[ti:The Team Behind the ‘Dancing Robots’ that Went Viral]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]Boston Dynamics is an American technology company
[00:05.28]that has developed a series of robots designed
[00:09.92]to move in ways similar to humans and animals.
[00:16.16]The company has spent years building robots
[00:20.96]with useful abilities like walking,
[00:24.60]moving through rough terrain
[00:27.00]and picking things up with their hands.
[00:31.72]The machines are designed to be used in work settings
[00:36.44]to perform a number of different tasks.
[00:40.48]Videos of some of the robots
[00:44.32]– especially those that look like animals when they move
[00:48.72]– have been popular on the internet in the past.
[00:53.88]But the company's latest video to go viral
[00:57.80]shows a group of robots dancing to the 1962 hit song
[01:04.76]"Do You Love Me" by The Contours.
[01:09.52]The video received more than 23 million views during its first week.
[01:16.68]The performance shows two Boston Dynamics humanoid robots,
[01:23.84]called Atlas, doing several dance moves – such as the twist,
[01:30.12]the mashed potato and others.
[01:33.92]The two are joined by Spot, a dog-like robot, and Handle,
[01:40.84]a wheeled robot designed for lifting and moving boxes.
[01:47.00]Speaking to The Associated Press,
[01:49.96]Boston Dynamics founder and chairperson Marc Raibert
[01:55.36]admits the video is fun to watch.
[01:59.24]But he said the real success behind the experiment
[02:04.00]was the valuable lessons the project taught his team.
[02:09.52]"It turned out that we needed to upgrade the robot
[02:14.60]in the middle of development," Raibert said.
[02:18.56]He said that step was necessary in order for the robot
[02:23.72]to be strong enough and have enough energy
[02:27.80]to do the whole performance without stopping.
[02:31.96]"So that was a real benefit to the design," he added.
[02:37.84]The difficulty of teaching robots to dance
[02:41.92]also pushed Boston Dynamics engineers
[02:46.16]to develop better motion-programming tools.
[02:51.16]These tools helped the robots do several things at once
[02:55.88]- balance, bounce and perform dance moves without breaks.
[03:02.20]Some social media users who watched the video
[03:06.72]commented that the robots' dancing was so similar to a human
[03:12.76]that they could not believe their eyes.
[03:16.48]Some praised the robots' moves
[03:19.68]and the technology powering them.
[03:22.48]Others suggested that what they were seeing
[03:26.56]was probably computer-generated imagery, or CGI.
[03:32.32]But Raibert said it was all real, the result of long and hard work,
[03:39.44]fueled by a strong desire to program a robot
[03:43.72]that could dance to the beat.
[03:45.96]"We wanted it to do human dancing and ... when a human dances,
[03:52.08]the music has a beat and their whole body moves to it
[03:56.20]— their hands, their body, their head."
[03:59.76]Raibert added: "It looked like the robot was having fun
[04:04.68]and really moved with the music.
[04:07.88]And I think that had a lot to do with the result of the production."
[04:13.24]The Atlas robots used a wide range of sensors
[04:18.36]to perform the dance moves, including 28 actuators.
[04:24.08]These are devices that serve as muscles
[04:28.32]by converting electronic or physical signals into movement.
[04:33.84]The robots were also equipped with three powerful computers,
[04:39.28]including one that processes perception signals
[04:43.84]and two that control movement.
[04:47.00]Aside from the technology progress, Raibert said
[04:52.16]it was also pleasing that the video became so popular
[04:56.84]with people across the world.
[05:00.24]"We got a call from one of the sound engineers
[05:03.96]who had recorded the original Contours performance back in the '60s.
[05:10.52]And he said that his whole crew of Motown friends
[05:14.44]had been passing it around and had been excited by it," he added.
[05:20.04]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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