Current protests and demonstrations in Los Angeles have got the most successful robotaxi company (so far) to stop its operations in the city for now. Because, turns out, a car full of high end cameras is not welcome when conflict with law enforcement is at its highest.
The problem is that the cars’ cameras are constantly recording, creating a trove of information police can use.
Full automation means also full surveillance. Who knew?
This incident between a Unitree G1 and a child in what looks like a demo presentation in a mall seems like it could have ended much worse than what it looks like. The robot has obviously no idea what just happened. Only a shoe got removed. The child does not seem hurt. I don’t know how much these machines weight, but they don’t seem light. Luckily, the robothing turned right and didn’t trip over the kid. Everyone seems amused. This is fine.
Chris Powers’ face at the end of this short video says it all.
It’s rather satisfying to see a human on wheels show a robot on wheels how it’s done.
Pretty sure the PO at Starship Technologies did not have “my robot as a skateboard ramp” in their threat model. Now you do.
This video shows two Amazon warehouse robots, each carrying a package, getting into some kind of dance. It could also look like one is bullying the other by preventing it from escaping a difficult position. I guess we’ll never know the end of that story. Human intervention sounds definitely necessary.
A brave tech worker trusted a robotaxi to drive them to the airport. The robotaxi got stuck in a loop on a parking lot, driving in circles, as you can see in the video below. This situation is both funny and scary and we can sense the stress and disbelief in the voice of this passenger.
I do have many questions:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mikejohns_lyft-uber-omg-activity-7271962168286191617-E7j4
Kicking bipedal robots is now called “perturbations” in the academic language of aggressive human robot interactions.
The cameraman falling down also made the cut. I guess it’s only fair to also show human missteps along robot missteps.
A humanoid robot named Unitree G1 is apparently being mass produced. And the manufacturer thought it was appropriate to add this warning in its video presentation:
*We kindly request that all users refrain from making any dangerous modifications or using the robot in a hazardous manner.
It’s probably the closest thing to a universal robotic device to interact with our anthropocentric world and you expect us not to do dangerous things with it?
I bet that’s probably the first thing we’ll do with it.
Robots won’t steal our jobs, they’ll make us work for them.
(source)
…or so it seems. Boston Dynamics retired Atlas, the android robot we all know for its terminator style back-flips and other “parkour” abilities in controlled environment.
The famous robocompany, once Google’s property until it was too toxic for the “no-evil” brand to keep, just released a video celebrating their ten years of product demos, with, you guessed it, lots of unseen bloopers.
Some are very gross with hydraulic body fluids pouring out of broken limbs or our Johnny Atlas here hitting itself in the bearing balls (like in the looping gif above originally extracted by TechCrunch). So, viewer discretion advised.
And bye Atlas, you amazed us as much as you scared us. I won’t say I’ll miss you.