Farmer Builds Robot Army 106
46-year-old Wu Yulu has only a basic school education but has managed to build himself 26 robots from scrap materials over the past 30 years. At first his creations were simple and could barely shuffle along by themselves. The robots got more complex as time passed, and eventually he built ones capable of climbing walls, serving water, lighting cigarettes, playing musical instruments and writing calligraphy. "When I was 11, one day I was sitting on the doorstep, and while watching villagers passing by I suddenly came up with the idea of building a machine that walks like a man," he told the Beijing Times.
Greetings (Score:2, Funny)
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yikes! (Score:2)
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lol (Score:5, Funny)
"Wu, who lives near Beijing, sees all the robots as his sons, "
and later on in the article
"Wu says he has to sell off some of his robot collection after plunging his family into debt "
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Hey, if it's good enough for Joseph, it's good enough for Wu12.
Re:lol (Score:4, Insightful)
One would think that a large company would hire this man to build robots even if those robots are only for advertising purposes. The fellow has talent and deserves to make a decent living and the world of robotics just might learn a few things from him as well.
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NO university (Score:3, Informative)
throughout history, youll find that a pathetically small percentage of great inventors have been through scholastic education.
this person should be given a lab, and a few good technical assistants. just like 19th century inventors had.
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scientific method makes even the most eager mind more and more conformist, because it itself is an algorithm that can be almost automated, with little creative input. propose, test, theorize propose test theorize.
great discoveries however are done in times of great muse. a farmer in a barn can access muse more easily than a mind cooked in a methodist, scholastic university.
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"throughout history, youll find that a pathetically small percentage of great inventors have been through scholastic education. "
that's not true. For every 1 you can think of, I can name 2.
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imagine your scientific innovation and output, and therefore modern day technology being 30% behind.
even this is a long shot, it would be even more, because there is synergy effect, and also there is the fact that some inventions have far reaching impact than others.
moreover, that 30% ratio, if it was like you said, would itself prove that scientific training has almost no effect on anythi
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That being said, it is true that a rigorous scientific education system can reduce the creative output of an
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That statement is filled with logical fallacies.. First of all, I assume you're including those scientific pioneers who lived back when scientific education was rare or non-existent.
no. i specifically focused on post 1800 era. if i had gone that way back, it would be much more moot to prove the irrelevance between muse, innovation, creativity and scholastic education. or, maybe the inverse correlation.
Second, to assume we'd be 30% behind without them would be to assume that nobody else would come up with the idea. Would we lose out on calculus because Newton wasn't around? Nope, because we'd still have Leibniz.
thats a long discussion, probably with the possible outcome of 'possibly yes, but maybe no'. or, with much more probability, 'yes, but much much later than due time'.
That being said, it is true that a rigorous scientific education system can reduce the creative output of an individual.. But individuals can gain an education outside of the scholastic hierarchy. I mean, with the right books and some innate aptitude you could become the greatest mathematician the world has ever known.
it is ironic - we are giving an education to exactly bolster innovation and discovery, but it does totally to the opposite
Is that the meaning of life? (Score:2)
Children: Ohhhhh.
Father: I'm afraid I have no choice but to sell you all for scientific experiments.
Oh the synergy! (Score:1)
Woo woo (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Woo woo (Score:5, Insightful)
This is amongst the greatest things that I have seen till now.
Unbelievable - woo no 25 and the water carrying robots - are really unbelievable.
I am really sad for his wasted talent - an amazing talent born at the wrong place and time.
Is it possible for us to help him out someway?
P.S : This shouldnt be posted in idle.
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I know this is offtopic, but isn't it incredible that there have been articles showing up in Idle that really shouldn't be in Idle? /.'s way of trying to make sure we don't disable Idle from showing up on the front page.
Perhaps this is
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Perhaps this is /.'s way of trying to make sure we don't disable Idle from showing up on the front page.
Actually, I think this might be targeted at people who feel Slashdot no longer occupies a legit place between hardcore tech sites and fluffy news aggregation sites (Digg?).
By moving the interesting but tabloidesque stories to Idle the rest of the site can get more tech without depriving readers of their light coffee break reading.
