[HN Gopher] Human in Robot Costume Good Metaphor for How Close T...
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       Human in Robot Costume Good Metaphor for How Close Tesla Is to A.I
        
       Author : tomohawk
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2021-08-20 21:06 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.thedrive.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.thedrive.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | smoldesu wrote:
       | That's a wee bit embarassing. Back when I was in high school, we
       | made a robotic arm dance autonomously, and we didn't have a press
       | conference for it (though obnoxious music was admittedly part).
       | It's a little funny that all the R&D money in the world won't
       | make you a humanoid robot prototype these days, so they decided
       | to throw in the towel altogether. Good to see that Tesla has as
       | little faith in these things as I do.
        
       | andyxor wrote:
       | indeed this is ridiculous, but if someone wants to make better
       | robotic arms, mimic the mechanics of animal movement or invent
       | new flexible & light-weight materials and batteries, than
       | regardless of "AI" it has immediate applications.
       | 
       | By the time actual AI will be developed (by neuroscientists
       | building a model of animal cognition) we will have a realistic
       | android body to plug it into with all the mechanics, motor
       | controls and materials science worked out.
       | 
       | AI and robotic engineering/biomechanics are largely orthogonal
       | and can develop in parallel.
        
       | exporectomy wrote:
       | I hope this isn't a trend where journalists are shoving "truth"
       | down our throats instead of letting their sources make the
       | claims. It's patronizing and off-putting to be told what to think
       | so directly. I want entertainment, not indoctrination.
        
         | allears wrote:
         | Agreed, the author clearly has a strong anti-Tesla bias, and
         | the article is intended as a hit piece. And not particularly
         | witty or insightful either, just one insult after another. It's
         | too bad there wasn't a more substantive discussion. Tesla's
         | presentation was pretty light on details about the robot,
         | though, so I'm not sure what else could be said.
        
         | estaseuropano wrote:
         | I don't like the cynical style of this article, but I strongly
         | disagree with your hope. On the contrary, journalists should be
         | critical and give a clear narrative.
         | 
         | It is an odditiy of modern (mainly anglo-saxon) media that it
         | 'quotes' people to express its viewpoint. You can find a source
         | to say any stupid thing or to provide quotes for any possible
         | agenda, and uncritically quoting a press release or company
         | presentation is not really adding value.
         | 
         | Added value of _good_ media is that it both informs and clearly
         | makes judgements or provides interpretation. This should be
         | transparent of course, not hidden behind  'expert quotes' that
         | are just as biased as any journalist might be. I should also
         | not be pure expression of opinions, but rather facts, analysis
         | and a suggestion of a conclusion. I think the article provides
         | this, even if it has a rather impolite style.
        
       | IvanColdwater wrote:
       | It was awesome, so funny. Probably the highlight of 2021. The
       | music is great and "the joke" was well enough executed (no one is
       | angry, we didn't get really fooled for long... and we are all
       | well entertained).
       | 
       | It shows what (trained) humans are all capable of, which is
       | incredible and what humanoid robots lack on the way there.
       | Probably it's another of Elon's genius moves to predict/work
       | towards humanoid robots.
        
         | Animats wrote:
         | _Probably the highlight of 2021._
         | 
         | Right. Despite Boston Dynamics actually having a reasonably
         | agile real robot.
        
       | 0xakhil wrote:
       | I wonder if we put AI in a humanoid form, it may find a more
       | efficient form of movement with limbs which look very odd to us.
       | Then we need to put some hacks or artificial constraints to make
       | it behave similar to a human.
        
         | burnt_toast wrote:
         | Check out the QWOP AI videos on YouTube for a 2d version
         | 
         | example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0WQnwNFqJM
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-20 23:02 UTC)