bipedal
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Ford wants this creepy robot to bring its autonomous deliveries to your door
Autonomous deliveries and self-driving vehicles may be the future, but there are still a few gaps that need to be addressed -- namely that it's not always possible for people to leave their homes to retrieve deliveries from the roadside (and if you're hungover and ordering take out, you definitely don't want to). Ford is working on a solution for this final stretch, though, and it's come right out of a sci-fi movie.
The 'Digit' robot could be the future of humanoid pizza deliveries
Agility Robotics has unleashed a new model that joins the exclusive club of humanoid robots. "Digit" is the company's first bipedal robot to have four degree-of-freedom arms. It can use those for balance, pushing doors and lifting boxes up to 40 pounds, or even to catch it during a fall. Digit also has a futuristic industrial design that's sleeker than other humanoid bots like Boston Dynamics' famous Atlas.
Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot shows upgraded agility in 'Parkour' video
Just two years ago Boston Dynamics proudly showed off a new generation of its Atlas robot that could take an untethered stroll through the woods, before advancing to balancing on one leg and even landing a backflip.
Robots learn to walk naturally by understanding their bodies
The challenge with bipedal robots isn't so much getting them to walk at all (although that's sometimes a problem) as it is getting them to walk naturally. They tend to either step cautiously or quickly run into trouble. Swiss researchers think they can do better, though: they're working on COMAN (Compliant Humanoid), a headless robot designed to master walking. The automaton is more graceful through a combination of more flexible, elastic joints and a control algorithm that helps the bot understand its own body.
ICYMI: Transient luminous events and bipedal robots
Today on In Case You Missed It: We get a much closer look at electrical discharge phenomena courtesy of a video filmed from the International Space Station. Called "Transient Luminous Events", the phenomena are notoriously hard to study as they occur 25-60 miles above thunderstorms. Even satellites have had little luck at capturing images of the upper-atmosphere lighting. However, viewing angles were less of a challenge for ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen who was able to a highly-sensitive camera to snag video footage of 245 flashes of blue lightning while he was stationed on the ISS in 2015.
AMBER Lab robot jogs just like a human
Two-legged robots are nothing new, but usually we see them walking, not running around a test lab. A pair of seemingly autonomous legs that can lap you in the park is a scary thought, after all. Such images haven't stopped the Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics (AMBER) Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, however. As its latest video proves, the team has built a bipedal droid that can jog at a pretty brisk pace. It's called the Durus-2D and, while maybe not the fastest human-style robot, impresses with a natural style and stride pattern.
Oregon State's robo-ostrich blindly clambers over obstacles
So what if some mechanical cheetah can hop curbs in stride? The ATRIAS bipedal robot from Oregon State University can now step over obstacles without even looking. For this experiment, the ATRIAS was not outfitted with an imaging or navigation system and could only react to obstacles once it ran into them. As you can see in the video below, a 15-cm step is no match for this robo-ostrich. Even when planting its foot awkwardly or catching a toe, the ATRIAS soldiers on. It's only a matter of time until climbing stairs is just a walk in the park for the high-stepping automaton.
AMBER robot walks on human-like feet but isn't quite ready for British Knights
Until recently, bipedal robots have sometimes had to take interesting approaches to imitate human walking because they lack our first points of contact with the road: heels and toes. The latest breakthrough from Texas A&M's Amber Lab robotics team may have fixed that, though. An approximation of those foot bones grants the robo-Manziel the pivot-points necessary for (somewhat) naturalistic locomotion. However, this advancement doesn't do nearly as much in terms of making the synthetic legs any stronger. Near the end of the embedded video, the disembodied legs stumble and fall to show that the attached boom isn't supporting their weight. This is great news for us meatbags, because it makes 2029 feel that much further away. Update: We received word from Texas A&M Amber Lab's Aaron Ames that the robot in fact supports its weight throughout the entire demo, and that the team purposely made it fall to show that the attached boom only provides lateral stability.