Like it or not, this story is something that readers are likely to see in th
SHOULDNT HAVE BEEN POSTED IN IDLE (Score:2)
move this to main from idle.
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Yeah, when I got here, I couldn't believe that this article was in Idle. This is way more relevant than "WoW has another million players and another raid dungeon."
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Aww. Poor guy. His wife is a total bitch.
Silly (Score:4, Funny)
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In every other country he would have been arrested for obstructing traffic or scaring the shit out of the neighbor's kids.
The police is too busy arresting dissidents and Falun Gong followers.
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If only they would arrest you for all your link jacked, copyrighted images and text be damned, submissions.
Hats off (Score:5, Insightful)
Clearly you are not a robotics expert! (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at the picture. His Rickshaw-bot is mechanical and he has a steering wheel.
It's not a complex task he has solved there. Stability is already present (2 wheels at the back, two legs at the front),
Sensors? Closed-loop feedback?
Lol. more like a few electric motors and some gears.
Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! (Score:4, Insightful)
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But his designs became more and more sophisticated, and he has built robots capable of climbing walls, serving water, lighting cigarettes, playing musical instruments and writing calligraphy.
So climing a wall, doing calligraphy and playing a musical instrument doesn't take some any computer parts? I would be even more impressed.
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Not necessarily, no. Look up the automata that were made in the victorian period, for instance.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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No, this guy's robot collection is damn cool, sorry if I gave the impression I wasn't impressed!
What I wasn't impressed by was the lack of insight of the post I replied to. He's not some sort of robotics Professor, he's a guy that's built some ace robots out of scrap.
I love these sorts of crackpots, but let's not pretend he's done any cutting edge engineering here, 'kay?
Re:Clearly you are not a robotics expert! (Score:5, Insightful)
He has an important characteristic of a great inventor though. He sees an invention shaped hole in the universe, and cannot resist the compulsion to twist metal into a shape that will fill it.
In other circumstances, he'd be an engineer or an artist. He is an artist. I won't be surprised if collectors and museums don't end up spending big bucks for a genuine "Wu".
you are a TOTAL moron. or a fool. or ignorant. (Score:2)
What I wasn't impressed by was the lack of insight of the post I replied to. He's not some sort of robotics Professor, he's a guy that's built some ace robots out of scrap.
I love these sorts of crackpots, but let's not pretend he's done any cutting edge engineering here, 'kay?
dear moron,
if you had ANY knowledge of history of science, you would have known that with a few exceptions, ALL of the biggest scientists and inventors of the past are the sort of person THAT guy is.
you just called a lot of people ranging from faraday to tesla crackpots.
are you sure slashdot is the right place for you ?
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"if you had ANY knowledge of history of science, you would have known that with a few exceptions, ALL of the biggest scientists and inventors of the past are the sort of person THAT guy is."
BULLSHIT.
"you just called a lot of people ranging from faraday to tesla crackpots."
No, they didn't build electric automata out of scrap on a farm, they dabbled in mathematical and theoretical understanding of physical phenomena and made practical use of it. Whole different kettle of fish.
I could make his automata, I don'
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No, they didn't build electric automata out of scrap on a farm, they dabbled in mathematical and theoretical understanding of physical phenomena and made practical use of it. Whole different kettle of fish.
you dont know shit about science history. most of the inventors and pioneers didnt have any mathematical or theoretical tools or methods to ever use or to understand or even imagine physical phenomenon. not only that, some of them didnt have even any kind of school education.
from the way you talk its clear that you are probably a youngster who is fresh into college. your talk reeks of stupid scientific/scholastic elitism. dont worry, you will get over it by the time you get to 30s.
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"most of the inventors and pioneers didnt have any mathematical or theoretical tools or methods to ever use or to understand or even imagine physical phenomenon."
prove it. It's a bunch of fucking nonsense.
"not only that, some of them didnt have even any kind of school education."
That's not even slightly relevant.
"from the way you talk its clear that you are probably a youngster who is fresh into college. your talk reeks of stupid scientific/scholastic elitism. dont worry, you will get over it by the time yo
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prove it. It's a bunch of fucking nonsense.
You are spouting off with no knowledge of what you speak of. You're an idiot.
i cant teach you hundreds of years of history just like that here, lad. spend your own effort. and dont talk with certainty on subjects you dont know about.
