lew (02/14/83)
A recent cover article of Scientific American was about building walking machines. The cover picture showed an aerial view of a man in the cockpit of a mechanical roach. This, according to the article, does not exemplify "true walking" since the machine is statically stable at all times. Bipeds and quadrapeds walk with gaits that require balance. What I'm trying to build up to is that it would be a great AI achievment to build an android that could, say, run an obstacle course, or perform on the high bar, or even walk down a city street or across a plowed field. I'll bet most people could hardly help attributing consciousness to it, so powerful would be the visual impact ... and it wouldn't have to say a word! Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew