Whereas the desert race was “go and go”, the Urban Challenge will be “stop and go”, says William “Red” Whittaker, a renowned roboticist at CMU.
In addition to lowering expectations, this avoids any trespass into the so-called uncanny valley, a term invented by pioneering Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori more than 40 years ago.
By pushing your Darwinian button, if a roboticist can get you to take care of the robot, you will attach to it.
To learn how to climb walls, Stanford roboticist Mark Cutkosky turned to the best wall climbers around: geckos.