TrevorX
Optimus Prime 1.0, awesome ....
paul314
What's the weight and weight distribution on this thing? Because one of the things about rubble fields is that they're generally not terribly stable. And one of the things about old houses with high front stairs is that they don't like multi-ton point loads.
PAV
I hope boston dynamics robot dog makers can take notice of the value of wheels.
ei3io
The wheels could be fitted with tracks like 4x4s use for softer surfaces or maybe just multiple wheels per leg,,, Regardless the robot extension to anything living and dead will occur as they are logically & economically needed.
The all terrain needs of vehicles of course will be GREATLY augmented by what can hover above and then fly fast for all situations on the ground.
A flying vehicle could carry smaller surface crawlers like this to rescue or deliver whatever wherever whenever. Flight will rule but crawling will never become obsolete.
Daishi
@PAV It makes me happy to see more people start to see that legged robots are probably not the answer. In the DARPA robotics challenge the team that won (South Korea's DRC-HUBO) modified their bot to be able to kneel onto a set of wheels and I wouldn't be surprised if Hyundai took some inspiration from that design. It's frustrating that it has taken 30 years of dead ends in legged robots for people to start to see there are more innovative ways to solve problems using wheels that are more efficient and less complex. Yes Boston dynamics robots are (mostly) mobile but with sufficient thrust pigs just fine too. It's refreshing to see out of the box thinking like this and I don't think we have really even scratched the surface on the possible approaches to wheeled robotic mobility. We have had the wrong people looking at this problem for a long time. I think I could come up with a handful of wheeled mobility platforms that would climb stairs with less cost and complexity than the robots from Boston Dynamics. I hope the winning DARPA competition team and this render from Hyundai inspire other people to do the same. Many obstacles (including stairs) could be tackled just by increasing wheel diameter. Anyone who doesn't feel like wheels are already well suited for traversing obstacles has never spent 5 minutes on youtube watching jeep rock climbing videos. Wheels are efficient, reliable, have few moving parts, and cheap. Anything not drastically more mobile has solved absolutely nothing. Electric motors in the wheel reduce the need for a mechanical drive shaft allowing innovations like this one. Anyone not exploring that path is on the wrong path.
Daishi
@ei3io in response to flight being the answer I recommend looking into "the efficiency of locomotion". Flight uses significantly more energy per kg moved over distance than automobiles and rolling vehicles. Small maneuverable aircraft like VTOL and helicopters are much less efficient than fixed wing aircraft. Compare man vs man on bicycle and it's easy to see legged mobility is far from the answer too. Trains and electric bicycles are so far the most efficient forms of transportation humanity has been able to create. Efficiency is a necessary goal and that goal requires wheeled mobility.
michael_dowling
How come there isn't a video of the real thing?
Josh!
Chainlink 4x4 revisited
Derek Howe
PAV - Check out their robot called "Handle".
HoppyHopkins
Just what I need, with this I will never be snowed in again