this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
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Futurology
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Navigating human environments. Imagine a team of these robots toting moving boxes down the stairs of a third floor apartment and loading them into a truck.
Assuming it actually works good. Right now they're probably going to get a limb caught irrecoverably on a doorknob.
Yes? A triped robot would have just as much ease navigating human environments, while having much more stability. Same logic applies to arms and joints - there's no real reason to limit it to what humans have, it would likely perform much better in other configurations.
Seems like a tripod robot would offer little benefit over a bipedal one while having more parts (costing more).
A total inability to fall over or navigate any terrain regardless of roughness isn't a benefit? Increased manipulators would also increase productivity / capability, probably much more than making up for increased cost.
Your argument is essentially that the human form is the best possible one imaginable, which I find highly doubtful.
My argument is that humans have built our cities to be navigated best by the human form, so that in that environment it is the best form. In most terrains a quadruped form is better.
Put it this way - does it seem like cats and dogs have any trouble navigating our environment?
The dog shaped robot is $70,000
Current prices are meaningless. It's not mass production or retail pricing. I doubt the components actually cost more than a few hundred dollars. It's an extremely limited niche market and prices are based on what will get them the most return on their R&D budget, not anything resembling production cost.