Robots Take To the Stairs 85
Singularity Hub writes "Robots can climb stairs, and they are doing it everywhere you look. 'No big deal' you say, but it really is a big deal. Five to ten years ago, almost nobody was doing it. Now grad students are doing it all by themselves for thesis projects. Check out our review of robots navigating stairs, which includes some awesome videos."
Robots are protected. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Robots have gone down the stairs
Only when as drunk as their makers.
PER ASPERA AD ESCALA (Score:5, Funny)
"A Rough Road Leads to the Stairs".
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Drunk Robots (Score:2)
Powered by this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug [wikipedia.org]
Re:Robots are protected. (Score:5, Funny)
But if robots can climb stairs, are those of us with stairs in our house still protected?
Re: (Score:1)
"To the Batpole, Robin" - if you take my meaning...
Re: (Score:2)
In Soviet Batcave, Batpole slides down you!
I believe that I may have created the most disturbing "In Soviet Russia" euphemism ever.
Re:Soviet Batcave (Score:2)
Rule 34 FTW!
Re: (Score:2)
Just make sure you good insurance, like Old Glory, or don't keep medication up stairs. [laughingsquid.com]
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
Robots have gone down the stairs.
Do not trust the Duradin robot. He is malfunctioning.
Shoving is the answer.
Re: (Score:1)
Pak Chooie Unf
Re: (Score:1)
According to the summary, grad students are climbing stairs all by themselves for thesis projects.
Apparently almost no one was climbing stairs 5-10 years ago...
Or if you read it another way, maybe grad students ARE robots...
go on - back to the top and read the summary again - you know you want to. >:D
Re: (Score:1)
I thought just the same!
Daleks (Score:3, Funny)
What about Daleks?
Re:Daleks (Score:5, Funny)
As seen on some slashdotter's sig:
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Likely today's moderators are a little young to understand the significance among us older slashdotters.
Here we have a perfect article that makes the Dr. Who reference perfectly on-topic -- hopefully another moderator will have the good sense to undo the damage.
Or maybe I just need to admit I'm old and out-of-touch with today's n
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
To get to the top?
Exterminate! (Score:2)
http://www.punchcartoons.com/product_info.php?products_id=1667 [punchcartoons.com]
Re: (Score:1)
And yet... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re: (Score:2)
Nah, they just had pride issues about using stepper motors.
I must have misread this (Score:2)
This confused me, as well . . . (Score:3, Funny)
. . . I thought that we were going to build an *elevator* to the moon, and would need robot elevator riders to make the trip.
I guess the NASA pundits for the *stairway* to the moon won out, and so we will need robot stair climbers . . . real soon.
Re:I must have misread this (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno. I'd rather have the robot go get my slippers and I go Venus, Mars, and Europa myself.
Re:I must have misread this (Score:5, Funny)
But then it'd take forever for the robot to get the slippers to you!
Re: (Score:1)
In which case ... (Score:2)
They'd be Climbing the Stairway to Heaven /me ducks
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't "Robots take to the stars!" make a lot more sense? I don't need a robot to run upstairs and fetch my slippers for me -- I need a robot to explore Venus, Mars, and Europa for me!
"All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there."
Just watch out for the ones at the top. (Score:2)
Re:Just watch out for the ones at the top. (Score:5, Funny)
That would be the pusher robot. He is malfunctioning. Trust the shover robot; he will protect you from the terrible secret of space. Do you have stairs in your house?
Re: (Score:1, Redundant)
One smal step .. (Score:2)
On serious side, I don't see this big deal. There are robots out there who impress me much more. Still it's nice to see stuff like that.
We have had those. (Score:1)
Unpowered too!
ELEVATE!!!! (Score:2)
That's because 5-10 years ago, there wasn't a contemporary Dr. Who on TV. Robot designers had no clue with our limited human intelligence on how to get robots up the stairs. Upon the reemergence of the new Dr. Who, that one command "ELEVATE" and the new race of Daleks taught us humans to imagine robots going up stairs.
Well.... Probably it just refocused us.
Well... It just triggered something in our imagination.
Sonic Screwdriver technology? What?! What?! What?! That's still waiting, especially for the
Pre-ELEVATE!!!! (Score:2)
Daleks had no issue with self-levetation in Who lore. The earliest mention of it is in 1965 with "The Chase", though it was first witnessed in 1988 with the seventh Doctor in "Rememberance of the Daleks". The "ELEVATE!" scene in the new series was mostly just fan service.
Re:ELEVATE!!!! (Score:5, Informative)
That's because 5-10 years ago, there wasn't a contemporary Dr. Who on TV. Robot designers had no clue with our limited human intelligence on how to get robots up the stairs. Upon the reemergence of the new Dr. Who, that one command "ELEVATE" and the new race of Daleks taught us humans to imagine robots going up stairs.
