http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YqpO58x7vuE
The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Contributed by Joseph Kollar
Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-09/06/robot-cheetah-faster-than-bolt
US army's robotic cheetah is faster than Usain Bolt
06 September 12
Watch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YqpO58x7vuE
Robots are already stronger than humans, able to lift thousands of pounds at a time. In many ways, they're smarter than people, too; machines can perform millions of calculations per second, and even beat us at chess. But we could at least take solace in the fact that we could still outrun our brawny, genius robot overlords if we needed to.
Until now, that is. A four-legged robot, funded by the Pentagon, has just run 45.5km per hour. That's faster than the fastest man's fastest time ever. Oh well, ruling the planet was fun while it lasted.
The world record for the 100 metre dash was set in 2009 by sprinter Usain Bolt, who averaged 37.59kmph during his run for a time of 9.58 seconds. Over one 20-metre stretch, he managed to get up to 44.70kmph. It was a pretty impressive feat.
The Cheetah -- a quadrupedal machine built by master roboteers Boston Dynamics and backed by Darpa, the Defense Department's far-out research division -- not only topped Bolt's record-setting time. It also beat its previous top speed of 28.97kmph, set just a half-year ago.
"To be fair, keep in mind that the Cheetah robot runs on a treadmill without wind drag and has an off-board power supply that it does not carry," a Boston Dynamics press release reminds us. "So Bolt is still the superior athlete."
But the company is looking to change all that, and soon.
"Our real goal is to create a robot that moves freely outdoors while it runs fast. We are building an outdoor version that we call WildCat, that should be ready for testing early next year," Dr. Alfred Rizzi, the technical lead for the Cheetah effort, says in a statement.
It may sound a little outlandish. But keep in mind: Boston Dynamics has done this before. Its alarmingly lifelike BigDog quadruped is able to tramp across ice, snow, and hills -- all without the off-board hydraulic pump and boom-like device now used to keep the Cheetah on track. An improved version of the BigDog can haul over 180kg for up to 32km (see what we mean about robot brawn?). The company also has a biped 'bot, Petman, that looks like a mechanical human -- minus the head.
The idea behind these biologically-inspired robots is that legs can carry machines across terrain that would leave wheels or tracks stuck. To be a true partner to a human soldier, a robot has to walk like one, too. Darpa says Cheetah and company will "contribute to emergency response, humanitarian assistance and other defense missions." But when the robot was first introduced, Boston Dynamics noted that its flexible spine would help it "zigzag to chase and evade."
As if being brilliant and super-strong wasn't unnerving enough.
Source: Wired.com
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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