search results matching tag: Boston Dynamics

» channel: learn

go advanced with your query
Search took 0.000 seconds

    Videos (72)     Sift Talk (3)     Blogs (21)     Comments (88)   

Russia is creating Terminators.

New laser zaps mosquitoes out of the air.

Cassie - Next Generation Robot

Tears In The Rain - Blade Runner fan film shot for $1500

newtboy jokingly says...

I was thinking just a replicant lying down to sleep and dreaming of Boston Dynamics looking sheep would do the job.

TheFreak said:

Definitely impressive work for the budget.

While watching it, I couldn't shake my discomfort over the fact that this Blade Runner is rather cruel in his approach to his job. He's part of decommissioning an entire series of replicants. Does he go to every single one and destroy their universe as they die? What kind of sadistic person does that?

And couldn't the manufacturer think of a better way to shut down old units? It seems like using emergency services personnel to individually locate and turn off toasters that are past their warranty date is a waste of public funds. How about just giving the replicants a subconscious urge to migrate to a corporate facility at the appropriate time?

"I don't know why I came here today."
"Don't worry about it, just let me take a look at this expiration date next to the power switch on your neck."
"Wait! I remember things I wasn't programmed foooorrrrrrrr...."
"Did he say something?"
"Dunno. He's powered off now."

I could make that film for $500."

Boston Dynamics New Nightmare Inducing Robot-Handle

newtboy (Member Profile)

Introducing SpotMini - quiet dog-like terminator robot

The Most Costly Joke in History

transmorpher says...

LOL I can't be a pig and Sarah Palin at the same time. Make up your mind

Those are all valid criticisms, but nobody apart from the flight engineers and test pilots truly know whether this plane is a lemon or not. If it does everything it's supposed to do, then it's exactly what the military asked for, just 10 years too late....

Any suitability and fit for purpose criticism that anyone has ever come up with for the F-35 also applies to just about any piece of military equipment that has been created in the last 70 years. Engineering is a balancing act, and an iterative process. Almost every aircraft, and vehicle in the military today was built to fight a soviet army. Luckily that never happened. But that means that most aircraft and vehicles in the military today have been grossly modified to make them fit for a different purpose. The F-35 will probably go through this as well over the next 30 years, because it's a normal part of the life-cycle of military equipment. Almost every plane dropping bombs now was previously designed as a fighter. But nobody ever calls them out for being mutants like they do with the F-35, they call it additional capability. The F-35 was born with these capabilities instead of being added over time.


Expensive: I'll agree. Could the money have been spent better else where? Definitely. You could argue that the cost is tiny compared to that of a full scale war, maybe F-35 is a good deterrent. Air superiority is the key to winning a war. If you're going to spend money then that's where it should be spent. When the oceans rise enough, is a country like Indonesia going to lash out and try to take land and resources for their civilians? Maybe. I doubt all 200 million of them will just stand there and starve. (Ok I'll concede, this does make me sound a bit like Palin. But hopefully not as dumb )
They could have probably made 3 different stealth planes for 1/2 the cost, but that has it's own strategic downsides. You have to have the right assets in the right places or you have to spread them quite thinly. With a multi-role plane you have all of the capabilities everywhere. Just a matter of a loading it with different weapons.

Not needed: Time will tell whether this is the right plane, but new planes are needed. And they absolutely must have stealth. Within 10 years, weapon systems will be so advanced that if you are spotted, you're as good as dead. We are currently dropping bombs on fairly unsophisticated enemies, but wars tend to escalate quickly. You just never know either way, and it's better to be prepared for the worst. There are plenty of countries with very good planes and pilots that could get sucked into a conflict. If you're really unlucky you could be fighting US made planes with pilots trained in the same way, and you don't want to be fighting a fair fight.
Further still, Russia, China and Japan are developing their own stealth planes, which pretty much forces everyone else to do the same thing.
Especially if Donald Trump gets elected. You never know who that crazy asshole is going to provoke into a war

Doesn't work: It's still in development and testing.

Overtasked: It does the same stuff the aging multi-role planes (that were originally built as fighters) do. With the addition of stealth, and better weapons/sensors/comms. Small performance variables don't win wars, superior tactics and situational awareness does.

Underpowered: Almost every plane ever built has had it's engines upgraded to give it more thrust through it's life. And engines on planes are almost a disposable item, they're constantly being replaced throughout the life-cycle of the plane. Like a formula one car.
The current engine, is already the most powerful engine ever in a jet fighter. It is good enough to fly super sonic without an afterburner, which none of the planes it's replacing are capable of.

Piloted: Agreed. But who knows, maybe a Boston Dynamics robot will be flying it soon

Test Failing: That's only a good thing. You want things to fail during tests, and not in the real world. Testing and finding flaws is a normal part of developing anything.

Fragile: That can be said for all US aircraft. They all need to have the runway checked for FOD, because one little rock can destroy even the best plane. Russian aircraft on the other hand are designed to be rugged though, because they're runways are in terrible condition. But in reality, all sophisticated equipment needs constant maintenance, especially when even a simple failure at 40,000 feet becomes an emergency.

Quickly Obsolete: Time will tell. Perhaps it would have been better to keep upgrading current planes with more technology like plasma stealth gas that make then partially stealthy, better sensors and more computing power. But by the time you've done that you've got a plane that's as heavy as F-35 anyway, and not as capable. Although it might have been cheaper in the long run.

Like I said in my previous comment. All of this doesn't make an interesting story so you'll only ever hear the two extremes which are "the plane sux" vs "it's invicible!!11" depending on your media source.

newtboy said:

Wait....Sarah? Sarah Palin? Is that you? ;-)

You mean what's wrong besides the dozen or so meaningful complaints made above, any one of which was a good reason to kill the project years ago, like; too expensive, not needed, doesn't work, over tasked, under powered, piloted, did I say too expensive, test failing, fragile, quickly obsolete, WAY too expensive, ....need I go on?

Boston Dynamics - Swearing Mod

Ashenkase (Member Profile)

Fido vs Spot

Robot Abuse With Robot Response

Atlas, The New Generation

Atlas, The New Generation

spawnflagger says...

Boston Dynamics lost the military contract(s) because the robot dog was waaay too loud to be used in the field (would give away position).

This thing is just as loud, so you'll be able to hear our new robot overlords a mile away before you have to welcome them.

Atlas, The New Generation

skinnydaddy1 jokingly says...

A Boston Dynamics engineer was found today, neatly stacked on a shelf in a box along with what authorities are saying could be bits of a hockey stick. The only witness, a 2nd Gen, Atlas robot. is not talking.



Send this Article to a Friend



Separate multiple emails with a comma (,); limit 5 recipients






Your email has been sent successfully!

Manage this Video in Your Playlists

Beggar's Canyon