Robocones 291
Anonymous Meoward writes "Researchers at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln have come up with robotic traffic barrels ('bollards', for our British readers) that can be repositioned by remote control, thus minimizing a road worker's time in harm's way. Apparently, the barrels can be grouped and positioned by an autonomous 'shepherd' unit, that is also smart enough to also remove an errant barrel from its herd. The barrels themselves are about as intelligent as.. well, orange barrels. Okay, let's cue the more obvious jokes..." Reader zombieflesheater submitted this previous attempt to mobilize road furniture.
Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Deploying and retrieving highway markers on open roads is hazardous so the robots will reduce risks for workmen," researcher Shane Farritor said."
Are there statistics anywhere on how many workers are killed or injured while moving cones every year?
The article mentions risk without refering to hard data so it seems like a solution in search of a problem. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just want to know how they qualify the risk they mention or if it's a neat university project solely for the sake of being a neat university project.
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Insightful)
Are there statistics anywhere on how many workers are killed or injured while moving cones every year? The article mentions risk without refering to hard data so it seems like a solution in search of a problem. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just want to know how they qualify the risk they mention or if it's a neat university project solely for the sake of being a neat university project.
See, here's the disconnect between book smarts and street smarts, literally. Have you ever tried to cross the New Jersey Turnpike when dense traffic is going as high as 90mph? Ever play frogger? Having a way to move cones without risk is an obviously good idea. The only thing that worries me is a driver getting distracted from looking at the new technology.Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Informative)
Among the 492 work zone fatalities, the leading occupations were construction laborer (42%), truck driver (9%), construction trades supervisor (8%), and operating engineer (8%). The most common primary sources of injury were trucks (45%), road grading and surfacing machinery (15%), and cars (15%). Seventy-four percent of the work zone fatality victims were employed privately, the remainder by state or local governments (13% each). In 318 of the 465 vehicle and equipment-related fatalities within work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Victims of these events were as likely to be struck by a construction vehicle (154 fatalities) as by a passing traffic vehicle (152 fatalities). Incidents involving backing vehicles were prominent among the 154 worker-on-foot fatalities that occurred within the confines of the work zone (51%).
Definitely not an epidemic, though it appears that the workers themselves cause about half of the accidents.
I wonder (Score:3, Interesting)
Solutions From Statistics (Score:5, Funny)
Executive Summary:
However, data is not given to distinguish between the possibilities:
Construction Zone Safety Solutions Are Obvious:
Thus, government clerks and supervisors should do construction work in automobiles. Non-workers are less dangerous than workers, thus the automobiles should be those of passerby. Non-workers on foot are not a problem. As eliminating backing vehicles removes 51% of the problem, workers should get in to vehicles of passerby, drive those vehicles forward while completing tasks, then return the vehicle to the non-worker who has walked through construction zone.
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not that speeding in work zones is justified, but I'm sure more people would slow down if they knew the signs actually meant something.
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Funny)
Some observations from a former flagger.
Every female with a drooling brat in school believes that nothing should stop her from picking up little Damien and taking him home to torture the new cat.
A coworker pointed out that our signs have words on them. This confuses motorists.
Most localities seem to have a tax on turn signal usage. Therefore, most motorists never use them. If they do use them, they are going straight anyway.
Elderly people have tunnel vision. They will never see the flagger at the side of the road.
From personal observation: An 80,000 lb haulers rig will stop a motorist who runs past a flagger station. So will any large yellow machine with CAT printed on its side.
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:5, Funny)
So traffic barrels should be yellow, with CAT printed on the side, and with an 80,000 lb weight inside. Did you put that in the suggestion box?
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:2)
All great advances in electronics start as weird ideas and then advance to 'solutions in search of a problem'.
There has always been a point where the proponents and developers realize that they have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to develop something that could have been done much simpler and easier with human workers. This nadir is almost always
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:3, Interesting)
Even worse, I think it could be a real hazard to drivers.
