Hmmm...
Remember how the first ever use of CGI reflection mapping in a film
was to create a certain metallic sci-fi vehicle?
Well, ever since then, I get suspicious whenever I see metallic, sci-fi vehicles
in the news.
Like this super cool robot exoskeleton called "The Method".
Supposedly being built by South Korean future technology company:
"Hankook Mirae Technology",
which in Korean means "Korea Future Technology".
Look at those pristine, shiny, perfectly lit mechanical parts.
It has to be a computer-generated rendering, right?
Well it's not!
It actually exists!
Yes, already in its second iteration
this magnificent robot suit may be helping humans work in
hazardous environments by late 2017!
According to the company's CEO, Yang Jin-ho,
and according to Popular Mechanics contributor David Grossman,
It could soon see action in the DMZ between South and North Korea.
DMZ stands for Demilitarized Zone, David.
The point is,
the robot is real!
So, thank you, everyone
and, good bye, forever.
Or,
I bet I could disillusion you anyway.
Let's look closer. Past the flattering articles and amused billionaires...
"Why do I feel like- so much like Sigourney Weaver?"
And, exactly what has been accomplished here?
HM are in their third year of prototyping a robotic design
informed purely by popular science fiction.
And while Boston Dynamics tests generation after generation of robots
without any regard for how terrifying they look
until they perfect their functionality,
Hey, come on...
One of HM's first steps has been to hire a Hollywood concept artist
to help design The Method's appearance.
Vitaly Bulgarov
has created concept art for hit video games and films
like Transformers: Age of Extinction and Ghost in the Shell
Age of... OK - not great.
And he's made this thing look pretty awesome!
But, a nicely kitbashed hull and cool interior backlights
don't help with the major technical hurdles the robot has yet to overcome.
Note how there's almost never a person inside when the unit is shown taking steps.
Even with tethers above, it's not yet deemed safe to have the arms and legs operating together.
Probably because the robot isn't technically walking.
It's a pre-programmed sequence of movements.
Not adapted behavior controllable in real time.
I don't think it's equipped to actively fight for balance, BigDog style.
Stop that!
Same with the method's hands.
Right now, their motion is canned and purely decorative.
The only thing actually controlled by the pilot is the movement of the arms.
Achieved through one-to-one motion replication.
This approach was used to get an animated baby Herman
to hold a live-action cigar in "Who framed Roger Rabbit?", back in 1988.
And to puppeteer the life-sized animatronic T-Rex in Jurassic Park
in 1993.
And both of those rigs were among dozens of other revolutionary mechanical effects
achieved with a small portion of those films' respective budgets.
Hankook Mirae is working with a budget of $200,000,000 to build one robot.
And, judging by the cables trailing behind it,
computer control may not be on board yet.
If a couple machines and technicians are still needed on the outside
to help this thing move,
then it doesn't seem like a robot that could be ready for industry by the end of
2017 to me.
But,
I'm not a robotics expert.
So let's ask Brian Gregory,
principal engineer at the PTR group,
a company involved, among other things,
in developing high-end robotics for NASA's satellite servicing projects division.
Hi Brian!
(Brian) Hey Captain D!
Big fan.
I'm excited to talk to you.
(Captain D) I know, right.
So, this method robot is pretty limited, huh.
(Brian) Yeah, I'd be concerned, for instance
when it waves it's arms around, it's pretty unstable.
and the centre of gravity shifts when you interfere with it's walking.
(Captain D) In other words, this thing is basically garbage.
(Brian) Well, no, I wouldn't say that.
I'd eventually see it as some kind of show robot, you know
like a monster truck rally thing, not really a military or construction kind of thing.
(Captain D) OK, but would it be fair to say
this project is an insult to the entire field of robotics research?
(Brian) No...
(Captain D) Why not?
(Brian) Ummm,
you seem to be personally offended by this robot,
captain.
(Captain D) Well, Brian.
Let me ask you this.
If you were some sort of big hero and parts of you happened to be chrome,
and then some company started building a robot that was just
as big and heroic and also happened to have chrome parts,
Wouldn't you be justified in feeling just a little bit insulted?
(Brian) I'm sure that's not what they're trying to do.
(Captain D) This thing is not taking my job, Brian.
Not in a million years, OK?
I'm a natural chrome.
Now what are we going to do about this?
Does your team know their team?
(Brian) I've gotta go, I'm sorry.
(Captain D) I need a plan of action.
(Brian) I got a call coming in.
(Captain D) Don't you hang up. Brian, I need your help.
Br- Brian! Do-
(Brian) I gotta go.
(Captain D) He's gone.
Look.
Industrial robotic arms, large animatronics and human piloted machines
are all proven concepts.
The job of the method
is to prove they can all work together in this form-factor.
And it hasn't done that.
Until it can balance itself,
negotiate obstacles or pick up objects,
it's just a shaky assembly of moving parts
impressing us purely through pareidolia
because it looks vaguely like a person.
Or a thing we've seen in a cartoon.
So, even though it's not a CGI hoax,
the method is not really the machine it's claimed to be, either.
Not like these things.
OK, you know what?
I'm gonna go find the guy who keeps doing that,
and give him a taste of his own medicine.