Updated Petman -World's Most Realistic Humanoid

Boston Dynamics just uploaded a new video on youtube of their newest revision of ‘Petman’ which is a robot used to replicate human movement for military testing. The newest revision of Petman broke Boston Dynamic’s history of making really creepy robots. Petman actually looks realistic and doesn’t give me goosebumps like their first versions of BigDog. Instead I am rather impressed with Petman’s capabilities - and looks too!

In the video (below) you can see Petman replicating human motions almost to the tee. Petman is seen running, doing push-ups, and walking exactly as a human would and to the upper right you can see what appears to be Petman doing jumping jacks (or some thing like that) from Boston Dynamic’s website. All of these movements make Petman the worlds most realistic humanoid - a title which you would expect to be given to an Asian company. With innovative robots like Petman, BigDog, and the in-dev ‘SquishBot’ I’m confident that we will be seeing a lot more from Boston Dynamics.

Petman is capable of running at similar speeds to humans, jumping, doing push-ups, and even sweating. All to make sure that soldiers are provided with the best gear possible. Research like this really makes the program look good, and (I hope) helps to increase Boston Dynamic’s funding. Be sure to check out their website HERE for more info, and let me know what you think about Petman in the comment section below or on Twitter.

Roboweek Day Two - Technological Overkill

I’m not sure if you’re subscribed to Robot Magazine (if you’re not, you should be), but if so then you’ll recognize our second Roboweek #robotofnote - DARwIn OP. The OP in this little humanoids name stands for Open Platform, meaning everything about him is available to the public. The code, the parts, and even instructions on how to make one yourself. So if you have tens of thousands of dollars of machinery, you can make a lil’Darwin yourself...Although I doubt most people have the tools/materials to do so.

What makes Darwin so amazing though is the amount of technology packed into such a little bot. He has multiple speakers, mics, an HD camera, built in wi-fi, a mini SD card slot, a 3 axis accelerometer, an ethernet port, 2 USB ports, HDMI out, and many more ridiculous features (I think that list is sufficiently jaw-dropping). The only thing that Darwin is missing are lasers - but I think everything currently crammed in there is sufficient for a little humanoid that stands just under a foot and a half tall. Darwin was made at Virginia Tech, and according to the video below, the project started in 2004, and has had many versions until their success (maybe my school should start something soon, so that by the time i graduate I’ll have a cool little robot to play with). To find out more information about Darwin-OP click HERE.

Which robot is better? DARwIn-OP or NAO?less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyTaylor Niver
RoboTechEd

Are you celebrating #roboweek? What are you doing to celebrate? A good idea would be to download the RoboTechEd Chrome App! Check it out, and tweet @roboteched or @roboweek with any #robotofnote!