Re: Biomechanical evolution of vertebrate evolution
- From: Kim Borgman <kborgman@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:16:59 -0600
Definitely cool.... Almost looks like deer or elk....
BUT...i fail to see the evolution part... A super piece of machinery
created by someone that can move and maintain it's balance. Similar to
you/me. Created by someone (God) that can walk about and maintain balance.
Now, how can it be applied to do useful functions ? Bomb disposal ? Rescue
in a contaminated area ? War function somehow ? Like the drones we have up
in air ?
-----Original Message-----
From: Wirt Atmar [mailto:atmar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:58 PM
To: HP3000-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [HP3000-L] Biomechanical evolution of vertebrate evolution
I posted the following a few minutes ago to a vertebrate paleontology list
that I participate in, and I thought that the list might enjoy the video
that I mention in the posting as well.
Wirt Atmar
==========================================
In a burst of youthful enthusiasm 32 years ago, when I founded AICS
Research, the "AICS" stood for "Artificially Intelligent Cybernetic
Systems." We long ago tired of explaining what that phrase meant so we
condensed the name to simply AICS. Over time, we moved away from robotics
and became primarily a software supplier to Hewlett-Packard and their
customers, but the original intention was to design and build self-learning,
biologically-inspired autonomous mechanisms.
With that introduction, let me show you this video and simultaneously
express my admiration for what the people at Boston Dynamics have been able
to accomplish. This 3 minute video clip was released just a few days ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
The clip is of "BigDog." It is at once eminently reminiscent of naturally
evolved locomotion and at the same time enormously unsettling in its
alienness.
BigDog has a gasoline engine to power the hydraulic system acuators that act
as its musculature. Proprioception is accomplished by angle and pressure
sensors located at every joint and foot pad, and the CNS is encephalized in
a central CPU, which also processes visual and equilibrium inputs as well.
The end result is quite impressive.
Like most work of this kind, it is funded by the US military, in this case,
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), but DARPA is lot more
willing to fund flights of fancy than any of the civilian research granting
agencies and at much higher dollar amounts, and a lot of good work does
eventually come out their efforts. The internet was one of their funded
projects.
Wirt Atmar
===========================================
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