Right now, if a construction worker is setting up or moving cones or barrels, an approaching driver will know the cones or barrels are about to move because there's a large person (most likely wearing a reflective vest) moving around near the barrels, and most good drivers will slow down and make sure they give him/her some space.
Can you imagine what'll happen when you're approaching some traffic barrels and all of a sudden they start moving on
Proximty Alarms (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Practical or somebody's thesis? (Score:2, Funny)
Avoiding Cars... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Avoiding Cars... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Avoiding Cars... (Score:2)
I'd say that it would then be a good time to make like a Bond movie.
"Hang on to your hat Martha! It's going to be a bumpy ride. YEEEHAAA!!!"
Re:Avoiding Cars... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, I would imagine... (Score:2)
...that the cone begins blinking its lights on and off, brightly, just before it raises up a few inches, floats over to its new spot, and sinks back down.
Also, like the submitter pointed out, it's screaming EX-TER-MI-NATE, which will get the attention of any driver, except in New York City, where they scream that anyhow.
Uhhh... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Uhhh... (Score:2)
Maybe it's me. Maybe it's because I live in the land of perpetual road construction [state.pa.us]
Self Healing Minefield (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Self Healing Minefield (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Self Healing Minefield (Score:2)
Re:Self Healing Minefield (Score:2)
Re:Self Healing Minefield (Score:2)
Re:Self Healing Minefield (Score:2)
It may be a good 'strategic' idea, but it is a despicable one from a humanitarian point of view.
Re:Self Healing Minefield (Score:2)
I really believe that this technology (remotely-controlled platforms that can move into pre-programmed patterns) could have many more life-saving applications. Add lights and you could create emergency runways.
Flocking Road Cones (Score:5, Funny)
-pararox-
Original Article (Score:5, Informative)
Watch out for... (Score:2, Funny)
EU legislation to follow? (Score:5, Funny)
If they're deployed in France, how long until they go on strike?
Important feature? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Important feature? (Score:2)
Sure would save the overtime they're currently paying the real cops, several of whom seem to be standing around watching at any given time.
This should just be the start (Score:4, Interesting)
But it should just be the start. I want to see whole roads like this. Lots of traffic going to A? well we'll just move some of the roads going to C. I see lots of them like big snakes swirling around the sky relaying themselves so that our road networks are alot more efficent. We could all end up alot more lost, but what harm?
Re:This should just be the start (Score:2)
There are cities in which they have a center lane which toggles direction at certain times of day, which is pretty much the functional upward limit.
Re:This should just be the start (Score:2)
Somebody's been watching too much Harry Potter and the moving staircases.
Re:This should just be the start (Score:2)
And that, at least, is a plus point. Can you imagine the horror if they were fast? We'd have vicious gangs of Keep Left signs molesting motorists and pedestrians and...
OK, stop that. It's far too silly. It started as a nice skit about old women mugging young men, but now it's just silly. And you can tell those are not proper Keep Left signs. Be off, the lot of you. And you, come with me. Now, something sensible and military: precision drilling. SQUAAAD - CAMP
"shepherd unit" (Score:5, Funny)
How long until a bunch of bored slash-nerds g out and round up enough cones to spell PENIS on the highway?
Re:"shepherd unit" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"shepherd unit" (Score:2)
And then, imagine a beowolf...
In Soviet Russia, traffic cones MOVE YOU!
Aiiieeeeee!! Hot grits and Natalie Portman! I'm having a slashdot flashback.
Lawsuits (Score:5, Interesting)
It is similar to the old Q of if we had cars which could drive themselves... who is to blame when two computer driven cars get into an accident with each other.
Re:Lawsuits (Score:2)
imagine a high speed chase and after the car flies through the construction zone the barrels instantly move into traffic in front of the police.
