Legged Locomotion Meets Skateboarding

I really want to have something insightful to say, or perhaps something predictably pessimistic about robotics and AI.

But I just can't get over how cute the little fucker is. Little robodog skateboarding around living his best life.

Pretty cool! At first I wasn’t that impressed because it’s mostly just pushing to get some speed then “passively” riding down some ramps and steps. Then I realized that riding down steps is not a passive activity — most humans will fail their first time and need to learn to maintain balance while the board bounces over rough terrain.

I think most inanimate objects would fall off a skateboard when pushed down steps, so it’s an impressive display of balance and tool-use in my opinion!

Circa 2004, we undergrad tagalongs on CMU's robot soccer team were in charge of two things: the Sony Aibo dog's post-goal victory dance, and getting it to ride on a little Sony-provided skateboard. Clearly "dogs on skateboards" never gets old. :)

But from the title I was hoping to see a "skateboard with legs" instead. Imagine a little eight-legged horse for your feet, you know?

I'm reminded of all those "dog rides skateboard" animated gifs and videos.

but the two-legged scooby-doo windup is amazing!

I'm not an expert, but if I understand the abstract correctly, the big deal isn't the skateboarding at all. This is a modal behavior where both the individual behaviors and the mode transition decisions were trained at the same time. Is this correct?

Do a kickflip!

Aw, I was hoping for a skateboard that replaced the wheels with legged locomotion— like a cilia skateboard

Cue the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater music.

Love the video's ASMR vibes

2025 and we still can’t flawlessly instantly play a web video when play is pressed.

What are we doing here?

Based on the title alone, I thought this might be a skateboard that moved on millipede style legs, rather than wheels.

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