Day of the Robotic Tentacle 199
holy_calamity writes "New Scientist is reporting on a robotic tentacle developed thanks to funding from military agency DARPA. From the video it looks to have a lot of potential, I can almost feel it fastening around my ankle right now."
Forget about the army... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Forget about the army... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Forget about the army... (Score:3, Interesting)
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance: therefore, much drink
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and
not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
Re:Forget about the army... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Forget about the army... (Score:3, Funny)
Tentacles indeed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tentacles indeed (Score:2)
nsfw! La Blue Girl [amazon.com] nsfw!
Re:Tentacles indeed (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Tentacles indeed (Score:2)
Here comes the anime pr0n references.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Here comes the anime pr0n references.. (Score:2)
cid=15287960 [slashdot.org] and cid=15287962 [slashdot.org]
Too late!
whoa whoa whoa (Score:5, Funny)
Re:whoa whoa whoa (Score:5, Funny)
Oh they will. They will.
Re:whoa whoa whoa (Score:2, Funny)
Clever (Score:4, Insightful)
It does raise the interesting question about using design found in nature for robotics.
Personally I'm not sure if that's the right way to go, or if we could find better ways to perform these tasks using alternative designs that don't have a natural influence.
Re:Clever (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Clever (Score:5, Funny)
(Yes, I had to go there)
Re:Clever (Score:2)
if they could somehow make subparts (thin end, thick end, vacuum port segment, spiny segment, rubber covered, magnetic segment, metal detecting segment, extra sensor peg segment) and randomly mix them- they might find different random configurations were more suitable to certain tasks.
GAs based on hardware (Score:5, Interesting)
The story goes, some researchers did this to attempt to reproduce a non-linear equation, I think like a Fourier Transform. The plus side was, they were successfully able to demonstrate that the resultant chip configuration was able to provide the expected results. However, after analyzing the actually solution, the researchers found that the chip was actually creating resonance between different parts of the circuit in such a way that there was no direct path between the input and output signal.
The genetic algorithm had created an analog solution in digital hardware by incorporating the electromagnetic losses and field coupling of the FPGA wiring itself; if they had tried to tweak the "solution" by removing portions of the unused pieces of the FPGA circuit, or even using the same control sequence on a different FPGA, the "solution" would not work.
Re:GAs based on hardware (Score:3)
Re:GAs based on hardware (Score:2)
Re:GAs based on hardware (Score:2)
Re:GAs based on hardware (Score:2)
Re:Clever (Score:2)
Re:Clever (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Clever (Score:2, Funny)
There are evolution-designed window washers.
http://www.jamster.com/jcw/goto/graphics/screensa
I think I'd prefer a human-designed robot...
Re:Clever (Score:2, Insightful)
For robots dedicated to a single task (such as assembly line robots) I would agree, but for a general purpose robot that can adapt to varying conditions and situations, it's hard to argue with hundreds of millions of years worth of evolution.
Re:Clever (Score:2)
Now once we're able to graft a real octopus tentacle on a robot we'll have something!
Re:Clever (Score:2)
Here at Stony Brook, there was some research into using small (1-2 inch thick) tentacles as a means of propulsion, with obvious benefits for rough terrain. Again, DARPA or DOD (can't recall which at the moment) took over funding, and the current design features tentacles over six inches thick and a chassis that you could practically ride.
We were thinking of bringing the prototype to I-CON and showing it to Ghastly (of Ghastly's Ghastly Comic). Unfortunately,
Re:Clever (Score:2)
It's interesting that in 4 billion years, nature (or Whoever) never did invent a wheel (unless it was using us to do so).
Re:Clever (Score:2)
Anime (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Anime (Score:1)
That reminds me... (Score:1, Funny)
As a pastafarian... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:As a pastafarian... (Score:5, Funny)
They just wanted to be touched more often
Couldn't have called it a "robotic elephant trunk" (Score:5, Funny)
Oh no, we had to use the term that will cause 99.9987% of the posts to fixate upon the hentai aspects of this.
Re:Couldn't have called it a "robotic elephant tru (Score:2)
Re:Couldn't have called it a "robotic elephant tru (Score:2)
yes quite right, it seems unlikely that a bunch of math and engineer nerds would have any idea whatsoever. I mean it's like if I drew a ven diagram you'd have one circle representing hentai fans and another circle representing robot jocks, and they'd be like almost completely separate.
3rd group (Score:2)
Yes, they will be separated by the vertically oblong group of girlfriendless frutrated slashdotters.
Sorry, bad joke. To early in the morning.
Re:That's even worse. (Score:2)
So stop making silly comparisons.
Just the beginning (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just the beginning (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just the beginning (Score:2)
There I pronounced it for you.
Re:Just the beginning (Score:2)
Hm, I wonder if Vim [slashdot.org] has a spell checker for that?
When can I take on spiderman!! (Score:3, Funny)
What's wrong with Yankee nerd refs? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's wrong with Yankee nerd refs? (Score:2)
Actually I was thinking that a device with a name like Octarm, Marvel Comics might sue claiming that their trademark Doc Oct was being diluted.
Hey! Its no more of a stretch that their trying to trademark the word Superhero!
Re:What's wrong with Yankee nerd refs? (Score:2)
Re:What's wrong with Yankee nerd refs? (Score:2)
One step closer to the abyss... (Score:3, Funny)
simple math (Score:1)
Gross.
