Robot Aims To Walk On Water

qeorqe writes "CMU researchers are developing a robot that runs across water (PDF). It is modeled after the basilisk lizard, which has that rare ability. The researchers have done both computer simulations and experiments with test models."

I Bet It Sinks

[UncleWilly (1128141)]

But if it doesn't, will other roots begin to worship it?

Re:I Bet It Sinks

[by Anonymous Coward]

But if it doesn't, will other roots begin to worship it?

It will first have to convert DC into AC and perform a hard reboot.

No! It should be...

[Gription (1006467)]

48 61 6C 6C 65 6C 75 6A 61 68

Re:

[OhHellWithIt (756826)]

Not until someone hangs it on a cross.

Re:

[KiloByte (825081)]

God, root... What's the difference?

Re:I Bet It Sinks

[vigmeister (1112659)]

God's password is his birthday - that's why he encrypted the origin of the Universe.

Cheers!

Re:

[Evilest Doer (969227)]

God, root... What's the difference?

Ray, if somebody asks you if you're a Root, you say "Yes"!

Re:

[halcyon1234 (834388)]

Actually, it's easy to walk on water if you move fast enough [imdb.com]

Already done

[Ohreally_factor (593551)]

Bah! Apple has already built a phone that can walk on water. This is just a phone with arms and legs.

Re:

[MECC (8478)]

Actually, someone tried, and the iPhone can't walk on water. [arstechnica.com]

Basilisk

[Enderandrew (866215)]

The robot also turns you to stone, but don't fear. Harry Potter will slay it with a sword.

Basilisks are dangerous...

[meringuoid (568297)]

... but there are worse things. Cockatrices, for instance. Handle with care. Extreme care.

neat trick.

[apodyopsis (1048476)]

its a neat trick, but are there any commercial applications?

where does a robot that walks on water succeed over an autonomous boat?

I mean, at least when they developed the technological equivalent of the geckos foot they had very sound commercial applications in mind. As robot amphibious platforms go this has just got to be inefficient and unreliable.

It's amphibious

[Colin Smith (2679)]

where does a robot that walks on water succeed over an autonomous boat?

Course, there have been amphibious vehicles for years.

Watercross

[mdsolar (1045926)]

Seems to me that they could reach their goal faster by mimicking the lizard more closely. Watercross http://www.iwausa.org/ [iwausa.org] works basically by slapping the water already. Just automate and you are there.
--
Solar power with no installation cost: http://mdsolar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slashdot-users -selling-solar.html [blogspot.com]

Text

[Kozar_The_Malignant (738483)]

Good lord! That's the biggest block of blinking text I've seen since '99!

Indeed. The op-art red text on blue background is pretty retro as well. You just don't see much of the reverse, blinking magenta text on chartreuse background thing any more...thank God.

Re:neat trick.

[Eivind (15695)]

Unknown. But the paper hypothesises that it may be possible to build robots that can move efficiently over land *and* water, using bipedal or quadroped legged walking for both. I don't think it's *that* hard to see possible applications for this. I bet the military could imagine a few, for starters. (and that tends to be a good start for robotics, lots of stuff that are today commonplace started out as military projects. Jet-planes anyone ?

Re:neat trick.

[Random Destruction (866027)]

Military indeed. I can think of few things more frightening than a motion tracking quadrupedal robot running across a river at you, guns blazing.

Re:

[Joebert (946227)]

Basilisks have a strange sense of humor, they sometimes took the messages to the emeny during testing.

An interesting question actually

[archeopterix (594938)]

its a neat trick, but are there any commercial applications?

where does a robot that walks on water succeed over an autonomous boat?

This question becomes interesting when you point it back at the lizard. Why does it walk on water instead of just swimming? My guess is that it's energy-efficient since it only has to overcome the viscosity of the air, not water.

Re:An interesting question actually

[by Anonymous Coward]

This question becomes interesting when you point it back at the lizard. Why does it walk on water instead of just swimming?

We can go further. Why does it go across water at all? Why not stay where it was born and raised, rather than pursue questionable gains across the pond? Scientists are so busy wondering whether they can get a robot to walk across water, that they forget to question whether the robot should.

Re:

[ChrisMaple (607946)]

Why does it go across water at all?

To get to the other side.

Re:

[UnanimousCoward (9841)]

Same reason that a dog licks its you-know-what...

Re:

[jamesh (87723)]

Of course... because it doesn't have hands!

Re:An interesting question actually

[aadvancedGIR (959466)]

I would bet the #1 reason is that it tries to avoid being eaten by a fish.

Re:

[archeopterix (594938)]

From what I remember, the reason that this lizard can walk on water is because of the surface tension, combined with the fact that it weighs so little.

