tiny robot rides a bike

September 3, 2015 11:43 PM

tiny robot rides a bike
posted by scalefree (10 comments total)

Wow! I have the biped robot he based this on (well, temporarily borrowed/stole from my university for a year or two, but now I have returned it), and I tried to create my own programming just to make it stand and walk, and succeeded only in making it lurch and flail in a manner that terrified my cat (which was its own reward, I guess). I can't imagine the work that would go into getting it to balance while cycling.

It's a matter of modelling how you THINK the balancing, rebalancing, compensating process should work, figuring out how to program that into the robot, compensating for any asymmetries in your hardware/build/etc, running it, watching it fall over, repeating until you can come up with a hypothesis about which bit of the process is causing the problem, reprogramming that movement/rule, trying again, retweaking, etc. And all the time trying to decide whether the problems are fundamental errors of your model, errors implementing your model, or interference from the real world (e.g. maybe you used a slightly too big screw on the right kneecap and that tiny bit of extra weight or friction is causing issues).

And then even when you get it right, does that mean you came up with something that works all the time? Or does it (for a completely hypothetical example) work perfectly well on your kitchen floor, but when you take it to work to show people, it turns out the friction of the carpet in your office causes it to trip over its own two feet? I'm in awe that this dude not only can cycle in that perfectly controlled arena, but outside too. (I wonder how it does on a windy day?)
posted by lollusc at 12:07 AM on September 4, 2015 [5 favorites]

I don't think robot makers should have a sense of humour (the head, the waving) because in doing so they are just trying to distance themselves from their creations. We should face it that when robots start doing their own humour, they are going to be funny as fuck.
posted by colie at 12:38 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Plus, we want our coming Robot Overlords to look on us fondly, rather than harbor resentments from being forced to be clowns in our robocarnivals....
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:11 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

(Previously)
posted by ardgedee at 2:37 AM on September 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Remind me to never play against these guys at QWOP.
posted by radwolf76 at 3:21 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

I can always count on coming to the comment forums on mefi and seeing all the jokes I was planning to make, but only told better.

Thank you.
posted by touchstone033 at 6:15 AM on September 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hopefully the next video will be of the little robot riding the bike down a ramp and jumping over some small buses.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:30 AM on September 4, 2015 [2 favorites]

when it stops and the puts it feet down to hold itself up and then looks around and waved its little arm I went squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
posted by numaner at 6:51 AM on September 4, 2015

A fixed gear bike? Great, robot hipsters moved in to the neighborhood.
posted by Snowden at 6:53 AM on September 4, 2015 [4 favorites]

The robot maker has good zenergy. I am reminded of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. What a winsome little robot. Now combine FPPs, Robot Cycle Gangs of LA.
posted by Oyéah at 8:11 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]