Probably you've seen this video of the "Big Dog" robot already, but if not, have a look. The sound is a little irritating -- the researchers evidently have yet to work the bugs out of the dilithium crystals or the Mr. Fusion power plants, and instead use a gasoline-powered engine to make the thing move.
The thing that surprised me while watching this video was my emotional reaction. Many other people have said that this robot creeps them out a little, saying that despite its name, it looks to them more like a four-legged spider. (I wonder how much the insect-like buzzing of the engine contributes to this.) Maybe it's just that I'm more of an arachnophile than an arachnophobe, but I didn't have that sense. The movements reminded me variously of a dog, a horse, and two people facing each other, while wearing a costume from a Chinese New Year parade. (cf.)
The real surprise, though, was how strongly I reacted to the scene about 35 seconds in: one of the team gives the thing a kick, presumably to demonstrate its ability to maintain balance. Despite knowing full well that this is just a machine, I immediately thought, "How cruel." I am unable to stop feeling this way on repeated viewings.
The scenes of slipping on ice (starting around 1:25) and clambering over a pile of cinder blocks (starting around 2:20) provoked similar feelings of empathy.
I've never been particularly enamored of "cute" robots like, say, R2D2, so it was pretty interesting to me how viscerally I responded to this one. Probably says something about the human brain's pattern matching abilities having a big dynamic component -- Something in the way she moves / Attracts me like no other, to coin a phrase.
(h/t: Kieran Healy)
(further reading)
3 comments:
I had no emotional valence associated with watching this video... when the guy pushed the machine I didn't feel sorry for the robot at all. I was somewhat impressed by the way the AI they had used w/ the legs, I'm sure it's quite a challenge getting a machine to walk like that.
Of course, I'm a sociopath (like all conservatives) and therefore I've become desensitized to almost all human emotions.
They've made it look too real - too much like an animal. And I don't like to see anybody or any animal being kicked. My reaction is similar to yours - instinctive and immediate sympathy for the struggles of this "creature."
I thought it looked more like a fly with its wings pulled off trying to walk than a spider. (No doubt the sound helped with that impression.) I, too, felt sorry for it being kicked the first time, but then was impressed with it's balance when kicked after the first visceral reaction. The really impressive part was jumping like a horse near the end. How could two guys facing each other in a fly suit jump like that? I want to see the Japanese horror movie where these giant flies from outer space take over New York and mangle the tanks and Humvees we send to destroy them.
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