[HN Gopher] Robo-Ostrich Sprints to 100-Meter World Record
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       Robo-Ostrich Sprints to 100-Meter World Record
        
       Author : nickdevx
       Score  : 42 points
       Date   : 2022-09-30 18:01 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (spectrum.ieee.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (spectrum.ieee.org)
        
       | AareyBaba wrote:
       | What is the function of the thin rods parallel to the thigh and
       | foot ?
        
         | bena wrote:
         | They provide much the same function as our muscles and tendons.
         | 
         | And in this case, I think it would be parallel to the shin and
         | foot. The "thigh" would be the thing that has the name of the
         | school, the knee would be where that meets up with the long
         | orange bit, the ankle is the joint where the two bars meet,
         | then foot, and toe.
         | 
         | Birds are weird. Or we're weird and birds are normal.
        
         | jjk166 wrote:
         | The rods allow the motors which move the joints to be placed
         | higher up on the leg, closer to the pivot point that swings the
         | motor. This reduces the torque required to move each section of
         | the leg, which in turn allows for smaller motors to be used,
         | which further drives down the torque requirement.
        
       | jl6 wrote:
       | I'd love to know what the battery life is. Humans can go for a
       | very long time between refuels. Robots with Li-ion batteries
       | don't seem anywhere near human efficiency, and I wonder how we do
       | it...
        
         | bpodgursky wrote:
         | ICE robots run on ethanol seem like a more fair comparison.
        
         | 14 wrote:
         | Well I don't know the power consumption of this robot but did
         | buy my kids a hover board for Christmas a few years back. The
         | hover boards are 2 wheeled device you stand on and it moves you
         | around as you pivot your foot at speeds of up to about 12km/hr.
         | The battery is good for about 20-30km range which really
         | surprised me. So for this robot maybe not as efficient as 2
         | wheels but I would guess it wouldn't be hard to get a range of
         | 10-20km quite easily with today's current battery tech.
        
       | nielsbot wrote:
       | Feel like it might have better balance with an upper body with a
       | tail or other moveable weight.
        
         | jesusofnazarath wrote:
        
       | sbf501 wrote:
       | FYI current record is 9.58 by Usain Bolt.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men's_100_metres_world_record_...
        
         | liuliu wrote:
         | Ostrich's top speed is ~40mph, easily beats Usain Bolt :)
        
           | brippalcharrid wrote:
           | A healthy domestic cat would also come in ahead of him, in a
           | hypothetical scenario where it cared to, but I suppose they
           | are quadrupeds with very flexible spines.
        
       | euroderf wrote:
       | Someone mount a pizza oven on this please.
        
       | yreg wrote:
       | I'm unreasonably disappointed that it lacks a neck and head.
        
       | Gys wrote:
       | > Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 meters by a bipedal
       | robot
        
       | browheresmychar wrote:
       | Maybe one day animatronics will become advanced enough to make
       | zoos obsolete.
        
         | LandStander wrote:
         | Many zoos and aquariums conduct scientific research, and may
         | have breeding programs for endangered species.
        
           | DivisionSol wrote:
           | If we replace animals at the zoo with robots, then we don't
           | need to worry about endangered species or not anymore!
           | 
           | And I'm sure we can do scientific research on robot animals
           | just as well as normal animals, just a different kind of
           | research.
           | 
           | Seems like it all works out.
        
         | chasd00 wrote:
         | it would be neat to have animatronic autonomous velociraptors
         | wandering the streets of my neighborhood halloween night!
        
       | iambateman wrote:
       | https://youtu.be/rhuojVvpIw0
       | 
       | The video above is two links deep, but shows the actual
       | accomplishment.
       | 
       | Pretty amazing stuff, even if it's still slower than my grandma
       | :)
        
         | Someone wrote:
         | > Pretty amazing stuff, even if it's still slower than my
         | grandma :)
         | 
         | Are you sure? https://world-masters-athletics.com/wp-
         | content/uploads/2022/..., page 18 shows a 60 year old female
         | competitor clocking 23.15s over 100m, so I would think most 60+
         | year old women would be slower than that, and the median
         | grandma that runs the 100m faster than this robot would be
         | slower than this robot.
        
         | sitkack wrote:
         | It has a weird limp in its left leg.
         | 
         | It also doesn't seem to have a very reliable expectation of how
         | much ground force it is imparting vs its height above the
         | ground. I assume as the software matures that it could probably
         | get 50% faster on the same hardware.
         | 
         | Everything is software bound.
         | 
         | *edit, I think it just runs like a grad student.
        
       | strangattractor wrote:
       | Looks like it could use some spikes or a pair of those Nike track
       | shoes. Or maybe take some LithiumBatroids:)
        
         | liuliu wrote:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw_VVktz9VY
        
       | swayvil wrote:
       | Those are some sexy 3d-printed thighs.
       | 
       | Being on a phone, the first thing I did was try to zoom in on the
       | pic. Zoom was disabled. Why do they do that?
       | 
       | (Opening the pic in another tab solved it of course, but still)
        
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       (page generated 2022-09-30 23:01 UTC)