Insert Coin semifinalist: cSpring bipedal robot platform hands-on (video)
Those looking to tinker with humanoid robots aren't exactly lacking for options these days, but Cognitive Spring is taking a slightly different approach than most with its Arduino-based cSpring bipedal robot -- one of the semifinalists in the Insert Coin competition here at Expand. Rather than offering a readymade robot like Nao that largely makes software the focus of user customization, cSpring is designed to be highly customizable (and open source) on both the hardware and software fronts. Indeed, the company is hoping to encourage such development by rewarding crowd-sourced work with what it calls "paid achievements." As for the robot itself, it's currently designed to work with an 11-inch MacBook Air that conveniently doubles as its torso, and it relies on a PrimeSense motion sensor to monitor its surroundings. One of the real selling points for potential developers, though, are the array of servos that power the robot's legs, which can operate simultaneously and provide some 40 pounds of lift apiece. Those also give the robot a decent range of movement, although it hasn't yet learned to fully walk (that's one area the company suggests could be expanded upon by others).%Gallery-183022%
Hume: the bipedal 'Parkour' robot (video)
A future threatened by wild robotic rottweilers with no humanoid dog-walkers to keep them in check? That must not happen. Fortunately, we'll have a fleet-footed droid named "Hume" to keep us safe: he's the work of engineers at Meka Robotics and the University of Texas at Austin, who want to be the first to build a bipedal robot with Parkour skills, aka rough terrain free-running or "Human-Centered Hyper-Agility". Sure, they still have some way to go, but watch the video after the break, then imagine it without the wobbly coat stand, and then re-imagine it from the POV of an angry pup.
Boston Dynamics PETMAN portends the pending robot apocalypse
If the sight of Boston Dynamics' unstoppable Alpha Dog didn't convince you of the coming robot apocalypse, then perhaps a glimpse of its bipedal relative, PETMAN, will. Last time we saw the two-legged bot, It was walking well enough, but it lacked the humanoid visage needed to infiltrate and overthrow. In the time since, however, PETMAN has gotten a more anatomically-correct body and some arms -- giving it some push-up prowess to go with its jaunty gait. As the video below demonstrates, this robot isn't a T1000 just yet, but is seems certain PETMAN and its progeny will be running and leaping over us meatbags on the way to the top of the evolutionary food chain soon enough. So our anthropomorphic replacements are on the way, but there's no need for full-blown panic... yet.
MABEL running robot snags bipedal speed title, cue 'Rocky' theme (video)
MABEL the running robot has been training hard, grabbing the title of "fastest bipedal robot with knees." Like any great sports star, it's been plagued by many dream-crushing obstacles and injuries, but this time it's done it: running at a speed of 6.8 miles per hour on a track. Jessy Grizzle, professor at the University of Michigan's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, attributes this bot's success to its human-like weight distribution -- a heavier torso and flexible legs with springs similar to tendons for movement "like a real runner." This bipedal technology, which can mimic a human's ability to run and climb over obstacles, may be used to help the disabled walk again, in rescue situations or as the basis of future vehicles that don't require roads or wheels to drive. If MABEL doesn't make the SWAT team this year, it can most certainly snag a spot as an extra in the next Transformers movie. Check out the PR and video of this modern day robo-Flo-Jo after the break.
Bipedal robots learn to shuffle, evolve toward doing the twist (video)
Yes, some robots are evolving to a point where they can play instruments and swing a hammer. Hilariously, though, bipedal robots are still awful at turning in a tight radius. Several presenters at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation have been working on a solution: instead of making them take steps, program robots to shuffle. This allows turning without complex weight-shifting -- every time your foot leaves the ground, you have to adjust your balance to remain upright. Keeping your feet on the ground avoids that fairly complicated process, and can make robot-turning quicker, and possible in confined spaces; most current bipedal bots require lots of time and space to turn. See the video after the break for an example from Japan's Osaka Electro-Communication University. It may look like a metal man shuffling his feet, but it's an important step toward our robot-dominated future. [Thanks, Henry]
fuRo Core bipedal robot can squat with a 100kg payload, puts your puny muscles to shame (video)
What's nearly two meters tall, weighs 230kg, and can lift the equivalent of a generously proportioned man? No, it isn't the ED-209 from RoboCop, but rather the latest robotic biped from Japan. The Core project that's being developed by the fuRo lab in Chiba's Institute of Technology may look and sound quite a bit like your favorite rogue drone, but its objective is rather more peaceful. The hope is to deliver increased mobility for handicapped people -- beyond what wheelchairs can provide, hence the bipedal locomotion system -- and things seem to have gotten off to a good start with the ability to safely balance a 100kg load while performing squats. See that feat, along with some clumsy first steps, after the break.
