Hyundai takes 80 per cent stake in terrifying Black Mirror robo-hound firm Boston Dynamics Hyundai has acquired a controlling interest in US robotics company Boston Dynamics from Softbank for US$880M. The deal has been in the works since December 2020 when the board of directors at three Hyundai affiliates approved the purchase that would give them a combined 80 per cent of the robot maker. A SoftBank affiliate will …
You're link failed I think, but I assume it's 1 of 3 scenes. Probably when it gets shot... which is a real inevitability if you see one of these things walking on your lawn.
If you need a guide animal, I think it's much more efficient to spend $200,000 on a robot than spending $200 at an animal shelter, it just makes perfect business sense (especially for Hyundai). Of course if you need dancing lessons, $5,000,000 is a steal of a price (but not for me, as most will gladly pay me NOT to dance).
In later news, XYZ Corp. is building a robot shelter for stray robots, virus vaccinations are free by default.
While I think a robotic guide dog makes some sense, if they can develop the range and the right software, I am not too sure that Hyundai and the ad guys who made the video, really get how a guide dog works.
The blind guy stands up and the 'dog' jumps up and trots off in front of him, leaving the guy to continue with his stick.
In spite of that Boston are likely to do a lot better with Hyundai's direction than being just another one on the list of Softbank tech acquisitions. I know nothing about their cars but their industrial kit is not bad.
While a robotic guide dog might be possible at some point in the (near) future a much more achievable objective is to produce a 'dementia dog'.
Something the size of a small dog, made to look cute, with a lead that can be fastened to a dementia patient's wrist. The patient can then 'take the dog for a walk', and it doesn't matter if they get lost or forget to come home because the dog can gently and discreetly steer them away from busy streets and lead them back, either on a recall signal or after a set period of time - an hour's exercise say.
I think only the footage of the archery player standing up with assistance of the exoskeleton is actually fully real. In the shoot of the blind person standing up the footage of the Spot is clearly either blue screen or CGI. Same with the dancing girl. The rest seems to be either artsy B-roll footage or CGI
Step one, replace soldiers with robots
Step two, make sure all countries replace soldiers with robots
Step three, create designated war arenas in unpopulated areas
Step four, realise that this can be all done in software
Step five, ban real life wars and only allow conflicts to be resolved online
Step six, realise that all this tech can be replaced by weighted random number generator that tells who won the conflict
Step seven, create a marketplace for weights.
Step five was the premise of the PC game Wargasm, released in 1998
This from the wikipedia article:
"The game is set in the year 2065, and the world's military forces have been transferred to the World Wide War Web in an effort to eliminate the loss of actual human life. Every country, whether they be a superpower or in the Third World, have been represented accordingly. Wars are fought through this system, and the winner of each battle takes the loser's electronic infrastructure. However, the system is flawed, and is prone to hacking. In this state of "wargasm," the world has fallen into a state of corruption. It is the player's duty to bring order back to the world."
"Step six, realise that all this tech can be replaced by weighted random number generator that tells who won the conflict"
Step 7. Order those people who were "killed" in the simulated war to immediately attend the disintegration chambers.
At least that's how it happened in the Star Trek scenario broadcast about 50 years ago. And I'm pretty sure that was based on an even older SF story in print.
We all know that the sexy money comes when you can show a robot hound with one leg that contains a shotgun, the other a USB I/F tool and a pathological hatred of humans.
Perfect for those little labour disputes in your slave shop Amazon distribution centres.
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