Re:simple math (Score:2)
Yes, I've always wondered what the sound of a hundred pencil-jockeys simultaneously hitting deviantART sounded like.
Now I know.
Re:simple math (Score:5, Funny)
Robot Tentacle + Tentacle Pr0n = Tentacle (Robot + Pr0n)
Since we all know that Octopi have 8 tentacles, lets go ahead and substitute.
Robot Tentacle + Tentacle Pr0n = 8 (Robot + pr0n)
We can, of course, substitute I for Robot, leaving us with
8 (I + pr0n)
Since that's a capital I, we know it represents an integer, and not an imaginary number. Given that the Romans were into tentacle pr0n, we can assume that's a Roman numeral, and substitute accordingly.
8 (1 + pr0n)
Now, we all know the emoticon 8(1 represents an unhappy glasses-wearing person with a scruffy asymmetrical beard, or an unhappy nerd. So via substitution we have:
Tenticle Robot + Tenticle Pr0n = An unhappy nerd + pr0n
As we all know, this is a logical fallacy, since a nerd with pr0n is never unhappy.
I figured, if you were going to posit that ax + ay = axy, I might as well take the fuzzy math a little farther.
Re:simple math (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:simple math (Score:2)
An unhappy nerd + pr0n = A happy nerd. Therefore Tentacle Robot + Tentacle Pr0n = A happy nerd.
Yup, thats slashdot, keeping kleenex in business since aught-three. Can we get a poll to decide if that should be the new motto under the header? Or at least some sort of sponsorship deal for a case mod or something...
I've seen this! (Score:2)
I for one... (Score:3, Funny)
Doc Ock (Score:2, Funny)
Hmmm.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2)
Obviously, you're not applying enough Aquafresh.
Re:Hmmm.... (Score:2)
Day of the Robotic Tentacle (Score:4, Funny)
I remember going to a big dinner for a family reunion. I told them all about this game I was playing, 'Day of the Tentacle'. It wasn't until I noticed that everybody had stopped eating and all eyes were on me that I realized I had said 'testicle'.
We'll know that the day of A.I. has arrived... (Score:2)
Seven more of those (Score:2)
The newest treatment (Score:2)
Quick! (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, good lord - there's a 300 pound man dressed in a Sailor Moon uniform! Run, you fool! Runnnnn!
As I remarked to my wife the other day while we were watching "Sci-Fi Channel", can we ever invent a robot that Hollywood doesn't depict as trying to kill us?
Re:Quick! (Score:2)
I surely didn't need the image of a large fat man in a skirt being "worked over" by tentacles either.
Re:Quick! (Score:3, Informative)
Yes. Both "Batteries Not Included" and "Short Circuit."
"Batteries Not Included" had the bonus that they were *alien* robots, and they still didn't try to kill us.
Re:Quick! (Score:2)
Re:Quick! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Quick! (Score:2)
Probably not, but we can at least make it challenging for them: I for one would pay good money to see "Day of the Scoobas [irobot.com]"...
Did anyone else see this and think... (Score:2)
Re:Did anyone else see this and think... (Score:2)
At last.......... (Score:2, Funny)
Greetings space arm (Score:2)
Source? (Score:5, Funny)
Ankle? You must read different comics than I do.
Re:Source? (Score:2)
I'm not wearing a sailor suit and piloting a huge robot either, if we must concentrate on our differences.
Video = Slashdotted (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.ece.msstate.edu.nyud.net:8090/~bjones/
The clips are at the bottom, but don't ignore the videos linked in the "Journal publications" section.
Coralized so as not to
Video is back online (Score:3, Informative)
Not direct linked on purpose
-http://www.ces.clemson.edu/~ianw/icra06_vid.mpeg
Can it... (Score:2)
I for one... (Score:5, Funny)
They need to get out more (Score:2)
They need to learn from Spiderman; this just can't turn out good.
Uh oh (Score:5, Funny)
Fear? (Score:2)
If she survived, she liked it.
Re:Uh oh (Score:2, Funny)
Acronyms... (Score:2, Funny)
MOSCREND (soMe Of theSe aCRonyms arE gettiNg riDiculous) is all I have to say.
HELAD (wHEn wiLl the mAdness enD)?
Brave New World (Score:3, Funny)
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Anyone else watch Teletubbies? (Score:2, Funny)
Scientists, eh? They'll be getting ideas from Postman Pat.
Octor? (Score:2)
SHENANIGANS.
Doc Ock (Score:2)
Is anybody even reading this? Where are the Doc Ock references? Entertain me dammit!
Doesn't look like a tentacle at all... (Score:2)
But instead, it looks like the robot is squirting out an industrial-sized amount of Aquafresh toothpaste.
Comics Come to Life (Score:2)
pork barrel... (Score:2)
Quick someone get Spiderman (Score:2)
I think Doc Oc will soon pay us a visit.
I for one welcome our new multi-apendage tentacle overlords.
Re:Kludgiest acronym ever? (Score:2)
Re:Kludgiest acronym ever? (Score:2)
Re:Let's just hope (Score:2)
Re:tomorrow: Doctor Octopus (Score:2)
Three words: Search and rescue (Score:2)
Hehehe... I've been expecting this since I went to the Robotics confrence in Boston last year. A lot of search and rescue operations can only be done with a camera on a stick. The other alternatives are simply not viable. Unfortunately, a camera on a stick is usually hard