Non-Wheeled Legged Robots and Ground Vehicles

[sanman]

Here's a non-traditional type of vehicular transport that's strangely traditional-looking in some ways
Just climb on top and giddyap - no need to bring your own saddle, as one seems to be built in.
It might also be a way to become a  Cyborg Centaur:



That's a lot of crazy engineering.
At least Kawasaki has something new for the showroom, even if it's just a concept.

Can vehicles based on this type of locomotion have a place in surface transport and exploration on the Moon and Mars?

They're saying it's powered by hydrogen fuel cells, no doubt because its power requirements are probably a lot more than wheeled vehicles. But for highly irregular and challenging terrain, perhaps of a mountainous type, then could this be a useful solution? What is the practicality of it?
Mars has an atmosphere for copters to struggle against gravity, but that's not possible on the Moon.

[daedalus1]

It's fantasy cgi.

[Twark_Main]

Where are the pedals? I only saw stirrups for placing your feet. Also didn't they say it's hydrogen powered?

[sanman]

It's fantasy cgi.

So the promotional videos may have CGI, but they had at least some kind of prototype or mockup of their concept at the Osaka show where they unveiled it:

[sanman]

Where are the pedals? I only saw stirrups for placing your feet.

I guess pedals aren't needed, as it manages to work the controls on the handlebar and dashboard.
And they mention it uses AI to interpret rider's weight shifts, etc to dynamically interpret and adjust to them.

Also didn't they say it's hydrogen powered?

Yes, it seems to burn the hydrogen in an ICE to run a generator, rather than using a fuel cell (which is presumably power-limited)




I bet MasterChief would love to ride one of these things.

[CameronD]

It's fantasy cgi.

So the promotional videos may have CGI, but they had at least some kind of prototype or mockup of their concept at the Osaka show where they unveiled it:

Although a very cool concept that would certainly be fun to ride, just don't hold your breath waiting.

Kinda like the Ford Nucleon and the Lightspeeders from Star Wars that have gone before, it's a concept, people - not a real vehicle that actually works.  If you watch the video, Kawasaki are giving a 2050 release date.. as in, assuming it doesn't break any laws of physics, the tech to do this (including the hydrogen fuel system) is unlikely to exist for at least another 20 years into the future. 

[catdlr]

Here's something chunkier:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OWbEnbCxjuk

[sanman]

Here's something chunkier:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OWbEnbCxjuk

Here's something goatier - also by Kawasaki

[CameronD]

Here's something chunkier:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OWbEnbCxjuk

Here's something goatier - also by Kawasaki

Hey, it moves - just! And what are the horns for.. butting people??  Gotta love the emergency stop button just in reach of the rider.  HAHAHA!  That's cute.

[catdlr]

Here's something chunkier:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OWbEnbCxjuk

Here's something goatier - also by Kawasaki

Hey, it moves - just! And what are the horns for.. butting people??  Gotta love the emergency stop button just in reach of the rider.  HAHAHA!  That's cute.

If it didn't have horns, it would resemble a llama, getting ready to spit on you if it got in its way.  I agree, it's Cute and would make a good carnival ride.

[Twark_Main]

Where are the pedals? I only saw stirrups for placing your feet.

I guess pedals aren't needed

Then can we change the title to "Non-wheeled Legged Locomotion Ground Vehicles?"  The current title is a bit confusing.

[InterestedEngineer]

Here's something chunkier:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OWbEnbCxjuk

what a creepy combo of Space 1999 and Star Wars

[sanman]

Meet Baby Dart from Universal Studios' How to Train Your Dragon movie exhibit.
This is apparently not CGI, but an actual robot built by their animatronics people.








We can now coo and fawn over machines instead of real flesh-and-blood animals.

Will these man-made systems replace pets in off-world environments?

On the one hand, it may seem inhumane to take our voiceless animals with us to off-world environments they weren't evolved to live in, and which may be sufficiently alien to them to cause them distress.

On the other hand, building artificial machines for synthetic emotional displays resembling/mimicking those of actual living creatures seems weird and perverse. When your dog wags its tail and jumps on you, it's because it's actually feeling genuine feelings, and not merely executing human-programmed behavior for our amusement.
Reminds me a bit of the Daggit in oBSG. Also, shades of Westworld.

[sanman]

Same or different?








Doesn't quite seem the same, if you ask me. One is make-believe fantasy, the other is real.

[sanman]

Interesting review of a different sort of legged robot -- it's wearable and uses your legs:




Could/should something like this be built into a spacesuit?
Would there be any practical benefit from this?

Perhaps it might be more useful on a heavier-gravity planet (> 1 G), except we don't really have any to choose from.

[sanman]

Someone makes the claim that "mountain goat hoofs are mechanical computers" -- are they anything like that?

So the claim is that mountain goat hoofs are finding correct footing and load distribution without involving the brain.

[Twark_Main]

Someone makes the claim that "mountain goat hoofs are mechanical computers" -- are they anything like that?

So the claim is that mountain goat hoofs are finding correct footing and load distribution without involving the brain.

---

Then I break up fallen sticks in the yard for mulch, I am using a "mechanical computer." The sticks automatically calculate the lowest energy fracture surface, thus saving me labor in my garden. 

Both are true, but I think the lesson is that "mechanical computer" is actually a lower bar than it seems.

[sanman]

Someone makes the claim that "mountain goat hoofs are mechanical computers" -- are they anything like that?

So the claim is that mountain goat hoofs are finding correct footing and load distribution without involving the brain.

---

Then I break up fallen sticks in the yard for mulch, I am using a "mechanical computer." The sticks automatically calculate the lowest energy fracture surface, thus saving me labor in my garden. 

Both are true, but I think the lesson is that "mechanical computer" is actually a lower bar than it seems.

Haha, fair enough - but can your sticks climb up a mountainside?
We might find that more useful for exploring moons and planetary bodies, including our own.

[sanman]

Will we see future lunar and Mars rovers which work like this?