Ivan Sutherland: 6 Legged Walker: CMU 1982 and 1983 [video]

Ivan Sutherland: 6 Legged Walker: CMU 1982 and 1983 [video](youtube.com)

85 points by tobijkl 6 years ago | 27 comments

Isamu 6 years ago |

Memories! I actually scanned the video several times to see if I was in the background on the stairs. I remember seeing this being put though the paces in this space (those were CS offices in the background, I don't think this drive-through exists anymore.) Not sure that I saw Ivan driving the hexapod though.

There should be a Robotics Institute technical report about it, I recall Claude Shannon wrote a whimsical poem about the the hexapod.

[edit] some context: Ivan was a founder of Evans & Sutherland, a groundbreaking developer of computer graphics systems. From the wikipedia page: "Most of the employees were active or former students, and included Jim Clark, who started Silicon Graphics, Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, John Warnock of Adobe, and Scott P. Hunter of Oracle."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_%26_Sutherland

He is also known for Sketchpad, perhaps the first graphical user interface:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad

edge17 6 years ago | |

I'm pretty sure that's the Hammerschlag Hall faculty parking lot and the staircase in the background is the one that goes up to Porter Hall.

Isamu 6 years ago | | |

This is adjacent to the current lot, the stair in the background is not the current one. There used to be this paved area that went underneath the steps to the entrance of Hamerschlag. There was also a loading dock there where I assume this hexapod made it out from wherever in Wean Hall it was constructed. This area is now occupied by lab space and from above is planted with grass.

abhinavsharma 6 years ago | | |

That door was a lifesaver when it was freezing cold and you got out of a deep down Schlag basement after soldering some stuff and had to go to your dh basement classes!

Also quick access to the weak library!

Animats 6 years ago |

Oh, that thing. That was mostly Sutherland having fun.

It was followed by the OSU Adaptive Suspension Vehicle.[1] This may have been the first walking machine with active computer control. Despite the claims of off-road capabilities, it could at best handle a dirt road with a slight slope. They got it to walk over a log, but that was with 5 legs locked and the operator managing one leg with a joystick.

[1] https://youtu.be/DIiD1JimBXQ

jacquesm 6 years ago | |

There is some progress...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sBBaNYex3E

abrax3141 6 years ago |

Coincidentally, the grad student who programmed the thing, Marc Donner, is now director of global tech sites at ... wait for it ... Uber!

ericb 6 years ago |

What is that on the ground that rolls by it, stops by sewer grate, and then rolls some more?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMfU2FtSBk&feature=youtu.be...

Isamu 6 years ago | |

I don't remember exactly but there may have been a small crab apple tree by the entrance. This was below and in front of Hamerschlag Hall that I believe is now filled in. The offices behind connected to the library floor of Wean Hall.

cfallin 6 years ago | | |

Yeah, the old parking lot around Hamerschlag became the new fab / nanotech lab when Scott Hall was built (finished 2016) -- they connected HH C-level to Wean 4, a major boon to winter-time indoor connectivity. Google Streetview has a pretty good view of it:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4420983,-79.9460873,3a,75y,3...

CptFribble 6 years ago | |

Likely some trash or debris. At 3:35, after the camera cuts to the machine turned around, you can see a couple more similar white objects underneath the front of the Walker that appear to be blown about.

tawm 6 years ago | |

Looks like an artifact?

ericb 6 years ago | | |

Maybe, but it looks like it has a shadow and follows the contour of the ground?

PhantomGremlin 6 years ago |

It's a short video. Everyone should watch it. Not necessarily for the walker, which is somewhat primitive, though probably state-of-the-art for its time. Watch the video for the accompanying commentary.

Ivan has such a simple, elegant way of explaining things. In just a few sentences he clearly explained all the key elements of the walker.

That's a wonderful pedagogical talent. Another person with such a talent was Richard Feynman.

tpmx 6 years ago |

Wow, it's taken us so long to get (something like) this thing going. 37 years now, and Boston Dynamics is only now in the final steps of productizing v1.

GeorgeTirebiter 6 years ago | |

Boston Dynamics' CEO, Marc Raibert, was a professor at CMU at the same time, and Marc and Ivan are good pals. Little-known fact: Ivan convinced Marc to start doing work in legged locomotion! So, in a way, Ivan is responsible for modern legged locomotion by 'seeding' the field with a genius like Marc Raibert! Here's some of what was going on at CMU at the same time as Ivan's Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_ZKXo6Rlg

bpicolo 6 years ago | | |

This video was extremely cool. Thanks for sharing! Legged robots are so endearing.

kevin_thibedeau 6 years ago | |

The Timberjack walking tree harvester was mostly ready for commercialization.

tpmx 6 years ago | | |

Got a link?

Causality1 6 years ago |

Interesting that they tried to design the walking motion from scratch and ended up with a jittery, jerky mess with each leg moving one by one. I wonder how they would've done if they tried to replicate the walking motion of real six-legged creatures.

https://i.imgur.com/tinN5vA.gif

jv22222 6 years ago |

This looks and sounds like the retro back story side sequences in Lost (with the Japanese professor)!

Anyway, awesome work, and amazing to see how long we've been thinking about this stuff IRL