"Remembrance of the Daleks" first depicted a Dalek going up stairs, and without a verbal command to do so. October 1988.
Re: (Score:2)
Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Doctor_Who)#Daleks [wikipedia.org]
It is strongly implied in this story that the Daleks have the power of flight; they are seen moving on two levels of the Mary Celeste, and the cliffhanger to the first episode shows a Dalek that has been buried in sand free itself by rising vertically. It would not be until Revelation of the Daleks in 1985 that a Dalek would actually be shown airborne.
Re: (Score:2)
..and that was June 1965.
Re: (Score:2)
That could be an implication, but then one could also come up with other ways to navigate the ship, such as teleportation. Daleks have used transmat beams, though I'm uncertain whether they've been shown to use them to transport themselves.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh Anonymous Coward! You always add so much to every conversation you join!
Re: (Score:2)
The British just used old, cheap props in their show. It isn't any more complicated than that.
Re: (Score:1)
Nonsense. As someone mentioned in a comment, wheelchairs that could climb stairs very well were already being sold in the United States over 6 years ago.
Obviously no-one told Charles Xavier. He still has one weakness.
ED-209 is not impressed (Score:5, Funny)
You have 30 seconds to comply.
Re: (Score:2)
You have 30 seconds to comply.
Plenty of time to reach the stairwell!
Re:ED-209 is not impressed (Score:5, Insightful)
> You have 30 seconds to comply.
Plenty of time to reach the stairwell!
It's not ED-209 you have to outrun - it's the bullets.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought I had 30 seconds until it started shooting! Damned lying ED.
Re: (Score:2)
I thought I had 30 seconds until it started shooting! Damned lying ED.
Geez, it's just a beta - don't be so picky! That's why we loaded it with phosphorous rounds instead of exploding rounds. For safety.
Re: (Score:2)
Geez, it's just a beta - don't be so picky! That's why we loaded it with phosphorous rounds instead of exploding rounds. For safety.
I hope you meant for awesome, in which case I fully approve. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Summary wording (Score:5, Funny)
"Now grad students are doing it all by themselves for thesis projects."
As a grad student, I found the wording of the summary amusing. I can confirm that yes, we can climb stairs if need be. The elevators in my CS building go out about once every two weeks for instance. (Wasn't that long ago that the motor in one of the shafts caught fire and shut down that shaft for over a week. During which the other shaft broke down too for a short time.)
Of course, the real advance will be when robots follow in our paths and learn to take the elevator when one is available.
Re: (Score:1)
Flash! AAAaaaa! (Score:2)
It serves with a mighty stream (It serves with a mighty stream)
It serves with a mighty stream (It serves with a mighty stream)
It serves with a mighty stream (Serve us)
Every song, every movie, every show with the mighty--
Flash!
Yay - next gen. Roomba will do stairs too (Score:5, Insightful)
God save us from the Daleks (Score:2)
And here I thought living in the basement would keep me safe from our robot overlords. Looks like I'm going to have to reevaluate my strategery here.
It is no big deal (Score:1)
It looks impressive (and, from the programmer's perspective, it is very impressive) but, if it's a big deal for a robot, then it's really no big deal. Unless robots can learn to negotiate stairs (and everything else) as easily as humans, I'm afraid that the robot revolution is still a dream. My point is that we really need general AI so as to free robots to learn to perform all sorts of tasks, not just a few domain-specific ones.
Re: (Score:2)
My point is that we really need general AI so as to free robots to learn to perform all sorts of tasks, not just a few domain-specific ones.
Nah, what we really need is a good open-source programmable molecular assembler, so that anybody who owns one can press a button and have it create either (a) food, or (b) another molecular assembler. Once we have one of those, world hunger will be solved in a matter of months.
(As long as we're dreaming....)
Our Last Line of Defense is Gone! (Score:1)
Let us know when they take to the Stars (Score:1)
Now that would be interesting.
wheeled and stable vs dynamically legged robots (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Asimo walks with ZMP (zero moment point). That means he is in static balance every moment (AKA he can stop all his joints (dv = 0) and he won't fall).
Re: (Score:1)
ASIMO isn't a real robot. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Robot Stair Climbing Fail (Score:1)
Still... (Score:2)
Couldn't climb stairs 5-10 years ago? What? Everyone's known for several decades now that in order to climb stairs, all you have to do is scream ELEVATE! ELEVATE! over and over until you reach the desired altitude.
Duh.
Please Go Stand By The Stairs (Score:2)
Pak Chooie Unf [youtube.com]