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Ivan Sutherland : 6 Legged Walker : CMU 1982 & 1983
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All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this video.⬐ AnimatsOh, that thing. That was mostly Sutherland having fun.It was followed by the OSU Adaptive Suspension Vehicle.[1] This may have been the first walking machine with active computer control. Despite the claims of off-road capabilities, it could at best handle a dirt road with a slight slope. They got it to walk over a log, but that was with 5 legs locked and the operator managing one leg with a joystick.
⬐ jacquesm⬐ abrax3141There is some progress...:Coincidentally, the grad student who programmed the thing, Marc Donner, is now director of global tech sites at ... wait for it ... Uber!⬐ ericbWhat is that on the ground that rolls by it, stops by sewer grate, and then rolls some more?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMfU2FtSBk&feature=youtu.be...
⬐ CptFribble⬐ PhantomGremlinLikely some trash or debris. At 3:35, after the camera cuts to the machine turned around, you can see a couple more similar white objects underneath the front of the Walker that appear to be blown about.⬐ tawmLooks like an artifact?⬐ ericb⬐ IsamuMaybe, but it looks like it has a shadow and follows the contour of the ground?I don't remember exactly but there may have been a small crab apple tree by the entrance. This was below and in front of Hamerschlag Hall that I believe is now filled in. The offices behind connected to the library floor of Wean Hall.⬐ cfallinYeah, the old parking lot around Hamerschlag became the new fab / nanotech lab when Scott Hall was built (finished 2016) -- they connected HH C-level to Wean 4, a major boon to winter-time indoor connectivity. Google Streetview has a pretty good view of it:https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4420983,-79.9460873,3a,75y,3...
It's a short video. Everyone should watch it. Not necessarily for the walker, which is somewhat primitive, though probably state-of-the-art for its time. Watch the video for the accompanying commentary.Ivan has such a simple, elegant way of explaining things. In just a few sentences he clearly explained all the key elements of the walker.
That's a wonderful pedagogical talent. Another person with such a talent was Richard Feynman.
⬐ tpmxWow, it's taken us so long to get (something like) this thing going. 37 years now, and Boston Dynamics is only now in the final steps of productizing v1.⬐ kevin_thibedeau⬐ Causality1The Timberjack walking tree harvester was mostly ready for commercialization.⬐ tpmx⬐ GeorgeTirebiterGot a link?⬐ snerblesThis was their promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftV2HeKPeBMTimberjack was bought by John Deere in 2000, and the subsidiary discontinued in '06.
⬐ tpmxThat looked neat.. but also impractical. Way too slow.It's interesting that it came from Finland.
Boston Dynamics' CEO, Marc Raibert, was a professor at CMU at the same time, and Marc and Ivan are good pals. Little-known fact: Ivan convinced Marc to start doing work in legged locomotion! So, in a way, Ivan is responsible for modern legged locomotion by 'seeding' the field with a genius like Marc Raibert! Here's some of what was going on at CMU at the same time as Ivan's Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_ZKXo6Rlg⬐ bpicoloThis video was extremely cool. Thanks for sharing! Legged robots are so endearing.⬐ GeorgeTirebiterGlad you liked it. Boston Dynamics is an overnight success only 40-ish years in the making... !See also this Scientific American article of theirs https://www.academia.edu/28215739/Machines_That_Walk
Interesting that they tried to design the walking motion from scratch and ended up with a jittery, jerky mess with each leg moving one by one. I wonder how they would've done if they tried to replicate the walking motion of real six-legged creatures.⬐ briankellyI was expecting an early 3d graphics animation, not a rideable machine. I'm always reminded of strandbeest when I see something along these lines: https://youtu.be/LewVEF2B_pM⬐ jv22222This looks and sounds like the retro back story side sequences in Lost (with the Japanese professor)!Anyway, awesome work, and amazing to see how long we've been thinking about this stuff IRL
⬐ IsamuMemories! I actually scanned the video several times to see if I was in the background on the stairs. I remember seeing this being put though the paces in this space (those were CS offices in the background, I don't think this drive-through exists anymore.) Not sure that I saw Ivan driving the hexapod though.There should be a Robotics Institute technical report about it, I recall Claude Shannon wrote a whimsical poem about the the hexapod.
[edit] some context: Ivan was a founder of Evans & Sutherland, a groundbreaking developer of computer graphics systems. From the wikipedia page: "Most of the employees were active or former students, and included Jim Clark, who started Silicon Graphics, Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, John Warnock of Adobe, and Scott P. Hunter of Oracle."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_%26_Sutherland
He is also known for Sketchpad, perhaps the first graphical user interface:
⬐ edge17I'm pretty sure that's the Hammerschlag Hall faculty parking lot and the staircase in the background is the one that goes up to Porter Hall.⬐ abhinavsharmaThat door was a lifesaver when it was freezing cold and you got out of a deep down Schlag basement after soldering some stuff and had to go to your dh basement classes!Also quick access to the weak library!
⬐ throwaway_bad⬐ IsamuI assume you mean "wean library" instead of weak library lolThis is adjacent to the current lot, the stair in the background is not the current one. There used to be this paved area that went underneath the steps to the entrance of Hamerschlag. There was also a loading dock there where I assume this hexapod made it out from wherever in Wean Hall it was constructed. This area is now occupied by lab space and from above is planted with grass.⬐ abrax3141It lived in a garage under the bridge, on the Wean/Porter side, between the cut and Hammerschlag.⬐ edge17Lived as in, you never left the lab or actually lived?? I spent more time in that building than almost anyone during my day, so 'lived there' is a loaded term :)
