I didn't have time to address this yesterday, but Disney has filed a patent for "moving floors". Much like what was seen in the VR fueled film Ready Player One. The major overall point being able to walk infinitely in a finite amount of space. They've broke it down to three different ways. The first using vibration tech to create friction to the user's feet. Allowing the platform to kinda steer the user out of any contact with walls or other users. The other will use rotating disks to influence direction. Each disk will rotate independently or as a whole to avoid obstructions. The final one mentioned is definitely my favorite of the three, & the most like the setup of Ready Player One . It involves magnets on the users shoes & on a treadmill beneath the floor. As the user walks, that moves the magnetic treadmill, allowing the user to walk forever in the same spot. The schematic pics below, give some more ideas, but this will be a major step for Virtual Reality. I can't wait to see if they can make this hit the light of day. I'm sure I'm not the only one that will spend a lot of time with this tech. Anyway, put your thoughts in the comments, like, & share.
Acrobatic Robots Just Skipped A Few Levels
Remember the flipping stickman robot from about a couple months ago? Well it evolved pretty quick. This thing is in full humanoid robot mode now, & ready for whatever. This video blew me away. I can't wait to see what these things will be used for. Obviously shows are the first thought. These things have awesome superhero written all over them. I mean, the one in the end basically IS Iron Man. I started drifting off & speculating other uses immediately though. Like what if these are used in-ride even? As moving animatronics? That would be friggin awesome! The main thing on my mind when I see this amazing achievement however is, I hope they don't use these to cut costs. The worst thing they could do is use these in place of an actor, as opposed to using them just to fill in where actors can't. Being somewhat expendable, I only want to see these achieve the impossible. Bring em on though. This is the next level of animatronic. I've seen them become as real as we can possibly make them look. Even cartoons now, with digital projection mapping. The is the next step, years in the making. Audio-animatronics can not only move now, they can be more acrobatic than myself. What do y'all think of this amazing development in robotics? Awesome, or one more reason to fear the emergance of A.I.? Put it in the comments, like, & share.
"Stickman" Robot More Acrobatic Than I Am
Some of the things that come out of Disney Research just blow my mind. This video is a perfect example of one of them. This is Stickman. Stickman does what I can best describe as perfect gymnastic dismounts. Even throwing in specific numbers of flips because, why not? If robots ever do take over, this place is going to be their first stop. After this one I'm convinced. As cool as this is though, I can't figure out for the life of me what it could be used for. Usually I can make up something. I'm just drawing a blank for gymnast robot. Unless we're trying to make stunts safer. Kinda takes the thrill away though. If anyone has any ideas what this could be applied to, put it in the comments. Like & share while you're there.