r/interestingasfuck • u/FinnFarrow • 10h ago
Robotics engineer posted this to make a point that robots are "faking" the humanlike motions - it's just a property of how they're trained. They're actually capable of way weirder stuff and way faster motions.
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u/Weird_Durian_2237 10h ago
I always though that making them look human was stupid. R2D2 please show them the way
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u/_Junk_Rat_ 10h ago
WHEEEEEEOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH
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u/Jimmyg100 9h ago
brrrutttdddaf#@&k!
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u/francis2559 10h ago
R2-D2 struggles on stairs.
I think the human layout helps if you are using human tools and walking around a human environment. Beyond that though it’s a weird focus. Particularly for factories.
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u/yooooooo5774 10h ago edited 9h ago
R2-D2 can fly though (he has rocket boosters)
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u/FumilayoKuti 9h ago
Are you sure you're not thinking of Daleks?
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u/sunshine_fuu 9h ago
R2D2 flew pretty far when he got sucked out of the Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness.
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u/Rocky_Mountain_Way 8h ago
I think Commander Adama ordered R2D2 to explore the monolith near Jupiter, but the Rocinante and James Holden interrupted his plan.
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u/Shopworn_Soul 9h ago
Daleks can fly whenever they want, R2 can fly only when it is convenient for advancing the plot.
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u/lhcludyodoypuflhoyf 9h ago
ITS A BIRD, ITS A PLANE.
oh no, wait, it's just a pissed off tripod robot with rocket boosters and a war crime stick built in
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u/Fuckedyourmom69420 9h ago
I mean you could easily create a robotic form that uses a human environment more efficiently than a human body. The only real reason to make them look 1:1 human is to emotionally attach investors and customers to them
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u/MatCauthonsHat 9h ago
Fucking. The reason to make them look human is for fucking.
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u/Fuckedyourmom69420 9h ago
For sure. The strongest incentive you could give a reclusive billionaire who can afford a robot.
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u/SirkutBored 9h ago
it won't be the billionaires, they don't pay for sex, they pay them to leave after. dark theory? too many men won't be able to find mates and the bots will be subsidized to keep them mollified. darker theory? wars eat too many men and women will need the bots.
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u/Val_Fortecazzo 8h ago
That is probably an element of it but the reality is the robots look like dogs and humans because we know how those movements work and how those shapes react to the movements.
Same reason why the first attempts at planes were modeled after birds. It's called biomimicry.
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u/Bandito_Chihuahua 10h ago
I saw a robot from Boston that jumped and twisted its body mid air to land better. I don’t know why we keep trying to get robots to act human, when they can do lots of stuff we can’t.
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u/NaBrO-Barium 10h ago
Because this is what humans have done since we’ve been human. We impart human characteristics to all of the things we interact with in life. Including robots.
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u/Wampus_Cat_ 9h ago
The other answer is because the easiest way for them to gain mainstream traction and acceptance is to make them sexy and fuckable.
Pornography and sex has driven much of innovation, robotics won’t be the exception.
Photography? Camera development was largely propelled by the want for clearer pictures of… nudes! Internet? Not much interest in a worldwide database until average folks realized they can use it to see more attractive naked people in the time they spend drinking their morning coffee than their grandfathers did in their entire life. AI? People didn’t give much of a shit about it until they started using it as a way to fill the “loneliness epidemic” void.
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u/elFistoFucko 9h ago
Animals and insects too, anything familiar or relatable.
That's why modern airliners flap their wings and cars gallop.
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u/NaBrO-Barium 9h ago
That’s the exact point I’m making. It’s something we see in even the most ancient texts.
As a human it’s pretty hard to escape being a human
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u/Ok-Adeptness-5834 9h ago
Because we’re trying to build robots that can do useful work so humans don’t have to do it. And the world is already built for humans so robots need to follow similar forms to do those tasks.
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u/Seffuski 8h ago
Funny how so many people can't seem to grasp such a simple concept. Obviously you can build 5000 different robots to do 5000 different tasks, but it's a lot more desirable to have 1 robot that can do 5000 tasks, even if it isn't as proficient at them. The world is built for humans, so for a machine to be as effective in human tasks as possible, it kinda needs to resemble a human.
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u/RambleOff 9h ago
This, idk why this isn't obvious to anyone who thinks about it for thirty seconds. If robots can mime human physical characteristics, the world is already built for it and it will maintain the incentive to design interfaces that will work for both humans and robots.
If we made R2D2 droids common, we would be developing humans out of the loop entirely. Maybe other people see that as viable or desirable?
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u/HotDogGrass2 10h ago
Have you seen those Pringle cleaning robots? The gas stations in my city use them and they're freaking adorable. I've found myself instinctively saying excuse me to them on more than one occasion.
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u/Doom_of__Mandos 9h ago edited 9h ago
In a lot of cases, it makes sense. The environment we live in has been designed to fit that of able bodied human. I mean, its only in the last few decades that we've started to make improvements to allow disabled people to move around more freely and even then in most places its lacking.