Lego bipedal bot takes several small stairs for man, one big fall for robotkind (video)
Climbing stairs is one of the hardest physical tasks for a bipedal collection of motors and circuits, as Honda's ASIMO can relate, but one man's managed to achieve just that with this head-banging Lego Mindstorms NXT robot. After spending years tinkering with the plastic blocks, 222Doc's X-2 Chicken Walking Biped can autonomously walk up and down flights of small steps with relative ease, perform headstands and even scale five-inch cinder block cliffs if precariously pushed. The robot requires only seven Lego servo motors plus a touch sensor and gyroscope in each foot, but also uses a pair of third-party multiplexers (also spotted in that transforming Wall-E) for fine control of the extra motors. Watch it perform after the break, but stop the second video at 3:20 if pain makes you queasy -- the bot takes a pretty ugly spill.
University of Michigan's MABEL robot hits a stride, breaks a leg (video)
We're going to warn you up front. This isn't easy to watch, but robotics research can sometimes be a nasty business, and some things just can't be left unseen. At the center of the disaster waiting to happen pictured above is MABEL, a bipedal robot that researchers at the University of Michigan have been working on for the past few years, and which, on an otherwise ordinary May 18th, made its first attempt at walking over rough ground. Things got off to a well enough start, with MABEL able to walk with a reasonably natural gait, and even recover after a small slip after a few boards where placed in her path. As the university itself points out, however, the whole point of the experiment was to "push her til she cracked" -- and crack she did, with a shin eventually giving way after one too many boards were added, resulting in one of the sadder sights we've seen in our years of robot watching. Head on past the break for the complete video, if you can handle it.
Walky robot understands iPhone gestures, football fanaticism (video)
Hey there sailor, we imagine you've been doing your fair share of button mashing what with a certain new bit of software out and about, but how would you like a whole new control paradigm? Taking up Steve Jobs' war on buttons, a group of grad students at Japan's Keio University have put together a comprehensive robot control interface that relies solely on finger swipes, taps, and presses. By employing the iPhone's built-in accelerometer and multitouch screen, the robot can replicate a humanistic walking motion, perform sidesteps and, when called upon, kick a football with gusto and presumed passion. Your destination is just past the break, where the video demo awaits. [Via HDBlog.it]
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.
BEAR robot carries injured soldiers to safety
Although Stephen Colbert hates bears, he might actually go for this one, given that it's designed to save lives, not destroy them. The Battlefield Extraction and Retrieval Robot is a new bipedal droid designed to carry injured soldiers off of the battle-charred landscape as far as an hour's distance. What's more, its lower legs can fold down to roll away on tank treads, which seems a vast improvement over the previous spider-like designs that we've seen lately. No word yet on if it's actually tried to carry a real live shell-shocked GI -- which might be a little different than a lifeless dummy -- but beyond military applications, Vecna Technologies intends to use the BEAR for more domestic purposes. On their site they also illustrated plans for the robot to help mobility-impaired patients as a home-living assistant, and even show it carrying tea in one diagram. You know, come to think of it we wouldn't object at all if one of these things showed up every now and again to refill our tea mugs.[Via Roland Piquepaille]
New legs, Japan, new legs!
There are already a number of bipedal or bipedal-like bots, exoskeletons, suits, assists, and devices, but Atsuo Takanishi's team at Waseda University, in conjunction with Japanese robot superpower tmsuk, unveiled their new WL-16RIII walkbot. We know they'd be a huge boon to the handicapped, elderly, lazy, and anime-obsessed the world over, but seriously, could you imagine actually walking into a grocery store or a job interview with this thing? We can, and if they cruised into the Engadget offices we'd just be all, "You're hired."
