# What's new, Atlas? (AI, Robotics and tech thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 18, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952 "2017-11-18T02:39:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/101 "2018-12-04T00:35:57Z")
[The ISS now has a jerkbot](https://qz.com/1482839/the-iss-has-a-robot-on-board-and-hes-being-kind-of-a-dick/amp/). How long until it starts singing _Bicycle Built for Two_? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/102 "2018-12-06T04:55:47Z")
The folks at Nvidia have developed an AI that can render, among other things, realistic urban scenes. I’m not 100% sure, but it seems, to borrow a gaming term, to be a rogue-like terrain generator, which is pretty fucking cool. They also trained it to make people dance. Brief [article](https://techxplore.com/news/2018-12-ai-nvidia-explores-what-if-worlds.html) & short [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=92&v=ayPqjPekn7g). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/103 "2019-01-11T00:06:56Z")
[How _you_ doin’, Atlas](https://soranews24.com/2019/01/11/bring-your-2-d-waifu-to-life-with-worlds-first-life-sized-emotional-robotic-figurine-%e3%80%90video%e3%80%91/)? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/104 "2019-01-11T04:14:02Z")
That’s pretty unimpressive, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/105 "2019-01-11T04:21:09Z")
[What’s that, Homer?](https://youtu.be/2-RLMmNPWdA?t=16) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/106 "2019-01-11T05:02:05Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I worry about mass unemployment. I think that will be a huge issue in the 2020s but especially the 2030s. After job hunting for quite a long time, I started working a few months ago for a company that makes robots. They’re similar to the Amazon warehouse robots that were linked to earlier, and several people at my company previously worked on those. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [http://www.rethinkrobotics.com/baxter/](http://www.rethinkrobotics.com/baxter/) > > $22,000 for Baxter > > $29,000 for Sawyer > > Kind of expensive for your house, but if you eat a lot of sandwiches, maybe it’d be worth it. 😃 I interviewed at Rethink about a year ago. Seemed like pretty cool tech, but I think they have since gone out of business. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/107 "2019-01-11T05:19:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > After job hunting for quite a long time, I started working a few months ago for a company that makes robots. They’re similar to the Amazon warehouse robots that were linked to earlier, and several people at my company previously worked on those. > > I interviewed at Rethink about a year ago. Seemed like pretty cool tech, but I think they have since gone out of business. Their website is still active (I clicked the link) and at the bottom says “copyright 2008-2019”, but [their Wikipedia page backs you up:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rethink_Robotics) > [@](#): > > Rethink robotics closed its doors on October 3, 2018 and its intellectual property assets were acquired by HAHN Group on October 25, 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/108 "2019-02-03T20:19:14Z")
[‘Inkjet’ solar panels poised to revolutionise green energy](https://techxplore.com/news/2019-02-inkjet-solar-panels-poised-revolutionise.html) This is the first I had heard of perovskite solar cells; it’s fascinating. [Everything you ever wanted to know about perovskite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oZWLKSDVBk) (4:46 video) [Here is Saule Tech printing one of their cells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRn1aTesLkI) (:31); pretty fucking cool IMO. Lotta potential there; can’t wait to see the first large-scale installation. I’d be curious to see micro-scale uses too: cel phone covers, automobile rooftops, roadway lights and signals, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/109 "2019-02-16T22:46:51Z")
In Japan [a robot is playing around with radioactive waste](https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/15/18225233/robot-nuclear-fuel-debris-fukushima-reactor-japan). Tokyo is doomed. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/110 "2019-03-04T03:19:09Z")
[Agility Robotics shows some improvements in their robot Cassie in this 3:36 video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-92Bq96Co) One big advance for this blind robot is the addition of dynamic planning to deal with changes in the terrain, including stairs. Another removes the brief transitional that Cassie used to go thru when changing from standing still to in motion. Pretty cool stuff, IMO. And yeah, there’s a coupla bloopers at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/111 "2019-03-04T17:29:15Z")
