Comments on: GBTV #329 | GeekBrief.TV

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:15:13 +0000

Cali,

Check out this video of Big Dog… http://gizmodo.com/372272/video-of-bigdog-beta-quadruped-robot-is-so-stupid-its-hilarious?autoplay=true

By: lhoffman

lhoffman — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:05:27 +0000

Cali,

I just wanted to drop a message to outline some difficulties in regards to engineering a device capable of combining two evdo network interfaces or a dsl interface and an evdo interface.
Some routers do support multiple interface options.

However…. The big issues for what I believe you would like to try and do, isn’t around designing a device capable of supporting the interfaces but rather (one) setting up routing between the broadband carrier or carriers to build bonded interface capable (merging services) of scaling throughput of N x 1 where N is the number of interfaces you are using, (two) the fact that the interfaces are actually different layer 2 protocols (refering to the OSI model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model#Layer_2:_Data_Link_layer) and (three) because they are different “layer 2 OSI model” types, they’re networks are physically heterogenous.

IE. typically the DSL network is physically a different network than the EVDO network “single carrrier” schenario you might use encapsulation (GRE – General Routing Encapsulation) but you would need the carrier(s) to support such a design, you would otherwise be resolved to a Fault Taulerant scenario where if the DSL interface goes down the EVDO interface would become available.

In the case of an outage it would be useful, but truely gaining throughput for all sessions by bonding the network interfaces, would be difficult.

Many routers (I’ve used Cisco routers for 10 years) do support different physical interfaces today but the issue you will have when using multiple providers regardless of the interface type is with routing, that is if you want to scale (merging services) multiple interfaces to gain higher throughput for a single session.

My$.02

By: Jon G

Jon G — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:59:10 +0000

@bfos7215, yeah I remembered seeing a similar video a while ago, a quick search on youtube found this 2-year-old video from the same people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpBG-nSRcrQ, the new video shows their updates and progress

By: master1228

master1228 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:29:24 +0000

I thought that DARPA funded Big Dog was amazing and creepy and the same time. It’s scary just how advanced our grasp on robotics technology has become. AMAZING video!

You made me have to write about it on my own site as well as reading up on DARPA and Boston Dynamics!

By: mswope

mswope — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:18:27 +0000

Oh, one other thing – I know you’re not a Windows girl, but I’m surprised that you didn’t even mention that Vista SP1 has been released to the masses (yesterday). Ah, maybe too easy a target, covered by too many other outlets…

By: mswope

mswope — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:14:51 +0000

Cali,
Two things – one, that thing on your arm makes you raise your left shoulder to hold it steady – looks like you’ll end up with a neck cramp after a while (look at the video). Two, I know you have your heart set on a NEW bus, but have you looked into consignment lots? There are a LOT of older models that people are looking to unload – here in Houston, they’re shoulder to shoulder…

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:03:26 +0000

@ Cali, I was amazed by the BigDog as well. Very impressive technological intelligence for a robot! I definitely agree that its ability to maintain balance was awesome. Also I too was wondering about that iPhone type contraption snaking up your arm. Guess I’ll have to wait for the next Brief. :)

By: Michael Sitarzewski

Michael Sitarzewski — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:37:48 +0000

It may not be the size you’re looking for, but these guys have fun RVs… and you could go nearly anywhere you’d want to. :)

http://earthroamer.com/

By: bfos7215

bfos7215 — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:29:20 +0000

Sorry if I’m wrong. But, I swear I had seen that BigDog video at least two years ago.

By: Kekoa

Kekoa — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:13:38 +0000

Cali, so why did you have that iPhone holder again? It was never really explained.

BigDog is gonna change the world. Thanks for uploading the full video to the Junk Trunk. It’s absolutely mesmerizing. Watching the video, I could imagine a surprising array of applications. I think we’ll be seeing more BigDog robolegs in more different devices in the future.

Not sure if that’s an exciting thing, or a scary thing.

By: abbydog3

abbydog3 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:25:50 +0000

ROFL MAO for that iPhone holder. I can’t even finish watching the podcast, cause I am so freaked out.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:40:47 +0000

Cali: The N810 does not connect with the iPhone. What do you and Neil use to connect with it?

By: Jon G

Jon G — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:39:43 +0000

Completely agree with Martin. I thought for sure it was going to fall the whole time I was watching.

By: Chris (Amateur Traveler podcast)

Chris (Amateur Traveler podcast) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:59:45 +0000

At first glance I thought you had been assimilated by the borg, before I realized that was a phone holder.

By: Keith

Keith — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:19:34 +0000

“Cali of Nine”

By: Cali

Cali — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:54:55 +0000

Haha! I’ll explain on Brief #330…

By: Martin

Martin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:40:14 +0000

Had to watch it a second time as I found everything blurring whilst I watched and waited in utter fascination for that thing to drop off your arm. Is it the green answer to a bluetooth headset? Martin

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:08:00 +0000

Yeah, what was that thing? A borg implant??

By: pitkin

pitkin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:06:16 +0000

What was that on you arm? Inquiring minds want to know! Salling Clicker used to do the bluetooth walk away on the mac. It would also mute audio on your machine when the phone rang.

By: Daynah

Daynah — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:41:12 +0000

*gasp* You didn’t talk about the interesting thing you had on your arm!

BigDog robot video was amazing! I can’t believe the response of it when kicked. It seems so real!

By: Patrick Mast

Patrick Mast — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:37:28 +0000

Just purchased a Drobo here in Belgium and I LOVE it!! ;-))
Thanks for letting us know.

By: Dave Peterson

Dave Peterson — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:02:00 +0000

The Big Dog is amazing. It’s so tough to strike a balance (literally!) between stability and adaptability to uneven terrain. It’s self-recovery, both when kicked and when it was on the ice is stunning. The least surprising part was seeing that DARPA’s involved. My first thought when I saw it was, “THAT is a military application robot.”