Sorry, self moving barrels are a bad idea... how about a vehicle that can move them with a scoop/chute setup at 30mph?(~45Kph)
Re:Lawsuits (Score:3, Interesting)
Is the driver of the car to blame at fault because they were not in control of their vehicle at the time? Part of the reason the technology would exist would
Drunk in charge of a bollard? (Score:5, Funny)
"Sir, is that your bollard?"
"Um... no shir"
"Are you a student?"
"Yesh shir"
"*sigh* Put it back will you?"
"OK shir, thanksh you"
(I had carried the thing for 3 miles by this point)
Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard? (Score:3, Funny)
heh
Troc.
Re:Drunk in charge of a bollard? (Score:2)
I think our best "drunken acquisition" however was a car door we found lying on the street outside a bar we used to frequent. The reaction on our fourth roommate's face when he came home the next afternoon was priceless. As were the reactions of most people when they came over to our
Did you examine the car door? (Score:2)
Did you not see the sticker on the inside edge, near the tire pressure sticker: "If found, please return to local city police department".? Next time you drive by the local Dunkin Donuts, look for the police cruiser with the missing door.
Attack of the Robo-cones! (Score:3, Funny)
Robots ? (Score:3, Funny)
What about the physical characteristic changes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Does adding an RF receiver and motors add weight and rigid bulk to the cone, making it more damaging to hit?
It's bad enough if you hit one of the road cones with the battery-powered flashers on the top, but that weighs very little. I hope the folks designing these keep impact-safety factors in mind.
Re:What about the physical characteristic changes? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:What about the physical characteristic changes? (Score:2)
If this town is using Bubba's pickup truck for the barrels, I really doubt that they're going to be able to fork out the cash for these new barrels.
Re:What about the physical characteristic changes? (Score:3, Informative)
Er anyway the point is that the only way it will make the thing more dangerous is if you hit it hard enough to send it flying and the base
Re:What about the physical characteristic changes? (Score:2)
Re:What about the physical characteristic changes? (Score:2)
I can just imagine (Score:2)
rush hour just got a lot more interesting
Next step (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Next step (Score:2)
Reminds me of Toy Story 2 (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember the animated toys causing a huge pileup while crossing a busy street disguised as traffic cones?
I can also see somebody hacking into the control frequencies for these things and pulling evil pranks, which may kill somebody.
Correction... (Score:5, Funny)
The correct terminology is 'bollocks'. Also given the nature of the text it would be more correctly expressed using 'to' rather than 'for'. Also, as the US language is obviously derivitive of true english this terminology should also be valid in the US.
So thats is...
"Bollocks to our British readers"
to which the clear and obvious response is..
"Bollocks to you too..."
Re:Correction... (Score:4, Funny)
hilarious maybe, although from reading it, the correct British term would be 'traffic cone', but that's nowhere near as funny....
Re:Correction... (Score:2, Funny)
never mine the trafic cones ... here come the robo bollards !
Re:Correction... (Score:2)
Actually informative, was the mod I was going for. Its always fun to play with the language barriers.
I had a secret wish that I would go to some tech trade show to overhear a fellow slashdot reader complaining that their Journey time was effected because "The M25 is covered with bollocks"
BTW, this works both ways, I speak from experience. Entering a 7-11 in Florida and asking if this was a place I could buy some 'fags' really taught me how to back-ped
Re:Correction... (Score:2)
Re:Correction... (Score:2)
What? That's an odd name. I'd have called them "chazzwazzers".
Perfect! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Perfect! (Score:2)
Heh, good story... (Score:2)
The future of motorsports (Score:2)
Seriously, I don't know why more things like this can't be roboticized, from garbage cans that right themselves and walk 'round to th
Can't wait (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Can't wait (Score:2)
stupidest idea ever (Score:3, Interesting)
how many regular cones get accidentally crushed by traffic? or randomly flung by bigrig turbulence?
one "good" thing that is bound to happen though, is some Anonymous Coward stealing a few of them and hacking them apart and back together again (possibly even to try and run Linux on it?).
I'm a race car driver wannabe (Score:2)
These things're gonna give me nightmares...
