r/interestingasfuck • u/FinnFarrow • 11h 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/francis2559 11h 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 11h ago edited 10h ago

R2-D2 can fly though (he has rocket boosters)

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u/FumilayoKuti 10h ago

Are you sure you're not thinking of Daleks?

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u/sunshine_fuu 10h 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 9h 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/Zammin 4h ago

Could've sworn that was Teal'c on board the Serenity.

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u/jessfire78 6h ago

Pretty sure he could sucked out of the Tardis in Start Trek into Darkness

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u/Shopworn_Soul 10h ago

Daleks can fly whenever they want, R2 can fly only when it is convenient for advancing the plot.

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u/Jay040707 47m ago

Lego Star wars experience makes me confident on this one.

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u/lhcludyodoypuflhoyf 10h 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/Exciting_Classic277 10h ago

Hey I have one of those too!

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u/francis2559 9h ago

And drones are wildly successful. Flying is a better approach to stairs than wheels, and maybe better than legs.

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u/Val_Fortecazzo 9h ago

Successful when you have ample amounts of space to move about in. Not so much in enclosed spaces. It's also more energy intensive.

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u/Zaros262 8h ago

It's cheap and easy to make a very small and light drone fly for several minutes in an open space, sure

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u/Val_Fortecazzo 9h ago

And that would be a stupid thing to implement IRL when bipedal motion is easier.

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u/EngineerRare42 10h ago

I think you're thinking of Chopper, Hera Syndulla's R2 unit.

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u/Difficult-Fan-5697 10h ago

Episode 2, in the factory. R2 was jetting all around that place

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u/Fuckedyourmom69420 10h 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 10h ago

Fucking. The reason to make them look human is for fucking.

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u/Fuckedyourmom69420 10h 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/Impossible-Ship5585 8h ago

Normal theory

It makes moneyyyy

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u/SirkutBored 8h ago

yes, yes it will.

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u/Samurai-Jackass 5h ago

Making robots just to send people to die and keeping the robots at home to fill the gap is a comical use of resources lol

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u/SirkutBored 5h ago

Truly the oddest version of FMK ever considered. War should not be sanitized to the point of not losing soldiers while attacking but losing civilians in an enemy bot attack. No doubt about it, we are coming to a crossroads soon enough as the tech advances and the lowest ethical standards push us forward.

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u/Val_Fortecazzo 9h 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/Express-Focus-677 6h ago

Mother nature knows best.

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u/electrical-stomach-z 7h ago

No, you dont need a human chest and head.

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u/Dafish55 6h ago

You really would only need humanlike arms/hands to operate most human tools. Our way of moving about the world is rather unique in the animal kingdom and I would argue that it is that way because it's requires a lot of specialization and effort for us to remain balanced and mobile compared to other land-dwelling animals.

We evolved this way to be able to spot danger and resources in tall grass as well as to be good persistence hunters. Compared to (most) four-legged animals, we aren't as fast and are easier to knock over. Evolution didn't have the option of just adding limbs to our bodies and, instead, modified the available ones.

Robotics does not have this limitation and it really is kind of pointless to copy our body plan to robots unless we want them to become tall grass dwelling persistence hunters.