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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>spike<br><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Remote control football will happen long before full autonomatron, decades perhaps.  It is a logical intermediate step, but there is another I can think of: bipedal robots.  Before even RC football, we need robots which can wear our clothes and walk in our shoes.  Wheels have their advantages, but if you look around at how our world is built, feet have enormous advantages too</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike  </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The more I think about the control system requirements, I am thinking now that tripedal locomotion makes a lot of sense as an intermediate step to bipedal.  It would still have a lot of the advantages of bipedal, we could still put shoes on them (which has its own advantages), the control system for just standing still is trivial, the requirements for balance and motion sensing are greatly simplified.  <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>We see in nature quadruped and a few biped designs in humans and birds, but as I think about it, I am very surprised evolution never came up with any tripedal locomotion examples.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>