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Gallopers and Crawlers

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More Robots That Jump
Asimo	Toyota	HRP-2	New Era	QRIO	SILF
HOAP	ZMP	KHR	Gallopers	Robo-Garage	Exoskeletons
Robot Cars	Vstone	JVC	RoboSapien	Other	Can't Jump
Pseries	Competitions	Events

Aibo ERS-7

Robotic dogs and other quadrapeds are another class of robots showing signs of dexterity - enough to balance on their noses, trot, and ultimately gallop. Some multi-legged robots can even swim!

Boston Dynamic BigDog and friends

Boston Dynamics, known for simulation software, is hard at work building a big robotic quadruped (more like a pack mule) called BigDog under contract from DARPA. The goal is to create a sort of robotic "pack mule" which could follow a soldier on foot in rough terrain. BigDog uses a gasoline motor and hydraulics to create much more lifelike movement than machines using electric motors on each joint. Part of the lifelike movement comes from leg design which recycles part of the energy used to move the foot. Currently, the robot can walk at about 3 mph and go up 30 degree inclines. It uses dynamic balancing - if pushed, it stayes on its feet. The 2006 model can carry up to 120 pounds of supplies. NASA's JPL is working on its vision system. Boston Dynamics also makes a small robot for use by researches exploring legged motion called LittleDog. Boston Dynamics now sells RHex, the "cockroach-like" robot described further down on this page.

An early drawing of BigDog

Link to Boston Dynamics website:

http://www.bdi.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

Boston dynamics recently released a streaming video on YouTube - awesome!
Robotic BigDog - TechEBlog.com

RHex (McGill University/Boston Dymanics)

A new image of RHex, the version sold by Boston Dynamics. The "combat ready" version has a sealed body an remote video uplink that operates from up to 600 meters away.

RHex is an autonomous hexapod robot with compliant (meaning flexible metal) legs and only one actuator per leg. It is designed to closely mimic the form and behavior of a cockroach, and shows the same tenacious behavior as that unlovely beast. Compared to other mobile robots, RHex can work through dense underbrush without getting caught, and is not stopped by novel landforms or vegetation. A commercial version is being created by Mecheligent.

Click above for movie of Rhex moving through forest environment. This system is currently being sold by Boston Dynamics, which also makes BigDog and LittleDog.

Click above for movie of Rhex swimming. This is a hack (the robot was simply wrapped in plastic) but awesome nevertheless!

AQUA (McGill University, York University, and Dalhousie University)

AQUA is a mobile swimming robot using RHex technology. It swims using six flippers. It is funded by IRIS, the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, a Canadian National Center of Excellence, and NSERC.

Click the image to the left for a movie showing AQUA swimming over a reef during 2004 ocean trials

RiSE, the climbing robot

Click image for local video

Video of RiSE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzfP0Ig7eVQ

Boston Dynamics page:
http://www.bdi.com/content/sec.php?section=RiSE

Another Boston Dynamics creation, this small electric-motor robot is designed to climb objects. At present, it uses detachable feet with sticky stuff, suction cups, or spikes to climb. In the future, it may use "dry adhesion" similar to Geckos. RiSE is being developed in
conjunction with researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, Stanford, and Lewis and Clark University. RiSE is funded by the DARPA Defense Sciences Office.

Sony AIBO

Sony's recently discontinued Aibo, the ERS-7 was an amazing feat, despite its low sales. Sony packed an advanced computer onboard, plus ~40 sensors allowing the robot to truly sense its environment. Key features include edge detectors (preventing the robot from going down the stairs, voice and face recognition, foot sensors, emotion lights on head and back, and wireless connectivity. It has a ball and bone, and can see special cards which instruct it to carry out activities. Evolution Robotics is licensing their visual object recognition software for the next-gen Abio. At $1500 it is hard to beat.

Recent (Fall 2004) upgrade to the AIBO provides improved voice recognition, navigation, and autonomy. Not only does it recognize and recall objects, it now remembers the last location they were seen in. This allows the AIBO to construct a map of its environment. Its uses this memory in the following way - if it sees a wall and turns and sees another wall, it won't turn back to the original wall because it 'remembers' that there was a wall there. Very impressive! The AIBO Entertainment Player software runs on a PC, and communicates wirelessly with the AIBO. It can "sync" itself with your Microsoft Outlook file, and even run text-to speech to read your email to you, as well as telling you when mail comes in. It can download and play Windows Media and MP3 files for entertainment. It can also record sound and video when triggered by movement, and email the result to a specified email address.

Nice shot of the AIBO on its recharger docking station

AIBO PC Control
Here's a shot of the PC-based control system for AIBO - includes a representation of the robot's position, coupled with an image from its cameras.

Good robo-puppy! balance the bone!

A multi-legged robot called "Asterisk" moves across the ceiling. Developed at Osaka university.