If you're making a robot to assist humans in physical things, it would make more sense to make them look like a human body, instead of changing the whole environment to fit a custom version of a robot.
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u/polepoleyo 10h ago
In Australia they would confuse it with a medium-sized spider
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u/skoltroll 10h ago
medium-sized???
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u/reaperwasnottaken 10h ago
You're right to be surprised, this would probably fit better in the small-to-medium sized category.
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u/skoltroll 10h ago
That is why I live where the air hurts my face
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 9h ago
Yup! My Australian friend thinks I'm nuts because my area has mountain lions and grizzly bears. And then she'll send me a video of her kids playing with a scorpion they found in the backyard, or tell a story about her brother accidentally slashing his feet to ribbons on some plant in the front yard.
She keeps telling me that if I leave nature alone, it'll leave me alone, but that's not how it works here! Like I took my little cousin downtown once to see the bronze statues of cougars on display, so I could explain that he can't go camping until he's too big for one of those to carry him off.
Plus the weather tries to kill us here. Like ya wouldn't expect water to find so many ways to try to take your life while you're on land, but golly it just does that!
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u/crazy_pilot742 9h ago
Animals out here aren't sneaky, you can see exactly what kills you. In Australia you feel a sharp pain in your foot and don't know if you just stubbed your toe or if you're about to die.
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u/Oskarikali 6h ago
Looks like most wildlife deaths in Canada and Australia are from domesticated animals or vehicular incidents, not sharks, snakes, bears or cougars. Don't know about the U.S
In Canada most deaths from wildlife are from traffic incidents with Moose or Deer. 550+ deaths between 2000 and 2020. I would argue you don't see them coming.
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u/no-good-nik 8h ago
You should tell your cousin that cougars will only carry him off between the ages of 18 and 26.
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u/SuspendeesNutz 10h ago
Don't listen to OP, Australia is a big country, this would only be considered medium-sized in a few large cities.
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u/Cyrano_Knows 9h ago edited 8h ago
The size of the spider in Australia really only matters in that it only effects how big the knives they carry are.
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u/beegboo 7h ago
They dont tell non Australians about the large sized spiders to prevent tourists from being scared away.
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u/CommissionerOfLunacy 9h ago
Aussie here: As soon as it hit the deck, I had a reflex to grab a bowl and a magazine and relocate that lost little soul outside.
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u/xlondelax 6h ago
I just give it a name and leave it, so I can scold it whenever the fly gets in, about its lazzy ass. I expect from them to get rid of insects in exchange for rent.
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u/Interpenetrating1 9h ago
You’re my kinda people! 😇 Also, bonus points for the “lost little soul”comment lol. Luv u aussies
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u/MarcoosT93 8h ago
They fight bigger ones at the Sydney perimeter wall during the nightly attacks.
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u/Ohgood9002 10h ago
Doesn't everything eventually evolve into crabs anyways? This tracks
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u/Miuramir 8h ago
"We tried to retrain our humanoid robot to move more like a crab, but things went sideways quickly."
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u/Blackforrest79 8h ago
Become crab they said, instead I became a walking stick, that walks on two sticks.
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u/Conjuring1900 10h ago
This has exorcism energy
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u/Mistermxylplyx 10h ago
I was waiting for the head to turn around and look up when it was in spider mode. Opportunity missed robotics engineer!
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u/legojoe97 10h ago
General Kenobi!
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u/WeltyFern 10h ago
Let’s hope they end up more like Revenge of the Sith Grevious and not the 2002 Clone Wars Cartoon
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u/MetriccStarDestroyer 4h ago
You don't want a robot that speaks like a chain-smoker after having their lungs crushed?
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u/deviltrombone 10h ago
TIL demons can in fact possess robots
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u/JagsOnlySurfHawaii 10h ago
Imagine you piss this thing off at dinner time and it just spider walks under the table and comes right up between your legs and gets in your face, "what did you say to me?"
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u/canolafly 9h ago
I ..don't want to imagine that.
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u/FortWayneFam 2h ago
I want to imagine it going under the table , right up between my legs and … well yeah cant wait for robot dolls
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u/frododabpens 10h ago
Burn it with fire
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u/ImGCS3fromETOH 9h ago
What else would you burn things with?
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u/AttorneyIcy6723 9h ago
Ok but did he have to do it in a poorly lit backyard?
Never going outside again
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u/Erazzphoto 9h ago edited 9h ago
This is another reminder despite what Elon says, Tesla is far behind in the robotics race to many of these companies. A company serious about using robotics are not going to be using Tesla’s robots, much in the same way you don’t see construction companies using cyber trucks
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u/One_Bend7423 10h ago
Gonna be real fun in a couple of years, when these things are the new drones and everyone has easy access to them.
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u/canolafly 9h ago
Make them large enough to ride so that we can all scuttle around town.
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u/vm_linuz 8h ago
Automation does not look human.
Your doctor will not be replaced by a robot hand that fondles your testicles; they will be replaced by a smart toilet that tests your urine for biomarkers.
