Boston Dynamics officially reveals its rolling 'Handle' robot

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We got a preview of Boston Dynamics' latest "helper" thanks to offscreen video leaked from a presentation, but now the company is ready to let us meet Handle. Unlike its previous robots that ran, jumped or walked, this two-legged monstrosity gets around on small wheels. Even with the adjustment, the video shows clearly how it can still get down stairs, navigate down a snowy hill, and pull off impressive leaps even while moving.

The company says it's designed to carry things, hence the name, but with that kind of go-anywhere ability it seems equipped for any kind of task up to and including Judgement Day. Handle is 6.5 feet tall, can jump 4 feet and travels at speeds of up to 9mph. According to the description on the video, it combines hydraulic and electric actuators, and can travel up to 15 miles between charges and it's apparently less complex than the quadruped and bipedal robots.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/27/boston-dynamics-officially-reveals-its-rolling-handle-robot/
 
I wish someone would stick their locomotion algorythims into a real time physics engine
I did that in sparetime, but only up to the point where the quote ends :)


Not so impressive because upper body is just stiff, but balancing a biped is really hard. Swinging arms would be easy to add.
Unfortunately no time to continue on this currently, but this is where my heart is.
I think this can do a lot for games (although i do not know what exactly yet, other than reducing mocap costs at least :) )
 
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