[MIT’s Mini Cheetah](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNeZWP5Mx9s) is kind of like an even smaller version of the Spot Mini, but without the huge sensor “head”. It seems to have joints at the shoulder that allow it to re-orient the shoulder; I thought it looked cool and useful at 1:05 when they were showing how limber the Cheetah is. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/112 "2019-03-12T20:37:19Z")
So–all of the voice recognition done “by” phones and other portable doodads today are actually recorded audio clips transmitted off to server farms somewhere to do the actual recognition. But Google has managed to [shrink it’s English-language voice recognition code](https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/03/12/google-bringing-faster-on-device-speech-recognition-to-gboard-starting-with-pixel-phones/) from 2 GB to 80 MB, allowing it to soon be able to run on-device. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/113 "2019-04-04T00:41:07Z")
[Content-aware fill for video](https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/03/adobe-after-effects-content-fill-eraser/). ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/114 "2019-04-04T05:04:39Z")
Nvidia’s latest AI outing GauGAN, converts sketches consisting of just a few marked areas to [near-photorealistic pictures](https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/nvidia-ai-turns-sketches-into-photorealistic-landscapes-in-seconds/). I remember a scene in Star Trek: TNG (I think), where a boy used a doodad to produce a dolphin-sculpture from a block of material, asking excitedly whether they made that afterwards. And that’s the thing: did he? What’s the nature of art created by pushing the ‘make art’-button? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/115 "2019-04-04T05:27:46Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I remember a scene in Star Trek: TNG (I think), where a boy used a doodad to produce a dolphin-sculpture from a block of material, asking excitedly whether they made that afterwards. And that’s the thing: did he? What’s the nature of art created by pushing the ‘make art’-button? [ [URL=“http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/118.htm”]\*When the Bough Breaks \*](http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/118.htm) [URL=“[The Next Generation Transcripts - When The Bough Breaks](http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/118.htm)”] ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/116 "2019-04-04T10:36:20Z")
Boston Dynamics Ostrich-like pallet loader: > **[Boston Dynamics’ latest robot is a mechanical ostrich that loads pallets](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/03/boston-dynamics-latest-robot-is-a-mechanical-ostrich-that-loads-pallets/)** > > The latest creation from Softbank's Boston Dynamics looks ready for actual work. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/117 "2019-04-04T15:06:36Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [ > [URL=“http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/118.htm”]\*When the Bough Breaks > \*](http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/118.htm) > [ That’s the one, thanks! > [@N9IWP](#): > > Boston Dynamics Ostrich-like pallet loader: > [Boston Dynamics’ latest robot is a mechanical ostrich that loads pallets | Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/03/boston-dynamics-latest-robot-is-a-mechanical-ostrich-that-loads-pallets/)]([The Next Generation Transcripts - When The Bough Breaks](http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/118.htm)) > > Brian Saw this earlier. I have to say, I find their movement a little creepy… The gripping attachment reminded me of the [origami gripper](https://www.geek.com/tech/mits-origami-robot-gripper-can-grab-delicate-and-heavy-objects-1778539/) from MIT. I wonder where I might have seen [that one](https://goo.gl/images/zZHts9) before… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/118 "2019-04-05T01:53:42Z")
It turns out that [children are assholes to robots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuJT9EtdETY). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/119 "2019-04-05T12:36:47Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It turns out that [children are assholes to robots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuJT9EtdETY). News flash: children are assholes to whomever they can be. Mostly that means other kids, but I guess it’s not surprising that they would be assholes to milquetoast robots. Give the robot some physical defenses - taser, baton, phased-plasma rifle in the 40-watt range - and the power dynamic will change. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952/120 "2019-04-05T12:40:31Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It turns out that [children are assholes to robots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuJT9EtdETY). One of the comments was: “The children will laugh and abuse the robot now, but when the cleansing of the human race begins they’ll be crying for mercy while their mechanical overlords strip away their essence of life” :)🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-atlas-ai-robotics-and-tech-thread/801952.md?page=7)