses all these impressive capabilities.
To showcase the ability of Atlas to recognize and adapt to change, an “assistant” alters the robot’s surroundings, demonstrating how the robot reacts to unpredictable external influences.
The first video is the impressive Atlas demo; the second is of a proposed voice module upgrade for Atlas.
After watching the first video, click on the video link below.
(If you, yourselves, come across an entertaining link or video, I’d be interested in seeing it, and sharing it with my readers at Weekly Hubris. Please contact me at: Email: [email protected].)
Tim Bayer
Tim Bayer, Webmaster, and Assistant Editor of Weekly Hubris, was born and brought up in Webster, New York. He attended St. Bonaventure University, earning a BS in Computer Science, and then worked in the hi-tech world. In 2002 he turned his creative energies to product development and video production with the release of his first independently produced products. When the demand for web site design and freelance writing increased, he once again switched skill sets . . . to writing and web work. An avid or, to be more accurate, rabid, disc golfer, he may often be found chasing plastic while in pursuit of the perfect round on a disc golf course, or designing and developing disc golf products for Demogrid.com. He says he tries to find the humor hidden in everyday experiences, because, “life is too important to be taken seriously.” (Author photo by Tim Bayer. Author Head Shot Augment: René Laanen.)