China's Dalek-like robots fear only one terrifying nemesis: Stairs

What's the difference between China's "first" robot security guard AnBot and a Dalek? One is a ruthless, slow moving and slightly menacing autonomous machine fitted with a space-age anti-human weapon and designed to weed out all those who stand against its authoritarian rule – and the other stars in Doctor Who. AnBot was …

[Anonymous Coward]

The 1960's called and they want their design back...

[graeme leggett]

would you rather the 70s?

Second pic, after Servlan

http://www.tv-ooh.com/2012/03/blakes-7-dvd-rewatch-season-1-episode-6.html

[Simon Harris]

What? There are more pictures after the one of Servalan?

[BurnT'offering]

Re: here are more pictures after the one of Servalan?

So it wan't just me then? Sigh ...

[Graham Marsden]

> Second pic, after Servlan

I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed...

[Fungus Bob]

Fantasy Gifts called and they want their Dildonator back.

[Anonymous Coward]

I cannot

wait to see the first one of these toys deployed, being upturned, like a tortoise and then to be stuck there wailing and throwing a tantrum ED209 fashion.

[tmTM]

Re: I cannot

With the obligatory cock spray painted on the front of it.

[regadpellagru]

Obligatory Borderlands 2 reference

there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXD0Xi0JfEM

[Zork-1]

Re: Obligatory Borderlands 2 reference

AT least it can't talk yet ... can it?

[Pascal Monett]

78 kilograms, eight hours of continuous work

So it's mostly batteries then. 18 kph is a bit much for something that has no peripheral awareness. I hope it knows how to detect stairs going down.

[Voland's right hand]

Re: 78 kilograms, eight hours of continuous work

Hmm... If they are Li-Ion they will very nicely combine with a molotov. Cannot wait to see that. Though at that weight... Probably lead acid ones. Still, they also have interesting effects when on fire.

[NotBob]

Re: 78 kilograms, eight hours of continuous work

Not just stairs, though. There's drop offs and loading gates and trailer docks and so on. If it's to provide security, any and all may be encountered.

[laird cummings]

Re: 78 kilograms, eight hours of continuous work

Heck, a strategically-placed broomstick will do for any pursuit.

[James 51]

"It has sensors that mimic the human brain"

So it gets bored and buggers off or senses that it's low in fuel and releases insulin for a bit of a boost?

[lglethal]

Re: "It has sensors that mimic the human brain"

What's the robot equivalent of the local donut shop?

[Stoneshop]

Re: "It has sensors that mimic the human brain"

What's the robot equivalent of the local donut shop?

A charging outlet with particularly yummy electrons.

[Peter Ford]

To be fair...

If its job is riot control, then causing the miscreants to run away or escape downstairs will disperse the troublemakers to some extent.

In fact, it's more likely to stop the rioting by causing everyone to fall about laughing.

[phuzz]

Re: To be fair...

Or perhaps while everyone is laughing at the robot, a real copper comes up behind and collars the rioter?

[Complicated Disaster]

Off?

The big red off button on the front might be a bit of a design flaw?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Off?

That's the SOS button for when you can't stop laughing.

If they add a smiley anime face and a camp voice it will be unstoppable.

It all makes sense now, our AI overlords have got a new tactic for taking over the world, mass hysteria.

[James 51]

Re: Off?

Worked for the tachikoma. ^^

[davidp231]

Re: Off?

And shouts of "experminate!"?

[Dr Scrum Master]

Re: Off?

If they add a smiley anime face and a camp voice it will be unstoppable.

How about Duncan "Chase me" Norvelle?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Off?

It could be the off switch ..... or it could be an electrode charged to 50,000 volts.

I've kind of lost track. Are you feeling lucky Punk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like Paul Blart is out of a job.

[Timbo]

Easy to stop too - the wheels have spokes so a broomhandle through one wheel and it'll just keeping going around in circles...

I wonder how it copes going up a slight incline ? 78 kg is pretty heavy so, it'll slow to a crawl, if it can make progress at all...

The design reminds me of the oval shape salt and pepper pots, though this is bigger.

[Voland's right hand]

I wonder how it copes going up a slight incline ? 78 kg is pretty heavy so, it'll slow to a crawl, if it can make progress at all...

Perfect mall rent-a-cop then.

[TheProf]

Heavy

I weigh 78 kilogrammes and have no trouble making progress. I can go up and down slight inclines and negotiate stairs too.

