So they can spend millions developing the robot, but the best they can do for tracking while they film from the side is a guy pushing another guy in a big plastic box on wheels. Way to go geeks!
It's not a problem. It's amusing. Juxtaposition is a common form of humor, and whether or not MIT indented the humor, it is funny to see a multimillion dollar autonomous robot get filmed with such a primitive technique.
I actually can't find any information on their site that that's the case either. I'd have thought they would mention that if it were the case, and this looks a bit different from any of the Boston Dynamics ones I could find.
Since Google owns Boston Dynamics, perhaps this has been 'spun out' or is otherwise detached. There are some pretty strict IP rules in Google and at MIT so it would make sense to spin this out. But either way it is confusing to have the same name on a robot that looks the same but with two different parent institutions.
I found this to be the most entertaining aspect of the video. The contrast between all this technology, alongside a "buddy powered" film crew is wonderful.
I really liked that part. You don't really get the feel for how fast this giant bot is moving and jumping until you see some humans struggling to keep up with it.
