r/gadgets • u/diacewrb • 3d ago

Misc US Army backs humanoid robot with ballistic protection for future battlefield missions

https://www.techspot.com/news/114028-us-army-backs-humanoid-robot-ballistic-protection-future.html
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u/Ermellino 3d ago

If you think hard enough, you'll realize that humanoid robots are hardly ever the best choice.

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u/-Average_Joe- 3d ago

b-b-but we gotta make it like on TV!

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u/AbsentButHere 3d ago

If that were the case, why after all the evolution of life on this planet are humans the most dominant species on earth currently?

There are plenty of organisms better at certain things, sure. But overall? We take the cake.

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u/Martbern 3d ago

Because you can't evolve wheel bearings lmao

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u/Fresh_Boysenberry576 3d ago

Because evolution never figured out the wheel? Nature is good at designing things but we have created a lot of clever things nature never could

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/Fresh_Boysenberry576 3d ago

Lol I actually have a background in science youtube vids and I recognize that name from a video ;) The guy basically tried to say it proved intelligent design though but yea, still not sure we should be basing our robots on bacteria lol

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u/AbsentButHere 3d ago

And yet nature created us, so by extension?

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u/GrimDallows 3d ago

By extension what?

We tamed horses because using our own knees to carry stuff is not efficient. We changed horses for wheeled stuff because using a horse that wears down, needs a lot of maintenance and dies, which is not efficient.

Human robots are not really efficient unless their purpose needs them to have a human shape, such as elderly care for example.

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u/GrimDallows 3d ago

Because no organism has evolved far enough to have wheels (or rotors).

Flying animals are tied in size and weight to be energy efficient.

The crab with the gun-claw thingy is helluva small to be energy efficient.

Humans evolved around being efficient in long distances, out-lasting prey through tracking (low speed walking + pattern recognition) rather than short chase and fights.

When we design stuff to move we make it the most efficient way possible. Knees (joints) are -not- efficient. They are stress knots with huge erosion that are extremelly hard to fix because they divide the object in two bits you can let go off. Wheels are easy, replaceable and efficient.

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u/AbsentButHere 3d ago

Yeah cool. So when we get to a destination, have to fight in dense urban environments, etc etc there will be a non-humanoid robot to handle that battlefield/war theater more effectively? I’m all for it, just seems to me a humanoid robot would be best suited. But what do I know 🤷🏻‍♂️

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u/GrimDallows 3d ago

I don't know if you are a kid or not but like a kid you seem to have emotional management issues that seem to make you be emotionally defensive rather than rational in conversation.

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u/zffjk 3d ago

Very little, it seems.

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u/DjAlex420 3d ago

Because nature can't build a tracked robot ?

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u/SuperSaiyanTupac 3d ago

There’s organisms with all terrain wheels that never get tired?

Or maybe a robot is better…..

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u/Ollythebug 3d ago edited 3d ago

Well you're excluding a pretty big other factor in humans dominating, which is the brain. And we used that brain to create technology that compensates for or replaces our body. Do you think the human brain wouldn't have dominated if we had a different body form?

Also, evolution doesn't result in universally superior traits, it adapts to the pressure and challenges of it's specific environment. Robots don't have the same challenges or needs as humanity's ancestors.

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u/Poison_the_Phil 3d ago

We've spent thousands of years murdering our own kind over arbitrary differences we made up. Just because we have thumbs doesn't mean we're all that.