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here, start with this clue and build up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday [wikipedia.org]
Although Faraday received little formal education and knew little of higher mathematics, such as calculus, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. Some historians[4] of science refer to him as the best experimentalist in the history of science.[5] The SI unit of capacitance, the farad, is named after him, as is the Faraday constant, the charge on a mole of electrons (about 96,485 coulombs). Faraday's law of induction states that a magnetic field changing in time creates a proportional electromotive force.
who's the idiot now ?
I'm in my 30s and have been working for some years now. Your talk reeks of idiocy and too much caffeine, I suggest you calm down and actually look at what you are talking about. This guy builds mechanical automata driven by electric motors. Is it fun? Yes. Is it in any way groundbreaking? No.
faraday says you dont know shit, despite your 30 years age and 'calmness'.
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I don't give a FUCK about Faraday. This guy isn't fucking faraday, he's a builder of electric automata and he's done FUCK ALL to advance any field of science.
RTFA and then go kick yourself in the head.
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No building a walking robot, the Wu's way :
1) Think it would be cool to have a walking robot 2) Put together a few electric motors and some gears 3) Paint your walking robot according to your preference 4) Enjoy ...
You left out the step where he burns down the house and gets his surprisingly attractive (relatively so) wife super-pissed at him.
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So true. Hit citeseer and you will find thousands of papers on robot walking, including many PhD theses. For some reason, the academic way seems to be to carry out almost identical research again, and again, and again, rather than actually trying to build the damn thing. Let's be clear, Wu's walking robot isn't going to set the world on fire, but just by building a real robot that can actually walk he's already got further than the robotics departments of many of the world's leading universities.
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Sure, but mechanical ingenuity is what makes robotics fun. The really technologically advanced aspects of robotics, like machine vision, could be done entirely in simulation.
It'd be cool to have him working for a year as a visiting scholar or artist in residence at an engineering school.
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Just because he's a farmer doesn't mean he's an idiot. Some farmers are quite good at fixing machinery/farm equipment. Plus, it's not like he's a farmer in the middle of nowhere. He can and probably did ask someone for help. Most hobbyists will ask for help if they get stuck somewhere. That being
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There's no science behind these robots, it's just trial and error plus some basic logic and dedication. Anybody with any sort of love for mechanics could build something like this. No matter how awesome it is.
Think about it, we've had toys that could walk for at least thirty years now, but robots that can walk walk (dynamic fal
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And more OT, WTF is this 40 x 25 character text box in Idle? Did slashcode just jump back in time to 1970?
No, something IS going on but you have no idea (Score:3, Insightful)
but clearly, you dont have either, and dont understand shit about them when you see them.
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Dude, nothing so complex is going on. It's pretty much just like a kid playing with LEGO. You see how something behaves, build something as close as possible, tinker until it works.
There's no science behind these robots, it's just trial and error plus some basic logic and dedication. Anybody with any sort of love for mechanics could build something like this. No matter how awesome it is.
And mathematical proofs are just moving symbols around and following a set of simple rules. Anybody with any sort of love for mathematics could prove Fermat's Last Theorem.
Just a piece of anecdote. During WWII, the designers of the Mustang, which arguably gave the Allied forces air superiority over Europe, were having a helluva time with the engine's cooling system. The aft located radiator intake was ingesting boundary layer air off the airplane's belly. The resultant turbulance was shielding much of t
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Well, I'll give it to him, he's done a lot of fiddling. It is a shame, with a little study he might have done a lot more.
It is obvious from his work that this man is skilled in basic metal work, but most of his robots are enlarged versions of their child toy equivalents. For example, the rickshaw "robot" doesn't balance, because it is rigidly welded to the rickshaw, meaning that it is more of a four wheeled vehicle where the front two wheels have been replaced by legs. So during its most unstable moments
ALL that talk and excuse me, (Score:2)
please enlighten us.
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Six, so go shove off. Most of them are kits or attempts to cobble two kits together. The simplest ones can follow lines drawn on paper, some are just bump and turn jobs. One had a microcontroller which was programmable. One use a cassette player to "play back" the program code which wasn't much more than tones on a tape.
