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Day of the Robotic Tentacle

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon May 08, 2006 03:16 PM
from the of-course-they-will-do-a-sequel dept.
Robotics Science
holy_calamity writes "New Scientist is reporting on a robotic tentacle developed thanks to funding from military agency DARPA. From the video it looks to have a lot of potential, I can almost feel it fastening around my ankle right now."
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  • Forget about the army... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Olix (812847) <Olix.shel@gmail.com> on Monday May 08 2006, @03:18PM (#15287960)
    Think about the implications for the Sex industry!

  • Tentacles indeed (Score:5, Funny)

    by zephc (225327) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:18PM (#15287962)
    DARPA: taking hentai in brave, new directions. Your tax dollars at work.

  • whoa whoa whoa (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2006, @03:18PM (#15287965)
    don't tell Japan! think of the children!

  • Clever (Score:4, Insightful)

    by slusich (684826) * <slusich@@@gmail...com> on Monday May 08 2006, @03:19PM (#15287972)
    Clever, though it seems to operate more like an elephant trunk or a prehensile tail rather then a tentacle. I would think it would perform it's job more effectively by using a vacuum system with selectable ports to help hold onto objects.

    It does raise the interesting question about using design found in nature for robotics.
    Personally I'm not sure if that's the right way to go, or if we could find better ways to perform these tasks using alternative designs that don't have a natural influence.
    • So you're saying it should be able to vacuum my floors and wash my windows? I agree!

    • Re:Clever (Score:5, Funny)

      by Orne (144925) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:28PM (#15288045) Homepage
      So, you're saying that "Intelligent Design" may be better than "Evolution" after all?

      (Yes, I had to go there)

          • GAs based on hardware (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Orne (144925) on Monday May 08 2006, @05:14PM (#15288816) Homepage
            Actually, when I was back in college, genetic algorithms were the hot topic in one of our VLSI classes that year. What they did was apply the genetic algorthim process to a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA [wikipedia.org]) chip to solve a computation. An FPGA is sort of like a giant array of ANDs, ORs, and NOTs with a "control array" of flip-flops that allow you to control the routing of the inputs; you can just load in a new sequence and end up with different outputs using the same hardware. The genetic algorithm comes in by randomly generating the control array sequence. You then compare the output with the target output, then blend the successful solutions together until you have the final solution, all without any hardware design involved.

            The story goes, some researchers did this to attempt to reproduce a non-linear equation, I think like a Fourier Transform. The plus side was, they were successfully able to demonstrate that the resultant chip configuration was able to provide the expected results. However, after analyzing the actually solution, the researchers found that the chip was actually creating resonance between different parts of the circuit in such a way that there was no direct path between the input and output signal.

            The genetic algorithm had created an analog solution in digital hardware by incorporating the electromagnetic losses and field coupling of the FPGA wiring itself; if they had tried to tweak the "solution" by removing portions of the unused pieces of the FPGA circuit, or even using the same control sequence on a different FPGA, the "solution" would not work.

    • Personally I'm not sure if that's the right way to go, or if we could find better ways to perform these tasks using alternative designs that don't have a natural influence.

      For robots dedicated to a single task (such as assembly line robots) I would agree, but for a general purpose robot that can adapt to varying conditions and situations, it's hard to argue with hundreds of millions of years worth of evolution.
      • I would certainly agree with that if the robotics could be made to truly emulate the natural, but most of the time, it's a poor reflection at best.
        Now once we're able to graft a real octopus tentacle on a robot we'll have something!
  • Hey robot designer: You need to cut down on the consumption of the weird anime. You know who you are. And don't even think about driving that thing near my wife you perv!

  • As a pastafarian... (Score:4, Funny)

    by truthsearch (249536) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:21PM (#15287991) Homepage Journal
    As a Pastafarian I'm offended by this immitation of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's a blatant mockery of all I find sacred. I demand reparations!

  • Couldn't have called it a "robotic elephant trunk" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2006, @03:22PM (#15287995)
    We couldn't have called it a "robotic elephant trunk", could we? Never mind that it more resembles an elephant's trunk than a tentacle, noooo. Never mind that TFA also mentioned that resemblance.

    Oh no, we had to use the term that will cause 99.9987% of the posts to fixate upon the hentai aspects of this.

  • Just the beginning (Score:5, Funny)

    by ch-chuck (9622) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:23PM (#15288006) Homepage
    It's just a step toward the robotic cthulu.

  • I can't wait to get fitted with my backpack and start taking on the the streets of the city. I'll get that Masked web slinger if its the last thing it do.
  • Lots of anime' jokes already, but no Doc Ock references. How disappointing. Support American scifi in-jokes!
    • Lots of anime' jokes already, but no Doc Ock references. How disappointing. Support American scifi in-jokes!

      Actually I was thinking that a device with a name like Octarm, Marvel Comics might sue claiming that their trademark Doc Oct was being diluted.

      Hey! Its no more of a stretch that their trying to trademark the word Superhero!

  • "So raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water tentacle."
  • Uh oh... Someone find three (two?) time-travelling uber-dweeby dweebs, a crowbar, and some fake vomit immediately!

  • I for one... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Null Nihils (965047) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:29PM (#15288050) Journal
    welcome our robotic tentacle overlords.


