[From Rupert Young (2017.09.21 17.45)]
I’ve entered a robotic PCT system for the Hackaday 2017 prize
To give it some visibility and credibility it would be great if
you could “like” the project, and “follow” my profile (requires
registering I think).
[From Bruce Nevin (2017.09.21.18:23 ET)]
I see the Boston Dynamic dog robots linked near the bottom of your hackaday.io page, Rupert. As I understand it, Bill sent them the Little Man code and explanations of control. They didn’t reply, but their products got better.
A brief summary from Wikipedia: They developed BigDog for DARPA, and DI-Guy software for human simulation. The US Navy used DI-Guy to replace training videos for aircraft launch operations with simulations with DI-Guy characters. They transferred DI-Guy to VT MÄK (a company also in Cambridge, MA) just before being acquired by Google X. VT MÄK “develops and sells software for distributed simulations that system integrators, governments, and research institutions use to build and populate 3D simulated environments.” Last June, Google sold Boston Dynamics to a Japanese multinational, Softbank Group.
But the videos of their devices don’t convince me that they’re autonomous.
Unclear what Google kept and what Softbank bought.
Any insight into any of this?
On Thu, Sep 21, 2017 at 12:44 PM, Rupert Young rupert@perceptualrobots.com wrote:
[From Rupert Young (2017.09.21 17.45)]
I've entered a robotic PCT system for the Hackaday 2017 prize
To give it some visibility and credibility it would be great ifyou could “like” the project, and “follow” my profile (requires
registering I think).
–
Regards,
Rupert
[From Rupert Young (2017.09.22 10.45)]
(Bruce Nevin (2017.09.21.18:23 ET)]
I see the Boston Dynamic dog robots linked near the bottomof your hackaday.io
page, Rupert. As I understand it, Bill sent them the Little
Man code and explanations of control. They didn’t reply, but
their products got better.
I didn't see that, can you point me to the specific page please? If
BD are taking part in the competition I’ve got no chance!
From the emails I've seen Bill did get a response from BD, but just
an acknowledgement of Bill’s email. As far as I know there is no
evidence that Bill’s work had any influence on the work of BD.
But the videos of their devices don't convince me thatthey’re autonomous.
Have you seen this one pretty
impressive.
I haven’t been to find any info about their methodology. Anyone know
anything?
Rupert
[From (Bruce Nevin (2017.09.22.17:19 ET]
Rupert Young (2017.09.22 10.45) –
Hopefully, this was a false alarm. It was one of the three “Similar Projects” at the bottom of the page (‘similar’ in the opinion of a person or analgorithm at hackaday.io). The three choices displayed there when I loaded the page today were different from what I saw yesterday. I can’t find it in my history. The link may have been https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot but I’m not sure–I did a google search immediately after and looked at several pages.
On Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 5:48 AM, Rupert Young rupert@perceptualrobots.com wrote:
[From Rupert Young (2017.09.22 10.45)]
(Bruce Nevin (2017.09.21.18:23 ET)]
I see the Boston Dynamic dog robots linked near the bottomof your hackaday.io
page, Rupert. As I understand it, Bill sent them the Little
Man code and explanations of control. They didn’t reply, but
their products got better.
I didn't see that, can you point me to the specific page please? IfBD are taking part in the competition I’ve got no chance!
From the emails I've seen Bill did get a response from BD, but justan acknowledgement of Bill’s email. As far as I know there is no
evidence that Bill’s work had any influence on the work of BD.But the videos of their devices don't convince me thatthey’re autonomous.
Have you seen this one [https://youtu.be/AO4In7d6X-c](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__youtu.be_AO4In7d6X-2Dc&d=DwMCaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=-dJBNItYEMOLt6aj_KjGi2LMO_Q8QB-ZzxIZIF8DGyQ&m=XUuC4Z6AN5dtYWhjWVMhlD3xJnj6jWk5jiiNXKTXu3U&s=xws76PqMrOMdlYi_o_8n-UdgAQ_UE5WyrzGXZpCtxdA&e=) prettyimpressive.
Any insight into any of this?
I haven't been to find any info about their methodology. Anyone knowanything?
Rupert
[From (Bruce Nevin (2017.09.22.18:22 ET)]
(Bruce Nevin (2017.09.21.18:23 ET) –
But the videos of their devices don’t convince me that they’re autonomous.
Rupert Young (2017.09.22 10.45) –
Have you seen this one https://youtu.be/AO4In7d6X-c pretty impressive.
Impressive, yes, but I’m still not convinced they’re completely autonomous. Seth could be just setting references at the highest level (not very high) and the rest is autonomous, and that in itself is impressive–the hardware achievements are impressive, and the low-level coordination. Yes, with the packages on the conveyor he did use the key word ‘disturbance’ and demonstrate resistance to disturbances. But with the return of the dog the talk was about maps and planned routes, and with the delivery of the drink he was afraid to accept it unless Seth was driving. But yes, impressive. And no doubt they’re treating as proprietary what Bill put in the public domain, no matter whether they got it from Bill or not.
On Fri, Sep 22, 2017 at 5:48 AM, Rupert Young rupert@perceptualrobots.com wrote:
[From Rupert Young (2017.09.22 10.45)]
(Bruce Nevin (2017.09.21.18:23 ET)]
I see the Boston Dynamic dog robots linked near the bottomof your hackaday.io
page, Rupert. As I understand it, Bill sent them the Little
Man code and explanations of control. They didn’t reply, but
their products got better.
I didn't see that, can you point me to the specific page please? IfBD are taking part in the competition I’ve got no chance!
From the emails I've seen Bill did get a response from BD, but justan acknowledgement of Bill’s email. As far as I know there is no
evidence that Bill’s work had any influence on the work of BD.But the videos of their devices don't convince me thatthey’re autonomous.
Have you seen this one [https://youtu.be/AO4In7d6X-c](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__youtu.be_AO4In7d6X-2Dc&d=DwMCaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=-dJBNItYEMOLt6aj_KjGi2LMO_Q8QB-ZzxIZIF8DGyQ&m=XUuC4Z6AN5dtYWhjWVMhlD3xJnj6jWk5jiiNXKTXu3U&s=xws76PqMrOMdlYi_o_8n-UdgAQ_UE5WyrzGXZpCtxdA&e=) prettyimpressive.
Any insight into any of this?
I haven't been to find any info about their methodology. Anyone knowanything?
Rupert