I don't think that the surface tension alone is sufficient to keep the lizard above water. It's rather the speed of its feet moving downwards and the speed of its feet moving back up, before the water closes above the foot.

Re:

[SatanicPuppy (611928)]

Well, no, there are other options. You could increase the surface area of whatever part is in contact with the water, or you could increase the speed at which it makes contact.

At a sufficiently high speed water is about as solid as cement, so there is no limit to weight as long as you can make it hit the water fast/hard enough.

Re:

[jamesh (87723)]

where does a robot that walks on water succeed over an autonomous boat?

Presumably our new water walking robot overlords won't need to be as waterproof?

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[mblase (200735)]

where does a robot that walks on water succeed over an autonomous boat?

Well, for starters, an autonomous boat can't walk on land.

Re:

[boyfaceddog (788041)]

Yes, by golly. I can't think of any reason why anyone would want an all terain gun platform, uh, robot.

Sorry, just can't help myself.

Re:

[thc69 (98798)]

Oh, I see what you did there...

Re:

[TheLink (130905)]

Uh. Run Linux?

The more ambitious ones will want a beowulf cluster of robot maids.

Think about it: Robot maid clustering with high performance interconnects and NUMA[1]...

[1] Non Uniformed Maid Access?

Erm, shower time...

If you'd like to see it...

[chub_mackerel (911522)]

Here's a video (of the lizard not the robot):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhsxo7vY8ac [youtube.com]

Re:If you'd like to see it...

[Tomun (144651)]

Heres an even better video, driving on water:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD0hN-96ypE [youtube.com]

Re:

[fatphil (181876)]

And the same in laboratory conditions, using a high speed camera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVVcWafi-MU

holy robot

[by Anonymous Coward]

BEDEVERE: What also floats in water?
VILLAGER:Bread!
VILLAGER:Apples!
VILLAGER:Uh, very small rocks!
VILLAGER:Mud!
VILLAGER:Uh, churches! Churches!
VILLAGER:Lead! Lead!
ARTHUR:A duck!
CROWD:Oooh.
BEDEVERE:Exactly. So, logically... if this robot float on water, then it is made of wood

Easy

[CmdrGravy (645153)]

I can already walk on water, I think these robots are a pointless abomination.

I know why

[tsa (15680)]

At first I thought: 'Cool, but why would they want to do that?' Now it's clear to me: a robot that can carry a man over water in style is very useful when suddenly you are overcome by global warming. I live in the Netherlands, and I think I will need such a machine fairly soon.

Re:

[tsa (15680)]

Sorry, but... [newscientist.com]

learning about the lizards

[Takichi (1053302)]

I encourage people to actually read the article. It breaks down the mechanics of the basilisk's run cycle quite nicely. It has some really nice images and graphs illustrating it, too. I know it's a lot to ask, but at least look at the pictures in the article! By the way, they point out that learning more about the way the basilisk actually runs on water is one of the merits of the paper.

Been done.

[Kurayamino-X (557754)]

Though, with wall-climbing buggies and a snowmobile, not a robot.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-QBiBcK96Bs [youtube.com]

Obligatory Futurama Quote

[ari_j (90255)]

Fry: (to a robot at a Bot Mitzvah) So, you don't believe in Robot Jesus?

Jewish robot: We believe that he existed, and that he was a very well-built robot, but he was not our Messiah.

Yeah ...

[krou (1027572)]

... but can it turn it into wine?

At least we'll be too drunk to care when they get self-replication. I, for one, *hic* ...

here lizard lizard lizard

[by Anonymous Coward]

A picture (since the .pdf link seems to be down at the moment):

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/photos/2006-04-05/04 06plizard-a.jpg [pittsburghlive.com]

And another link:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_4 40639.html [pittsburghlive.com]

Robot wars...

[vigmeister (1112659)]

How about a robot that parts water? Then we can have "BattleBots: Judeo-Christian Wars".

Cheers!

Re:

[weicco (645927)]

I thought just the same. How is this even on Slashdot? This is obviously 2007 year old dupe! Hardly newsworthy...

Re:oooh

[somersault (912633)]

You could at least do the meme thingy justice..

I [important]for one[/important] will be the first to welcome our new hydroplanetic cyberlizard overlords

Re:

[rekked (985485)]

Isn't the Galactic Pope a lizard itself?

Re:

[CastrTroy (595695)]

Also, it's one thing to make a 70 cm, 80 gram, lizard walk on water. It's a completely different story to get a 2 metre, 4000 pound (my guess, cargo included) personel carrier to walk on water. Just getting the machine to move fast enough is going to require a whole lot of power. The feet would have to be huge, and cause lots of air resistance when trying to move them. Just because an ant can lift 50 times it's own weight, doesn't mean you can build a pickup truck that can do the same.

More Importantly . . .

[SpeedyGonz (771424)]

. . . Will it blend?