Innuendo-Laced story of the day: German Aerospace robot plays catch with two balls - Polidicks

Source: [url]http://www.hizook.com/blog/2011/04/27/highly-anticipated-icra-2011-talks-low-cost-arms-helicopter-manipulation-and-ball-ca#DLR[/url] Summary from Slashdot: [quote]"German Aerospace Center (DLR) designed "Rollin' Justin" to fix satellites in space. But robotics work isn't all work and no play ... In the past, DLR engineers had Justin 'dancing like in Pulp Fiction.' More recently, in work to be presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in two weeks, DLR engineers demonstrated whole-body real-time control, allowing Justin to catch two balls at once, or prepare you a cup of coffee."[/quote] I would rate myself optimistic for this if the rating script would let me.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530307]Plays catch.... with two balls.... Am I the only one that thinks this is a worthless accomplishment?[/QUOTE] Yes you are

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530307]Seriously shouldn't they have him actually fix something before they teach him how to play catch?[/QUOTE] They originally designed him to fix satellites.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530307]Plays catch.... with two balls.... Am I the only one that thinks this is a worthless accomplishment? [/QUOTE] Yes.

You make it sound like they didn't design the robot to go into space.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530421]My point exactly. When exactly is he going to be catching balls in space?[/QUOTE] It's just to demonstrate how they could start doing real time operations on his entire body. I mean come on: [quote]demonstrated whole-body real-time control[/quote] it's right fucking there in the /. summary, you didn't need to read the article.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530421]My point exactly. When exactly is he going to be catching balls in space? Not to mention there isn't any gravity in space so his whole estimated trajectory software would probably need to be redone. Edit: Now that I think of it, the whole design of this robot seems utterly stupid. What is he going to roll on if there is no gravity... he isn't being pulled down to the floor unless he has magnetic wheels or some shit. Wouldn't it be wiser to have his movement operated by spider-like legs?[/QUOTE] Because spider legs disobey the laws of physics and magically stick to the ground, too, even though they require friction and weight to move the body forward and they push down to keep the body up.

It's funny because when they play with balls they're gay

Going to be a long time before we see R2D2

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530421]My point exactly. When exactly is he going to be catching balls in space? Not to mention there isn't any gravity in space so his whole estimated trajectory software would probably need to be redone. Edit: Now that I think of it, the whole design of this robot seems utterly stupid. What is he going to roll on if there is no gravity... he isn't being pulled down to the floor unless he has magnetic wheels or some shit. Wouldn't it be wiser to have his movement operated by spider-like legs?[/QUOTE] Gee, maybe because the robot wasn't designed just for space. [url]http://www.dlr.de/rm/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-5471/[/url] [quote]household applications[/quote]

Make it catch knives and throw them back at the human!

I got two balls for it to catch. :q:

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530593]Okay, well that might be true but you still haven't said anything about the rest of my post so it must not be all wrong. [editline]30th April 2011[/editline] I mean the legs would have the force to push the robot around through the gravity-less environment.. I mean it certainly can't roll through zero gravity.[/QUOTE] Perhaps the robot has more of a modular design, and aspects such as the wheels/chassis can be removed to make it suit its environment. I imagine in space it would be better suited just fitting on the end of a robotic arm. I doubt they'd be using this inside, but rather for EVA's. On earth however the wheels are obviously an advantage.

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530570]Is there something I'm missing? It says it was designed to fix satellites in space.. THEY make it sound like they didn't design it to go into space.[/QUOTE] They used this experiment to test the motion sensing and prediction algorithms here on earth, something that will be helpful in space. The hands will obviously be used for something, although i don't know what, but perhaps it serves an alternate function. [editline]e[/editline] also lol balls

[QUOTE=ThatHippyMan;29531108]I got two balls for it to catch. :q:[/QUOTE] What if the robot grabs your balls with too much force and does not realize your ballsack got ripped open?

[QUOTE=FinalHunter;29530421]Not to mention there isn't any gravity in space so his whole estimated trajectory software would probably need to be redone.[/QUOTE] I don't think you quite understand this. Estimating trajectories becomes harder the more differentiable the trajectory is. On Earth, thrown balls have acceleration. In free fall, they don't. Zero acceleration is an [i]easier[/i] special case of a constant acceleration.

Robots are fucking awesome.

I would have laughed if this wasn't so god damn cool

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;29532176]What if the robot grabs your balls with too much force and does not realize your ballsack got ripped open?[/QUOTE] Robo-balls.

[QUOTE=ThatHippyMan;29539160]Robo-balls.[/QUOTE] Balls of steel?

Still not as impressive as this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KxjVlaLBmk[/media] god DAMNNNNN

[QUOTE=Murkrow;29544995]Still not as impressive as this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KxjVlaLBmk[/media] god DAMNNNNN[/QUOTE] I want to cut my hand off and steal one of those. .. Though I'm not sure what I'd do from there... :v: