Which is to say, robots seem to be a lot better at flying than taking a simple step

Jul 15, 2014 17:47 GMT  ·  By
Man’s evolution has been a long, never ending stream of inventions. Granted, fire was discovered rather than created at first (if you go with the theory of the caveman anyhow), but everything else, from the wheel onwards, came about as a direct result of man’s inventiveness and proactive experiments.
 
Fast forward to 2014 and the world at large is a very colorful place, whose most essential technological successes have come together into one, overarching concept: the robot.
 
Depending on our jobs, we can use the word to refer to many things, from automated machines in a factory assembly line to humanoid contraptions that try to imitate the way our bodies work and travel distances.
 
And so we reach the part about robots that is really weird. You see, beyond a certain level, all robots rely on the accumulated knowledge of humanity: mechanics, electronics, biology (because you can’t try to emulate a fish’s way of swimming without observing it for a good while first), chemistry, and all the related fields.
 
This is understandable enough. What is not understandable, or at least logical, is how the field of autonomous robots has split, and which of those research arms, so to speak, is more successful.
 
You see, all the robots we’ve tried to build in our image have turned out to be stumbling, ungraceful failures (no matter how flowery their description is), while flying bots, of all things, seem to be advancing the quickest.
 
The paradox
 
Robots just don’t seem to be able to learn how to walk. Not on two feet, and not on more. Oh sure, there are some quadrupeds, and some arachnid- and dog-inspired automatons, though I use the term “automaton” loosely since an operator still needs to control them from afar. But they’re slow as sin, and if you put them on slightly rough terrain, they’re doomed.
 
All the while, despite how familiar the motion is to us, and how many minds and money have been invested into the effort, man just hasn’t been able to reproduce the way we move about every day. The few robots who do have the ability to stand and “walk” around usually do it through some poor substitute, like bouncing.
 
The “humanoid” bots that do have some skill at true walking (falling forward and constantly restoring balance by moving the next foot ahead of our gravity center) are shin-sized at best (like the admittedly adorable-ish Nao).
 
Even giving machines the ability to sweat and get goosebumps happened sooner than actually constructing genuine, operational humanoid bots themselves.
 
Yet all the while, flying robots are rocketing miles ahead in terms of sophistication and usefulness. There are miniature quadcopters that can independently play badminton and tennis for Pete’s sake. And don’t get me started on the military’s use of intelligent flying drones.
 
To add insult to injury, flying robots have come so far that they’ve begun to be used in outright frivolous scenarios, like aiding photographers in fashion photo shoots.
 
The conclusion
 
The robotics industry is evolving totally backwards. Or upside-down, since that choice of words could be misinterpreted as saying that the sector is regressing, which it fortunately isn’t. Either way, it is irony at is finest that fliers are so far ahead of terrestrial contraptions. Thank heavens wheelers are doing just fine.
 
And just in case you all think I’m making too big a deal out of this, keep in mind that, just days ago, researchers from Stanford threw in the towel and designed robot walking sticks. Even they were tired of seeing every new legged robot stagger spastically and stumbling drunkenly at the tiniest bump in their path.