Waseda's two-legged, stair-climbing robot in action

A good 90% of our day is spent sitting in a chair delivering you non-stop gadget action, but that other 10% of our waking hours when we're forced to pursue nourishment, let the dog out, and make trips to the bathroom can be a real drag. What we wouldn't give for a chair like the lucky kids at Waseda University have built, a two-foot tall, bipedal "robot" that uses a combination of hydraulics and algorithms to saunter along fairly gracefully and even negotiate difficult terrain like the potentially-deadly household staircase. The WL-16IV, as this model is known (Waseda-Leg Number 16 Refinement Four, apparently) follows several earlier units by the same name, as well as an antiquated prototype from 2001 known called the WL-16. Hit the Read link for some good machine translation fun, or do yourself a favor and just head straight to the video of this dream chair in action.

[Dick Chaney @ Mar 6th 2007 10:40PM]

Cool, now I can literally walk allover people

[kingofwale @ Mar 6th 2007 10:44PM]

it's obviously the first step toward GUNDOM. :D

I think it's great, if it works, it can help a lot of people with disability to actually get around in their own house.

[farfisa @ Mar 6th 2007 11:14PM]

If that's a two-foot tall robot, how big is the guy?

[Poorieuser @ Mar 6th 2007 11:34PM]

I, for one, welcome our new two-foot tall, bipedal "robot" overlords. =]

[Spencer @ Mar 7th 2007 2:13AM]

surely, as one sits on them, they are in fact, underlords

[Gr1zz @ Mar 6th 2007 11:38PM]

Who's the emo kid at the wheel? If i were in that seat i would be grinning ear to ear!

[Bad Beaver @ Mar 7th 2007 7:31AM]

Right on, he's 100% bored with his own ice grilled badassness. Love it. I want one of those overalls.

[LTM @ Mar 7th 2007 12:32AM]

Remember that Futurama episode where the professor is walking in the woods on a camping expedition and is using one of these walking chairs. This guy watches Futurama and ripped off the professor's invention!

[jptech @ Mar 7th 2007 1:01AM]

coolest robot ever!

this makes dean kamen look like an amateur.

[Poorieuser @ Mar 7th 2007 11:49AM]

You'd think that wouldn't you?

[bipolarbear @ Mar 7th 2007 2:21AM]

Can you get on elevators with that?
That's what I would do if I had that robot.

[Rick @ Mar 7th 2007 7:58AM]

FINALLY! Now i can complete my Krang costume!

[kent @ Mar 7th 2007 10:47AM]

This is nothing more than two scaled down Tricept robot arms. Installed few of them 20 years ago at Boeing. The robot (original Neos Tricept) has changed hands several times, but as I remember it was a Swiss invention.

[Zippy @ Mar 7th 2007 11:32AM]

That seems significantly more cumbersome than the iBOT Mobility System:

http://robotphotos.org/v/first/deka/

[Trent @ Mar 7th 2007 11:34AM]

More than anything else in this article: I want my team at my workplace to have cool jumpsuits like those guys. Difficulty: I work in IT.

[jaalin @ Mar 7th 2007 11:55AM]

that guy looks just like shouta from the jdrama 'attention please'

[Mark @ Mar 7th 2007 12:19PM]

I love the kid's old school Air Jordans!

[7rickSh0t @ Mar 7th 2007 12:31PM]

Dang, beat me to it.

[7rickSh0t @ Mar 7th 2007 12:29PM]

Has anybody noticed the operator is wearing classic Air Jordans? How ironic is that?

[R2B2 @ Mar 7th 2007 8:35PM]

While that's pretty cool and all, I'd hate to be strapped in that thing when it trips and falls down the stairs like that Sony robot a few weeks ago.

[Paul @ Mar 14th 2007 10:26AM]

Cool video.
Where can I get one?



http://www.robotliving.com