I do have trouble with broom handles though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Heavy

Lighter than a cow, though.

New pastime: Robotipping

[Stoneshop]

pepper pots

Thank you so much. I now have this image of one, with John Cleese's pepperpot voice shrieking "Exterminate"

[Fungus Bob]

Re: pepper pots

Or shrieking with Gwyneth Paltrow's voice.

[VinceH]

Has anyone opened one up to check if they contain a mutated species that previously had humanoid form?

[D@v3]

Mutated species...

Like a mall cop?

[VinceH]

Re: Mutated species...

Mall cops were once humanoid?

[Mage]

It has sensors that mimic the human brain, eyes and ears.

a) I doubt it.

b) Wait ... a brain is a sensor?

c) Intelligent? I'd bet the rooks and rats here have much more intelligence.

[TRT]

There's already one in London...

At 30 St Mary Axe.

[mix]

I think they have released this on purpose to give the west a false sense of security; whilst in a secret volcano lair they are developing T2000s.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2402042/chinese-scientists-create-liquid-metal-machines-that-eat-aluminium-for-power

[M7S]

Why automate?

Surely China isn't running out of people to do jobs.

Or is there, perhaps, a trust issue?

[TRT]

A robot that catches hold of people...

Could be a better design that a wheel clamp for legs, though.

[msknight]

What's Chinese for...

"Dead or alive, you are hobbling with me...."

[Zarko]

Microsoft did that already

As written in this 2014 article, Microsoft has very similar looking robots, with similar features:

http://www.psfk.com/2014/12/robot-security-guards-cruise-microsoft-campus.html

[martinusher]

Re: Microsoft did that already

...but these will be running Andriod instead of Windows....

These things are harmless on their own but if you deploy a couple of dozen that interact with each other then they may be a bit of a problem unless you can get enough bricks and other debris strewn around to make their wheels useless. The grabber's a bit more upscale than the traditional sink plunger.

[Sureo]

Re: Microsoft did that already

Uncanny resemblance. And the security guards standing nearby are all laughing at it.

[Valerion]

Design

Looks like a standard light fitting:

http://www.stylewithin.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/pendant.jpg

[Otto is a bear.]

Just wait for AnBot 2019

With TruWalk(TM) and AnBot SYNC to play calming and re-educational content.

I walk at about 5kph, and run at about 20kph, which is average for a human, and could probably run for longer than an AnBot. I wonder how it corners at 18 kph.

[Anonymous Coward]

Does not really look like a Babushka Doll either

certainly I haven't seen any with wheels!

[David Nash]

Re: Does not really look like a Babushka Doll either

I think you mean:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll

[Cuddles]

"Do you know how to go down staircases?"

To be fair, going down stairs is really not difficult at all. The trick is remaining upright at the bottom.

[Darryl]

Re: "Do you know how to go down staircases?"

Yep, if it encounters a staircase at 18 km/h, it would probably only maybe hit one step on the way down

[Doctor Syntax]

"It's fitted with a stun weapon"

A robot BOFH.

[FBee]

Weebles wobble but they don't fall down...NOT

[BurnT'offering]

I worry about this robot

I think it is going to die from hurt feelings

[Mark 85]

I'll wait a bit....

...for the DARPA model. Or perhaps the second generation. The robot race will much like the nuke race and it's on to see who can build the better* version.

*better may = deadlier or more nimble

[Jean Stone]

I've seen this before...

All hail our great prophet who predicted the coming of such a robot and how this will all work out. The saga begins here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/17/bofh_2010_episode_10/

It's uncanny, I tell you.

[raving angry loony]

Sorry but...

It still looks like they've found a bunch of short people, stuck them on Segways, then encased them in a russian doll to make them utterly incapable of righting themselves when someone knocks them over.

People actually got paid to design this? Amazing.

[Anonymous Coward]

"It was designed by the military's National Defense University, and is expected to help crush protests and riots,"

Why bother with the robot thing, just hack Google's autonomous driver into a tank. That's China's normal way of dealing with protests, innit? Run over the protestors, shoot the survivors.

[Dr Patrick J R Harkin]

In the TV version of the Dalek invasion of London...

...they disabled Daleks using soup cans on elastic over their eyestalks. A quick spray with a paint and these guys are going to have problems, surely? Failing that, they don't look very topple-resistent, especially backwards.