Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #03750
To: Steven Bolt sbolt@xs4all.nl
From: Dave Hrynkiw dave@solarbotics.com
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 02:06:30 -0600
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Stryder / Cog-like machine in 5 yrs WAS [non-tech / LONG]
At 01:48 AM 5/26/1999 , Steven Bolt wrote:
>On Tue, 25 May 1999, Dave Hrynkiw wrote:
>Ummm... I find Stryder very interesting, but the practical
>application isn't obvious to me.
Proof of concepts don't really have to be practical, do they? After all,
the layout of Stryder's electronics will drive a "Unibug 2", which is
Mark's 4 motor, 4 legged (sound familiar), horizontally-opposed motor
layout walker (also is the inspiration for the next ScoutWalker 2 variation).
My impression is that Stryder is one of Mark's experiments at combining
heads with bodies. The fact that it uses such an interesting walking gait
has merit in itself. He mentioned this physical layout a few years back,
and I simply couldn't wrap my head around what sort of gait would make it
work. Seeing it go is really impressive.
> If a `bot won't lift its legs, why
>not use wheels instead?
But it DOES lift it's legs, but just not that far. There's arguments for
interpreting action (ie: you know which way it's going to go just by the
position it's legs are in), low disturbance of environment (even a few cm
in a garden will disturb lots less soil than wheels). Etc, etc.
> Autonavigating wheeled carts have been
>doing a good job on smooth (hospital & factory) floors for years.
>Wheels probably save lots of energy, compared to this kind of
>walking.
Hey - you're preaching to the choir here (ie: I totally agree). I've always
been more of a wheel fan than leg fan when it comes to robots.
Adjusting Stryder's geometry would be an interesting experiment. Increasing
the splay angle between legs for more clearance, for example. The neat
thing is that by running most of the load close-to perpendicular with the
walking surface means that there's little bending load on the motor output,
and much less friction. Less power is required and battery life goes up.
....Dave likes Stryder....
> > But what I will comment on is, THAT TO ME, Mark's work is
> > parallel to Brooks' work a decade ago with Ghengis and the like,
> > but using a different approach. I fully expect Mark to be working
> > on a Cog-like machine in the next 5 years too.
>
>No disrespect intended! I like Tilden robotics a lot. But would you
>perhaps like to take a bet on that? Cog-level complexity/computation
>using Nervous Nets in five years? I'll take a good Canadian whisky,
>you can have any equivalent European bottle :)
I'll take that bet! But no others, ok? If I lose, I don't want it to be the
reason Solarbotics goes out of business! But I want a more exact criteria
of performance. Head/hand coordination, like "I see it, I grab at it" like
Cog had on "Robots Rising"?
(Mark - if you're reading this, there's noooo pressure. Nope, none at
all.... ;>
Regards,
Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U, K,I,_W_. Yes,
that's right. Yes, I know it looks like "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
http://www.solarbotics.com
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