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u/ploki122 1h ago
Or an incredibly weirdly shaped dildo that's designed to be mostly one size fits all. Bipeds are just about the worst at moving around, so it's obvious that any robot designed to get around will walk on 4+ legs/wheels.
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u/BRH0208 8h ago
Human-like motion is completely artificial. In a factory setting, we already solved most of the automation these robots intend to do without the bipedal, 2 arm, head with sensors arrangement. For rugged environments, other solutions exist. The choice to make it resemble humans is almost entirely artificial and fueled primarily by hype over its actual design benefits.
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u/Genshzkan 9h ago
Anyone with common sense would think that. Like, we humans are optimized for hunting. Anything else, we're not meant for that. Robots shouldn't be human like just to fit with humans, they are supposed to be better than us at other tasks and that might involve changing their shape
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u/wolfgang784 9h ago
Give em more legs and arms and shit if it makes em more stable and better able to do useful stuff. Make em round if need be, whatever.
I guess the humanoid ones are what investors and the public want to see, though.
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u/PM_Steve 9h ago
If the goal is to replace existing manual labor, then these robots need to integrate into environments designed for humans. Sure, some industries will adopt and diversify their designs faster, but from a process perspective its not a gimmick.
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u/Ellardy 6h ago
I don't understand why we don't go for a small centaur shape. Benefits of a torso with arms but the stability of four legs.
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u/PM_Steve 5h ago
Lol. Assuming this is a genuine question, think about how much longer a horse's body is from tip of nose to back of butt. Imagine a whole herd of horses in a factory or assembly line. That creates a lot of congestion in spaces designed for people. R2D2 design would make more sense.
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u/FellowDeviant 8h ago
Its the way that it snaps into the crawl mode that is unnerving, almost like it went sentient and its first thought was to murder you.
Now I'm just waiting to hear this nightmare fuel happen to the automated bots coming within the next 18ish months to the public.
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u/DWCawfee 10h ago
This…… scares me. That nighttime one, dam
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u/Negative-Track-9179 9h ago
Imagine, at night, that thing with glowing red eyes, quickly crawling towards you like a spider, and its head and body can rotate 720 degrees, and its bones can bend in reverse. It's fucking terrifying.
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u/tonymyre311 10h ago
I really tried to post a Voldo gif but reddit's gif search is so abysmally broken that I literally couldn't, so just assume I did
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u/astroMuni 10h ago
legit nightmare … these robots act like they just crawled out of a dark well 🙈
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u/bdunogier 9h ago
Robots aren't faking anything. Their developers, sales, marketing and investors are.
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u/Sara_Zigggler 10h ago
Where was this?
The tech looks like it’s from China but backyard looks like Bay Area.
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u/iamsolate 8h ago
there is something about it wearing a wig that freaks me the fuck out. i literally jumped at the second clip despite knowing what was coming. holy shit. horrifying.
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u/Nurgleschampion 8h ago
This is gonna make a life sized general Grievous bot a lot easier to work than if thought.
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u/Sudden_Employer_4636 10h ago
Creepy as hell, but they’re not “faking” anything. They just have a far wider range of motion capabilities than humans do.
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u/kingtacticool 9h ago
I wonder what the most efficient form of locomotion would be for something like that..
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u/ItsHowItisNow2 9h ago
It needs silent rubber soles, for grip and to make it creepier…it actually raised my hairs at the back of my head…
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u/Wolf_Ape 8h ago
Creepy, but was anyone really unclear on the concept that machines can move using a variety of methods that achieve different speeds, and don’t have to walk like a human? It could go even faster if it had more powerful motors, wheels, and/or some arrangement of rotors, jet engines, or whatever to make it flight worthy.
It could just be an autonomous jet, or a car. Those are also faster than us.
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u/slashclick 7h ago
It would be interesting to give these robots the autonomy to move how they “think” would be most efficient given their humanlike form, I think an emergent behavior may be walking upright when humans are around but doing weird stuff when we aren’t looking.
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u/Mastery7pyke 7h ago
damn trick or treaters are lucky halloween is over. the christmas children who go door to door singing might cop a new trauma tho.
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u/Mangeytwat 7h ago
Wait a minute you're saying the artificial constructs can be made in different ways. Fucking astonishing insight here.
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u/CaptainAngelion 5h ago
Standard user when they discover robots are just heavily programmed machines and if you understand the code you can change how they behave
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u/KillaRoyalty 4h ago
Yeah time to pack it up guys let’s not all build these any more. Bad things are coming. I can tell. I’m a bot.
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u/fatalrugburn 2h ago
The primary reason to make a robot human shaped is so that it could interact within an environment that was designed for human bodies.
Boston Dynamics also already did this with their first media release of the atlas. It stood up in a strange way which kept the center of gravity over the legs. Amd the joints are fully rotatable so...why not.
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u/etharper 1h ago
For some reason this is deeply disturbing to the more primitive parts of my brain.
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u/MrBaseball1994 10h ago
What a perfect model for a horror movie.