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Recovering from a stumble is only essential if you have a robot that stumbles - which all bipedal robots do (see some of the hilarious footage from robot trials around the world!) My point was that the effort should be going into finding inherently stable configurations which don't stumble rather than slavishly adhering to the bipedal method just because it looks more human. This needn't take up much more space especially if the centre of gravity can be kept low.
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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I would guess the problem is the battery use. Because bipedals need several times less energy on the same distance than 4-legged creatures. At least, that's what I read about why humans are bipedals.
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vtokar wrote: bipedals need several times less energy on the same distance than 4-legged creatures
The study which suggested this compared only humans and chimps. It confirms that human beings walking on two legs are more energy efficient than chimps walking on four and also, for the most part and to a lesser degree, than chimps walking on two. But as chimps are already halfway between quadriped and biped, with their arms significantly far along the track towards becoming useless as legs, all the study really tells us is that humans are better at being humans than primates at a stage of evolution a few steps behind humans which .. you know ... duh!
There are so many disadvantages to bipedal walking in terms of wear on joints, the need for additional supporting framework such as ligaments and tendons, pressure on the feet, balance and stability issues caused by raising the centre of gravity, and a dozen other consequences from having our vertebra in a shaky column rather than a nice self-supporting, suspended arch, that it's not easy to believe that a little energy efficiency gain is sufficient evolutionary advantage to explain it entirely if at all.
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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They actually tried a 4-legged robot but found it to be too noisy. They decided to go with only two legs, then, because it would be less conspicuous distracting.
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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and besides, it is more difficult to make a four legged version walk round as if it were terminally constipated.
It goes without saying
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A major reason to make it bipedal is because much of our surrounding is foundationally geared towards human habitation. If all we're going to do is make these things walk about in open space then I see your point. Ultimately the goal is to have these things be among people without having to make special provision for them (think stairs, aisles, doors etc.)
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I don't find it creepy. Robots intelligence (created by us) is so less sophisticated that they cannot perform simple walking (until now). Still I think it is kinda slow, since it falls from a push (humans react really fast and do not). And I don't think that energy system is autonomous like ours. And I don't even imagine high-level intellectual functions. We are so far from "intelligent" robots.
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I kept waiting for it to get pissed off and hit the guy.
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Yeah, seriously. It looked like the robot left pissed off...which is exactly how the Terminator is born...thanks hockey stick guy, you just doomed the world... 
I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone - Bjarne Stroustrup
The world is going to laugh at you anyway, might as well crack the 1st joke!
My code has no bugs, it runs exactly as it was written.
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Oooooh ... you're gonna make it angry!
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I wonder what it said as it went out the door...
"I'll be back"?
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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I figure it's thinking, "Where's that S.O.B.'s car?"
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Did you know that when Marty McFly grew up, he opened a florist called Back To The Fuchsia?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Just flower off with your withered jokes 
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You rose to the challenge again 
[edit - 'the' changed to 'to']
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
modified 25-Feb-16 14:37pm.
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It's gonna be hard to stem the tide.
/ravi
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You have to get to the root of it.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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That will always be a thorn in my side.
/ravi
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It does have that stigma doesn't it?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Yes, but I hope I have the stamena to overcome that.
/ravi
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Of course you do, you're a real pistil.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Yes, I take after my peduncle.
/ravi
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Was his first name herb?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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