I swear! (Score:4, Funny)
Costly Little Cones (Score:2, Funny)
Obstacles in path (Score:2, Interesting)
The article mentions nothing about obstacles and how the bollards avoid them (obstacle detection? options for planning a path, manually or automatically?).
Road construction sites (and even roads in normal condition) usually have holes 'n dents 'n stuff, so there's a chance of having one of those "stupid" cones run into a ditch or hole, fall, and roll on to a busy road. Besides the
Workers in harms way ... (Score:2)
They come from ... France (Score:2)
Slashdot, May 2008 (Score:5, Funny)
"We uploaded a modified Linux kernel to the bollards over their radio link..."
"With this patch, you can use any construction site as a Wifi access point..."
"This patch makes the bollards engage in autonomous 'wild dog' car-chasing behaviour..."
Robocones. (Score:2)
Makes me want to stop by a Baskin Robots. (11111 flavors!)
Stop this thread.... (Score:2, Funny)
Film: Two vicious traffic control barrels with little legs attack a vicar.
Colonel: (coming up and stopping them) Right, right, stop it! This thread's got silly. Started off with a nice little idea about automated road barrels and fatality statistics, but now it's got silly. The spelling is atrocious for a thread too. And these robot topic icons are pretty badly made as well. And those aren't proper English bollards anyway!
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Nope... (Score:2)
The same episode gave us:
"Little green men doctor?"
"No. Little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armor."
The usual obvious jokes (Score:3, Funny)
In Russia, bollards reposition YOU!
This news makes it obvious that *BSD is dead.
Nobody knows the trouble I see... (Score:2)
How long will it take someone to hack these?
Dancing traffic cones at curbside, anyone? How about traffic cones doing wild sufi raga dances in the middle of the highway at rush hour?
Get to it!
keep left sign gangs already spotted? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:keep left sign gangs already spotted? (Score:2)
Probably around the same time that we get kidnapped by babies and assaulted by Hell's Grannies.
I'm gonna havee fun .... (Score:3, Funny)
This looks like the next "helicopter bowling" waiting to happen. Not a good idea.
Flash! Daleks invade Nebraska! Film at 11 (Score:2)
Toy Story 2? (Score:2)
Kibo foresaw this... (Score:2)
There is no escape!
I was at UNL a few years ago (Score:3, Informative)
It was _not_ some kids thesis.
I had the same reaction everyone here is having. "Who's going to buy a multi-thousand dollar traffic barrel ?"
And the answer is..
Somebody thats had to pay even _one_ workmans comp/disability suit because one of their crew got creamed by a car or truck at highway speeds.
If you think about it, its a very unglamorous meat-space problem, but solving it with technology means working on some pretty slick stuff...
which is sort of what the UNL CS/CSeng dept was like
I'm sorry... Bollards? (Score:2)
It's like "mallards" and "bollocks" had a drunken tryst and gave birth to "bollards".
So... in my world, "bollards" means "the balls of a duck"!
I don't want to read about duck balls!
Just wait for... (Score:3, Insightful)
Somebody hacking their communication protocol(s) to make the barrels:
That would be fun...
Yes, but (Score:2)
As for spelling...I guess many people spell British, but I learnt it on the Internet, were american spelling is predominant.
Bright-orange witch hats (Score:5, Funny)
They are known by this name in northern Minnesota, too. In parts of the country where deer hunting is a real big deal, there were problems with witches being shot out of the sky by accident during Halloween, which occurs during bow-hunting season. The state government forced all witches to wear bright hunter's-orange hats.
The witches got angry about this, just like the Amish who objected to having orange triangles on their buggies. In fact, in 1999, one angry witch known to most as "Bemidji Bertha" passed a curse on St. Paul. It is believed that the election of Jesse Ventura was a fulfillment of the curse.
Re:International English (Score:2)
Re:How accurate (Score:2)
Re:We can give traffic workers robocones... (Score:2)