Crawlers

Here's a snake-bot crawling robot developed by Dr. Gavin Miller (one of many being developed worldwide) - for more information, see:

http://www.snakerobots.com/

Legged Hobby Robots

Crust Crawler

There are lots of legged hobby robots out there these days, but one of the most interesting has to be the line of robots developed by Crust Crawler. Their all-metal construction combines with the ability to carry heavy loads compared to other legged robots. They currently make 4-legged (Quadcrawler) and six-legged (Hexcrawler) versions. Click on the image for a video featuring a Quadcrawler crawling over the ground. Can be augmented with robotic arms and sensors.

Lynxmotion produces a Lexan-based six-legged walker for hobbyists. They also produce robotics cars, robot arms, and modular leg segments for centipede-type robots. Click on the image to the left for video of the hexapod walking.

Workpartner Leg/Wheel Hybrid

Like R2D2, the "Work Partner" robot, developed at Helsinki university, has legs which terminate in wheels. In one mode of locomotion, the legs are held stiff, and the wheels roll. The legs can move up and down if necessary to clear obstacles. In rough terrain, the three wheels can lock, allowing the legs to function. The system has a mix of tele-operation and autonomy, and has been demonstrated doing tasks including road cleaning and snow shoveling - check the main website above for video.

SILO 4

SILO 4 is a very neat quadraped built by Industrial Automation Institute (IAI) -- Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). It has been used for studies on motion generation, and is being offered as a 'common platform' for research into multilegged robots. Commercial product soon? Impressive movies at this link. or click pictures below and to left to download movies. Home page at http://www.iai.csic.es/users/silo4/

two SILO robots

Rollerwalker

Rollerwalker was developed by the Tokyo Institue of Technology. It uses a mix of leg movements and wheels to do 4-wheeled skating - click the image to the left for a great (and unsettling) video. It can also walk on its four legs when its wheels are retracted.

Banryu

Produced as a joint project of TMUSK and Sanyo, the Banryu "guard dragon" is a consumer robot that can walk and climb stairs. It features remote control via computer wireless LAN, PDA, or 3G handset. It also has voice recognition and speech synthesis, giving it a second role as a guide/introducer in corporate tradeshows.

Roboscience RS-01

A concept robot created by Roboscience in limited numbers in (about 200) in 2001, the RS-01 RoboDog illustrates the technology that may be used in future legged robots. The use of carbon fiber composites makes it very light for its (Labador) size, and advanced motor and battery technology make it able to carry twice its own weight and run longer without a recharge than other robots. Instead of a custom board, the system uses a standard PC running Windows for control. The company is not producing this $40,000 system any more, but components of the technology likely will find their way into other consumer robots. http://www.roboscience.com


	Click this image for a short movie (AVI format)

Robo-Lobster

The Robot Lobster is a project at Case Western Reserve Laboratory. This robo-critter can work underwater and acts like a real lobster due to its 'biomimetic' programming. It also uses robotic muscle instead of electric motors. The picture shows Joseph Ayers holding the latest incarnation. Find more pictures at http://www.neurotechnology.neu.edu/

Korean Military Legged-Robot

Korea, currently a leader in robot technology alongside Japan, is also getting in the act - in Fall 2005 a new military robot was funded, to be developed jointly by the military and several government agencies. The "horse like" robot project runs until 2011.

Ambulatory Robotics Lab (McGill University)

Researchers at the Mobile Robotics Lab, part of the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines have built several kinds of multi-legged robots that trot, gallop, and scurry along roach-like, the most famous being RHex. Unlike traditional lab-built robots they aren't stopped by obstacles. http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~mrl/

Scout II walking by bouncing between fore and hindlegs.

Modified Scout II with "knees" allowing a trot. The knees themselves are passively moved.

top view of the scout II

CENTAUR (KIST)

A historical project from Korea which created a pony-sized centaur with four legs and two arms. An older, historical project now discontinued, included for its unique design - four legs plus two arms. It also has a upper body that bends, a distinction it shares with the HRP. Located at The Intelligent Mobile Manipulation Lab in Korea, which seems merged into the Robotics Institute. Little autonomy and not clear the legs were ever used autonomously. The CENTAUR did include a stereo vision-based motion planning and object recognition algorithm and embedded real-time controller. It also had a voice recognition/synthesis for human interface.

centaur robot works out with barbells
While the four-legged design is unique, the creators seemed most interested in motion planning. The use of barbells indicates the robot was fairly strong - the Asimo robot can only lift about 1kg with its arms.

centaur robot shakes hands with an inhibited researcher

The Centaur robot locates and stacks building blocks

centaur sniffs a flower

Click images below for videos of CENTAUR (MPG)


Centaur begins lifting barbell	Doing its reps	Walking on four legs

"There is only one condition in which we can imagine managers not needing subordinates, and masters not needing slaves. This would be if every machine could work by itself, at the word of command or by intelligent anticipation."
- Aristotle, from his justification of slavery in Politics