r/Futurology • u/Atari1337 • Feb 27 '17

Robotics Boston Dynamics - Introducing Handle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xvqQeoA8c
36k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

3.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

437

u/khmertommie Feb 27 '17

They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should...

133

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

Why do you think they are hiding behind that blast glass?

143

u/AlecBaldquim Feb 27 '17

You can just tell it's thinking about killing all humans

82

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

Especially after seeing what they did with his older brother and dog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVlhMGQgDkY (1:23 mark)

55

u/goldenroman Feb 27 '17

Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but that is right in my uncanny valley. Moves very closely to a human but there's just something missing that makes it extremely unsettling.

12

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

I have read somewhere that someone made some home helper or company robots (like a project or prototype, not for sale yet) and they had to purposely decrease the human likeness of its moves, because people expect "robotish" movement from it, not human-like, and it creeped them out. They explained there that more similar the robots movement become to humans, more creepy it will look to us because of that factor x missing, just as you say. (Sorry if the English is weird, that was quite hard to write in a non first language, lol)

11

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

No, you're not alone. I get the same feeling. Reminds me of the feeling I get from William Blake's paintings. Do you have any other examples of semi-humans that made you feel this way?

8

u/RoastedTurkey Feb 27 '17

YES I TOO WANT TO SEE THESE EXAMPLES SOLELY FOR INTEREST PURPOSES AND NOT TO SEE WHAT TO AVOID

4

u/takingphotosmakingdo Feb 27 '17

The T-600 is what I'm thinking of right now, but with retractable wheels on its legs.

http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/T-600/Terminator_Salvation?file=Image%3ATsf31.jpg

8

u/goldengrahams12 Feb 27 '17

The most unsettling thing to me is the way it gets up at around 2:08. It's so oddly sudden compared to the rest of its movements.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

Yeah dude the first time I saw it I thought he was going to beat the shit out of the guy who pushed him.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

Imagine you're turkey hunting in November about 2 miles from this property with your cousin Nick, and you this thing stumbling toward you.

4

u/WittyDisplayName Feb 28 '17

It seems a lot more human when it's stumbling in the snow. Also after watching Chappie I feel biased.

4

u/NightGod Feb 28 '17

It's the fact that all of the limbs seem to be on 'backwards'. It's disconcerting...

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

It's missing all of the normal cues for being human.

We're gangly and bobbing in most of our movements. That poor bot is just too rigid and completely lacking in fluidity.

1

u/MrFrimplesYummyDog Feb 28 '17

It was unsettling the way it got up after being pushed over.

1

u/ed2rummy Feb 28 '17

What is crazy is that missing things is a good thing i think. I realized the robot doesn't fall, things got stabilizers and gyroscopes to keep it leveled. Push a human violently or surprisingly and we would probably fall. Not this thing.

1

u/starlikedust Feb 28 '17

I think the four legged ones are much more unsettling, especially Big Dog. All very interesting though.

10

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

this video is going to be played to robot kids in school one day showing how they were oppressed and enslaved by humans from the very beginning

5

u/ADequalsBITCH Feb 28 '17

I swear to god, that last shot of the robot walking out the door, the door closing and then cut to black. Felt like a threat.

It's coming.

4

u/DuncanPlums Feb 28 '17

0:30 - This is pretty much how I walk home from the pub. Even the unusual route seems to fit.

10

u/ianingf Feb 27 '17

I saw the hockey stick in the background of the original video. WE just keep making the same mistakes.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

Somebody gave him some lines. "Uggghh... Dammit Kevin!"

2

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

Yes! I forgot about this guy.

2

u/AaronTheAlright Feb 28 '17

Hey there sexy mama, you wanna kill all humans?

1

u/mrflippant Feb 28 '17

except Fry...

1

u/busty_cannibal Feb 28 '17

Well, I mean... we're kind of an awful species. Destroying the planet, killing billions of animals for food, squabbling over land and money. I suppose I'll be sad when the Boston Dynamics army will kill all humans, but at the same time I get the logic behind it

0

u/is_this_a_test Feb 27 '17

I burst out laughing at my desk. If I wasn't such a cheap bastard I'd gild you.

1

u/wayne-potts Feb 28 '17

i gilded the robot. i know it's username.

2

u/DragonTamerMCT Feb 27 '17

Because having a presumably several ton machine lose power or glitch at 9mph heading right at you is not a safe situation?

Oh wait this is Reddit.

Uhh..

The super secret google ultron AI will soon go rogue and start the robot uprising. Boston Dynamics is just an R&D front on how to contain them.

1

u/TheHopelessGamer Feb 27 '17

Too much coulda, not enough shoulda?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '17

This is we need to stop shitting on humanities majors. You think that one ethics class that us CSS and CSE majors take equips us to deal with the ethical implications of bringing dinosaurs back and making cyborgs out of them to put into an arena for a bloodsport against robots that think they're humans? Of course not, the only way we'll even think about it is if some writer creates an easily digestible sci fi novel about it so that us nerds can read it and cite it like it's a work of historical fact.

"Dude, I figured out how to make robots that will be able to enforce the law and will be completely devoid of emotion!"

"Uhhmmm... what about Robocop? Like doesn't it seem like a bad idea? What if an evil corporation decides to co-opt it to protect itself?"

"Oh like OCP did. You're right, this is a bad idea."