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.
> 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.
Yeah, that's interesting. I know I've seen sci-fi robots with sliding pistons instead of knees; it seems like a pretty straightforward concept. I don't recall anyone besides SCHAFT attempting it seriously, though. I wonder why? (Or have I missed previous attempts?)
> The next generation might be good enough for factory work
Hmm. I would think that factory work is a prime case where wheels are more effective than legs, though.
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)
my sense is that alphabet is selling boston dynamics because they are focused on robots with hydraulic actuators. they are great for industrial and military applications, but it appears that alphabet wants to focus on home and office settings. li-ion based systems are much more practical for those markets.
If the SCHAFT robot is quieter and less bulky than the BD models, it's because it's running off of batteries instead of a piston engine, which means it will have a regrettably short range before needing a recharge. (The BD bots are much quieter when attached to a power cable in a lab.) Nobody's gonna get around that limitation until there's a major breakthrough in battery tech.
an autonomous robot can go swap out it's own batteries, or go charge itself. if it can operate for 24 hours a day, losing ~5% of that time for battery swapping is not that significant.
Depends on what you're using it for. The Boston Dynamics jobbies were intended for search and rescue, or accompanying soldiers on foot; they'd need to go for hours or days without access to resupply.
My point was just that this thing isn't quiet because of better engineering, it's quiet because it's made for a different job.
agreed that it is designed for a different job. but those different jobs are likely to represent a huge percentage of the market (home, office and factory environments). i dont think that in these settings a relatively short battery life will be "regrettable" at all. as i mentioned above, swapping batteries is an easy solution to the problem.
i think you are overcomplicating my point. when cordless drills came out, people who were used to corded drills, laughed that you would get stuck mid-job without power. nowadays, most cordless drills come with two removable batteries. you charge one while you are using one. when the battery runs out, you just swap them. it takes a few seconds, you get the advantage of cordlessness, and effectively they function all day long under heavy usage.
sure, for military applications, boston dynamics approach is likely more suitable. but for factory, office and home usage, swapping out batteries shouldn't be a significant problem at all.
How is this more impressive than the Boston Dynamics stuff? BD have demonstrated actively balancing robot that can traverse various terrain under loads.
Perhaps this might have more immediate usages, but more impressive?
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.