Ryuma Niiyama has built a robot that runs – and falls – like a human. Unlike more traditional walking robots, which change the angle of their joints to shuffle forward, always stable, Niiyama’s ‘bot uses artificial muscles and dynamic balance to power along.
The bot, named Athlete (Niiyama seems to have put most of his effort into the mechanics, not the name), even wears a pair of running shorts. Athlete has seven sets of artificial muscles, mimicking those in our upper legs, from the butt to the hamstring. The lower leg uses blades instead of complex feet and ankles. These work great, and are similar to those worn by human athletes like double-amputee Oscar Pistorius, who runs as fast as able-bodied sprinters.
The muscles and blade-like feet bounce the robot off the ground, and Athlete knows where it is thanks to sensors in the feet, and an “inertial measurement unit” on its body. The video shows a short test run, and in it you can see how human-like is its gait. Amazingly, even when Athlete falls he falls like a human, flailing and staggering.
Niiyama is currently working out the kinks in the software. It seems that the hardware works just fine, but Athlete’s brain hasn’t quite learned to control its legs. Just like a toddler.
Athlete Robot Learning to Run Like Human [IEEE Spectrum. Thanks Erico!]
See Also:
- Prosthetic Limb Research Could Lead To Bionic Athletes, Gadgets …
- Creepy Dog Robot Planned for the US Military
- Video: Running Toyota Robot Wobbles But It Won't Fall Over …
- Photos: Big Picture Presents Remarkable Robot Roundup
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