Human-like “spring-mass” design may lead to walking-running robot soldiers, fire fighters, factory workers, and home servants of the near future.
October 29, 2015
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A walk in the park. Oregon State University engineers have successfully field-tested their walking robot, ATRIAS. (credit: Oregon State University)

Imagine robots that can walk and run like humans — or better than humans. Engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) and Technische Universitat Munchen may have achieved a major step in that direction with their “spring-mass” implementation of human and animal walking dynamics, allowing robots to maintain balance and efficiency of motion in difficult environments.

Studies done with OSU’s ATRIAS robot model, which incorporates the spring-mass theory, show that it’s three times more energy-efficient than any other human-sized bipedal robots.

“I’m confident that this is the future of legged robotic locomotion,” said Jonathan Hurst, an OSU professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Dynamic Robotics Laboratory in the OSU College of Engineering. “We’ve basically demonstrated the fundamental science of how humans walk,” he said.

When further refined and perfected, walking and running robots may work in the armed forces, as fire fighters, in factories or doing ordinary household chores, he said. “This could become as big as the automotive industry,” Hurst added.

Wearable robots and prostheses too

Aspects of the locomotion technology may also assist people with disabilities, said Daniel Renjewski with the Technische Universitat Munchen, the lead author on the study published in IEEE Transactions on Robotics. “Robots are already used for gait training, and we see the first commercial exoskeletons on the market,” he said. “This enables us to build an entirely new class of wearable robots and prostheses that could allow the user to regain a natural walking gait.”

Topology and key technical features of the ATRIAS robot. ATRIAS has six electric motors powered by a lithium polymer battery. It can take impacts and retain its balance and walk over rough and bumpy terrain. Power electronics, batteries, and control computer are located inside the trunk. (credit: Daniel Renjewski et al./IEEE Transactions on Robotics)

In continued research, work will be done to improve steering, efficiency, leg configuration, inertial actuation, robust operation, external sensing, transmissions and actuators, and other technologies.

The work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Human Frontier Science Program.

Oregon State University | ATRIAS Bipedal Robot: Takes a Walk in the Park

Abstract of Exciting Engineered Passive Dynamics in a Bipedal Robot

A common approach in designing legged robots is to build fully actuated machines and control the machine dynamics entirely in software, carefully avoiding impacts and expending a lot of energy. However, these machines are outperformed by their human and animal counterparts. Animals achieve their impressive agility, efficiency, and robustness through a close integration of passive dynamics, implemented through mechanical components, and neural control. Robots can benefit from this same integrated approach, but a strong theoretical framework is required to design the passive dynamics of a machine and exploit them for control. For this framework, we use a bipedal spring-mass model, which has been shown to approximate the dynamics of human locomotion. This paper reports the first implementation of spring-mass walking on a bipedal robot. We present the use of template dynamics as a control objective exploiting the engineered passive spring-mass dynamics of the ATRIAS robot. The results highlight the benefits of combining passive dynamics with dynamics-based control and open up a library of spring-mass model-based control strategies for dynamic gait control of robots.

references:
Daniel Renjewski, Alexander Sprowitz, Andrew Peekema, Mikhail Jones, Jonathan Hurst. Exciting Engineered Passive Dynamics in a Bipedal Robot. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2015; 31 (5): 1244 DOI: 10.1109/TRO.2015.2473456
related:
“Spring-mass” technology heralds the future of walking robots
Topics: AI/Robotics
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Comments (7)

October 30, 2015
by Windchill
WHy do they never give these bipedal robots proper feet? I find that my feet are very well designed and very useful for stopping me from falling over.

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October 30, 2015
by Bradley Steeg
You’re right, something like this will out-walk and out-run me one day. Can’t wait.

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October 30, 2015
by melajara
The next step(!) after Boston Dynamics Big Dog.
There are still two crucial components missing in this model, a foot and an ankle linked to the leg. Without those, the robot is forced to resort to a noisy and not very energy efficient jumpy gait.

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October 30, 2015
by Gorden Russell
That’s just what I was thinking. Of course I want a robot for “doing ordinary household chores…” but if it is going to be springing across my linoleum, I want it to replace the scratched tiles.

And when I’m walking my dog, I want a robot to come along to pick up after him when he poops…and a springing robot will be tossing the poops up out of the pooper scooper.

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October 29, 2015
by richardrichard
Please do not address people directly like in cheap advertisements using scaring or challenging tactics: “This robot will out-walk and out-run you one day”

This is supposed to address interested and smart people, and not attract some random visitor to generate traffic. There is already enough low quality content on the web like this. Hyperbole, suggestiveness, survival of the fittest mindset, and similar writing style do not add to credibility or likability and will change the audience of people who read those news.

I read the news here in the past because I liked the neutral and distant point of view.
Please come back to this.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/this-robot-will-out-walk-and-out-run-you-one-day