    ... I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist. :(
  • How many Doctor Octopus wannabes are jumping on couches about this?

  • Hmmm.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by flyweight_of_fury (972871) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:31PM (#15288063)
    Is that a Robotic tentacle [newscientisttech.com] or toothpase [aquafresh.com] ?

    ...I smell a lawsuit coming...

  • Day of the Robotic Tentacle (Score:4, Funny)

    by MobileTatsu-NJG (946591) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:32PM (#15288067)
    Completely OT:

    I remember going to a big dinner for a family reunion. I told them all about this game I was playing, 'Day of the Tentacle'. It wasn't until I noticed that everybody had stopped eating and all eyes were on me that I realized I had said 'testicle'.
  • ...when it reaches out and starts tapping on its own programming keyboard. Be afraid. Be very afraid!
  • and you've got a God-damned Sentinel. Destroy the bloody thing!
  • This is just the latest treatment for erectile dysfunction.

  • Quick! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Dark Paladin (116525) <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Monday May 08 2006, @03:39PM (#15288130) Homepage
    Hide your Japanese schoolgirls! Don't let it near the convention!

    Oh, good lord - there's a 300 pound man dressed in a Sailor Moon uniform! Run, you fool! Runnnnn!

    As I remarked to my wife the other day while we were watching "Sci-Fi Channel", can we ever invent a robot that Hollywood doesn't depict as trying to kill us?
    • As I remarked to my wife the other day while we were watching "Sci-Fi Channel", can we ever invent a robot that Hollywood doesn't depict as trying to kill us?

      Yes. Both "Batteries Not Included" and "Short Circuit."

      "Batteries Not Included" had the bonus that they were *alien* robots, and they still didn't try to kill us.
        • Yes it was a war-bot. In fact, since it was designed to kill but didn't, one could say that it's just another case of hollywood depicting robots inevitably malfunctioning yet again.
  • ...Aquafresh? Surely the coloring they chose is not coincidental...
  • My HENTA1 fantasies can come true!!!1!1111!!!1
  • I wonder if this is an attempt by the USA to thwart Canada's plan to take over space one arm at a time? As the designer of the Canadarm in the space shuttles and Canadarm II on the ISS, I wonder if my country has a reaction to being felt up by an American robotic tentacle?

  • Source? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sootman (158191) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:44PM (#15288167) Journal
    I can almost feel it fastening around my ankle right now.

    Ankle? You must read different comics than I do.

  • Video = Slashdotted (Score:4, Informative)

    by TubeSteak (669689) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:44PM (#15288172) Journal
    However, I found some other .edu website with video clips & info that are a bit more technical.

    http://www.ece.msstate.edu.nyud.net:8090/~bjones/p rofessional/research/OCTOR/octor.htm [nyud.net]

    The clips are at the bottom, but don't ignore the videos linked in the "Journal publications" section.

    Coralized so as not to /. a second university.

  • I for one... (Score:5, Funny)

    by jpellino (202698) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:48PM (#15288210)
    ... oh, you know the rest.

  • Uh oh (Score:5, Funny)

    by Conspiracy_Of_Doves (236787) on Monday May 08 2006, @04:05PM (#15288342)
    Schoolgirls all over Japan just felt an icy chill of fear whip through them.

  • Brave New World (Score:3, Funny)

    by Wellington Grey (942717) on Monday May 08 2006, @04:17PM (#15288421) Homepage Journal
    One can only imagine the affect this will have on the rate of recruitment of Japonese school girls into the armed forces.

    -Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
    • Tenticle Robot + Tenticle Pr0n = Tenticle Robot Pr0n.

      Yes, I've always wondered what the sound of a hundred pencil-jockeys simultaneously hitting deviantART sounded like.

      Now I know.

    • Re:simple math (Score:5, Funny)

      by Red Flayer (890720) on Monday May 08 2006, @03:50PM (#15288230) Journal
      Must be some kind of fuzzy math you got there. Sorry to disprove you, but:

      Robot Tentacle + Tentacle Pr0n = Tentacle (Robot + Pr0n)

      Since we all know that Octopi have 8 tentacles, lets go ahead and substitute.

      Robot Tentacle + Tentacle Pr0n = 8 (Robot + pr0n)

      We can, of course, substitute I for Robot, leaving us with

      8 (I + pr0n)

      Since that's a capital I, we know it represents an integer, and not an imaginary number. Given that the Romans were into tentacle pr0n, we can assume that's a Roman numeral, and substitute accordingly.

      8 (1 + pr0n)

      Now, we all know the emoticon 8(1 represents an unhappy glasses-wearing person with a scruffy asymmetrical beard, or an unhappy nerd. So via substitution we have:

      Tenticle Robot + Tenticle Pr0n = An unhappy nerd + pr0n

      As we all know, this is a logical fallacy, since a nerd with pr0n is never unhappy.

      I figured, if you were going to posit that ax + ay = axy, I might as well take the fuzzy math a little farther.
      • Sorry but you screwed up here:
        Tenticle Robot + Tenticle Pr0n = An unhappy nerd + pr0n As we all know, this is a logical fallacy, since a nerd with pr0n is never unhappy.
        An unhappy nerd + pr0n = A happy nerd. Therefore Tentacle Robot + Tentacle Pr0n = A happy nerd. Makes sense to me.

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