Galileo robot sports hybrid treads, tackles most any terrain

We've seen a plethora of robots crawl over all sorts of obstacles without blowing a gasket or anything, but the Galileo prefers to handle rough terrain by simply changing the shape of its treads rather than blowing up anything in its path or finding clever ways to scoot around. Judging by an informative (if not monotonous) video clip of the robot in action, this "hybrid tracked" creature sports a pair of wheels along with flexible treads on each side, and it can reshape the tracks as necessary to achieve the desired grip when meeting stairs, cinder blocks or a wide variety of slumbering animals in the wild. There's also a built-in camera integrated into the oh-so-helpful "tail," which can apply downward pressure in order to give the creation a boost when needed. We've inflated this thing's ego enough -- just click on through to see the Galileo gettin' into (and out of) all sorts of trouble.

[Via SciFiTech]

[Jagannath A @ Nov 13th 2007 9:24AM]

scary... really

[lmjabreu @ Nov 13th 2007 9:30AM]

So, unless it has a fixed front camera, it can't see where it's going when climbing?

[NHAnimator @ Nov 13th 2007 10:18AM]

It's amazing what you can do with Lego Mindstorms.

[Andrew @ Nov 13th 2007 10:45AM]

This is nothing more than a remote control car. Furthermore, if it was already a toy, I wouldn't even want it. It looks boring. I'd have more fun with that R/C car that had tires big enough to drive even after you flipped it. That thing was fun!

[kerunt @ Nov 13th 2007 11:09AM]

But the real question is, will it blend?

[MARSHAK @ Nov 13th 2007 12:43PM]

nope. I checked.

[Asha @ Nov 13th 2007 12:43PM]

So, this is what will be coming for us when the computers decide to over-throw us humans.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Nov 13th 2007 10:55PM]

it'll be more like a "crawling-over"

[Casper @ Nov 13th 2007 1:17PM]

A very clever piece of engineering, the idea of a morphable tread was very well applied in this instance and allows the robot to circumvent some obstacles that would be very difficult for a normal treaded robot

It's got my thumbs up

[Ray @ Nov 13th 2007 3:49PM]

It could use more processing power. I can see the procedure it takes when climbing surfaces and it certainly needs to make decisions faster. Cool design though.

[mushrooshi @ Nov 15th 2007 10:50PM]

WOW!

OMG! BATTLEBOTS! ROBOTWARS! ROBOTICA!

[pernicious @ Nov 16th 2007 11:57AM]

In a note to the scary factor: I've seen this device in field testing for some time now, though with a different purpose in mind. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4216523.html
The Israeli Army has been testing such a device with a sub-machine gun attached to it as well as IR, a "Star Scope"(equates to Light Amplification Goggles) as well as you typical ranging, visual and acoustic sensors. To those who say its just a toy, I've never had a toy with a(funtional) Uzi on it.