Creepy Robot Video Dept. Murata Boy, the Robot that can Ride Bicycles

By Sunday September 30, 2007



13 Comments
  1. Mark T. says:
    9/30/2007 at 9:40 pm

    Ha, now we can finally outsource all those overpaid kids with newspaper routes.

  2. Brandon says:
    9/30/2007 at 9:52 pm

    I’d like to see him try to ride something like Sonoma County’s Annadel State Park.

    Then we’ll know that robots know how to have a good time.

  3. astro4554 says:
    10/1/2007 at 3:21 am

    There must be a big gyro in the body to keep it that stable

  4. Misanthropic Scott says:
    10/1/2007 at 3:36 am

    Impressive balance for a robot.

    #3 – astro4554,

    Possibly. Or, they could do it the way you and I do. Thousands of tiny adjustments all the time. A gyro might make it too hard for the bot to ride in circles. I think it would provide too much directional stability as well as balance. Anyone with more engineering than me want to take a guess about gyros?

  5. Peter says:
    10/1/2007 at 3:42 am

    >>Anyone with more engineering than me want to take a guess about >>gyros?
    I’d like to engineer a gyro….with some mint mayo, grilled lamb and hot fries!

  6. GregA says:
    10/1/2007 at 3:52 am

    #3

    The wheels?

  7. bac says:
    10/1/2007 at 4:54 am

    #3 May be the robot uses something similar to what the Segway uses.

    Next up is a robot that can swim.

  8. Perry Noiya says:
    10/1/2007 at 6:00 am

    This isn’t a robot riding a bicycle. It is a machine that looks like a robot riding a bicycle. Riding a bicycle involves walking up to the bicycle, getting on the bicycle, pedaling the bicycle and getting off of the bicycle.

    The “robot” in this video isn’t capable of walking because it has pedaler’s hips and its feet are pinned to the pedals.

    Japanese robotics is about appearance.

    Perry

  9. Cinaedh says:
    10/1/2007 at 6:41 am

    To hell with the science…

    Especially in absolute silence, that’s just a spooky thing to watch.

  10. ehines99 says:
    10/1/2007 at 10:42 am

    You can see the gyros in the robot’s “chest”. At the beginning and end of the video they are rotating to hold the bike upright, once the bike is in motion the gyros are only used occasionally, at that point the bike’s wheels are acting as the gyros.

  11. Mike Voice says:
    10/1/2007 at 10:58 am

    Reminds me of an electric-motor RC motorcycle I had, years ago.

    The tires were solid, dense rubber – and produced the gyroscopic effect which kept the cycle up-right.. once it was moving.

    Had a frame-work & cloth assembly that looked like a rider with helmet, and the hands were pegged to the bars.

    Front fork was free to move… steering was by shifting a low-slung weight to one side or the other – to change the center of gravity – and the cycle would then lean/turn in that direction.

  12. Angel H. Wong says:
    10/1/2007 at 2:17 pm

    I have the urge to throw a wooden stick in front of it and see the robot kiss the concrete floor.

  13. Perry Noiya says:
    10/1/2007 at 4:45 pm

    Regarding my comment in 8. I take some doubt back.

    Here is another view.

    http://tinyurl.com/39okw9

    Perry


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