This ostrich robot doesn’t need to think to run

This tiny ostrich bot, unlike rival robots, doesn’t using computers and sensors to balance. It manages to keep running (at up to 10 mph) thanks to its built-in dynamic stability. Jerry Pratt, the senior research scientist at IHMC who leads the team developing the Planar Elliptical Runner (PER) says that lessons learned from it could be applied to more practical running robots “to make them more efficient and natural looking. Running will be eventually useful for any application that you want to do quickly and where wheels can’t work well.”

Typically, bipedal robots like Agile Technologies’ Cassie need plenty of processing power to run the balancing algorithms, gyroscopes and sensors to keep it on its feet. However, with the PER, it uses an elegant mechanical design, with a single motor that drives the legs in an elliptical motion. The body’s shape adds to its stability and the design means that the robot’s legs have “reactive resilience”: when the legs feel resistance, it adds more power to push through, as well as mechanically adjusting the rear leg to stabilise its sprint. If the robot was scaled up to human size, the speed could reach between 20 or 30 mph.

Biped robots are typically harder to balance, more power-hungry and more expensive, but as they can dynamically balance, like Boston Dynamics humanoid offerings, they can get to places other robots can’t. “Robots with legs will be particularly useful in places where you want a human presence, but it’s too dangerous, expensive, or remote to send a real human,” Pratt told Technology Review.

Source: Technology Review