This guy does good metal work, but without his machines accepting input, it's about as much of a robot as the lighted casino cowyboy featured in Las Vegas. Perhaps you view your car as
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Old joke (Score:5, Funny)
-Who is building the robots?
-Wu is.
-That's what I asked.
-Wu is building the robots.
-Yeah, who is building the robots?
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How much power does it consume?
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You missed the part where his neighbor Yu ordered one.
"Wu is building the robot Yu asked him to."
"I didn't ask him."
"No, Yu did."
Old news is good news (Score:2)
China Daily's report is dated 2006.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-07/07/content_636244.htm [chinadaily.com.cn]
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If he considers them to be like sons ... (Score:5, Funny)
See, it's funny, because his robots go clang, and
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Oh ho ho, that makes it sound as if we're groaning with you. I, for one, am sharpening my pitchfork.
WHY?!! (Score:1)
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Not Robots (Score:4, Insightful)
just like machines of (Score:2)
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We don't know that for sure. But, I agree that the biggest usage for his robots would be for entertainment and art, not wash the dishes and repair cars.
It's not likely he can devise mechanics smarter than software control, I hate to break it to him. But, he could focus on the mechanical aspects of it. Perhaps co-author a book that shows how it's done via used stuff
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Edumacation (Score:3, Insightful)
Imagine what this guy could have done if he had a decent education.
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There is a possibility that it would have stifled his creativity and desire. They would have told him that he's using the "wrong" technique and the "wrong" tools and materials.
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Luckily (Score:2)
He hasn't built himself any beautifful robot daughters...
Farmer:... You can sleep in the barn. Just don't be a-touchin' my three beautiful robot daughters. Y'hear?
Fry: Robot daughters?
[He points to his robot daughters outside the house.]
Farmer: This here is Lulabelle 7.
Lulabelle 7: Yoo-hoo!
Farmer: Daisy-Mae 128K.
Daisy-Mae 128K: Yoo-hoo!
Farmer: And the Crushinator.
[The Crushinator is a huge pink thing with tracks instead of legs.]
Crushinator: (mechanical voice) Yoo-hoo.
Fry: Whoa!
Racist Roboticist (Score:3, Funny)
If an American farmer made a robot slave dressed in clearly traditional Chinese farmer clothes to pull them on a rickshaw, they'd be denounced as a racist.
I therefore denounce this Chinese farmer as a racist for doing exactly that with a White American looking robot.
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If an American farmer made a robot slave dressed in clearly traditional Chinese farmer clothes to pull them on a rickshaw, they'd be denounced as a racist.
I therefore denounce this Chinese farmer as a racist for doing exactly that with a White American looking robot.
White Americans look like that?
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That's a cowboy hat. Chinese hats are squat cones.
Wikipedia page (Score:2, Interesting)
This guy deserves some recognition. I just made this Wikipedia page for him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_yulu
Please help build up the info there if you know more. I especially need help getting some Chinese (Mandarin) characters for his name, village name, etc.
Thanks!
Sorry I had to... (Score:1, Flamebait)
OWEN: Yeah?
LUKE: This R-Wu unit has a bad motivator. Look!
OWEN: Hey, what're you trying to push on us?
What is a "robot" anyway? (Score:2)
At car plants there are machines that pick up windshields with suction cups and then put them in the front of cars. Are these robots?
To my mind, the 'self-driving cars' you see in events like the DARPA Grand Challenge are robots, but a mechanical gadget, while cool and clever bits of engineering are NOT rob
More Links and Pics (Score:2)
More links and pics about this guy:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/200806413251033 [sky.com]
http://www.china.org.cn/english/NM-e/96084.htm [china.org.cn]
http://rashmanly.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/wu-yulu-of-china-builds-his-own-wu-clang-clan-of-robot-sons/ [wordpress.com]
Some semi-random quotes:
"[Wife] When we got married, everyone warned me he would care more about his robots than about me," she said, "but on the other hand, at least he doesn't drink or chase other women."
"So far, though, the farmer has encountered little
This does NOT belong in Idle. (Score:2)
Put our boy on the front page. Long live Wu, women de pongo!
Since this farmer builds impressive robots (Score:2)
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Awesome. simply Awesome.