Watch the World’s Fastest Two-Legged Robot ‘Run’ Like a Human!
- Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:24pm by
Liz Klimas
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Engineers at the University of Michigan have created the world’s fastest bipedal robot with knees. With a surprisingly human-like gait and a top speed of 6.8 miles per hour, MABEL looks like “a real runner.”
Watch MABEL run here:
“We envision some extraordinary potential applications for legged robot research: exoskeletons that enable wheelchair-bound people to walk again or that give rescuers super-human abilities, and powered prosthetic limbs that behave like their biological counterparts,” said developer Jonathan Hurst in the University of Michigan press release. Hurst is now an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University.
Researchers created MABEL in 2008 and, like a toddler, the robot walked before it ran. Engineers then refined algorithms to improve the robot’s balance and reaction to its environment in real time. In July 2011, MABEL went for its first real jog. With weight balanced like a human, MABEL is in the air 40 percent of each stride, whereas other running robots are in the air 10 percent of the time.
The benefit of a bipedal robot like MABEL its ability to function in environments designed for humans.
“If you would like to send in robots to search for people when a house is on fire, it probably needs to be able to go up and down stairs, step over the baby’s toys on the floor, and maneuver in an environment where wheels and tracks may not be appropriate,” said Jessy Grizzle, University of Michigan professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
See how MABEL can accommodate a step here:
Though MABEL is currently a headless robot, perhaps it may someday be combined with the head of the robot we introduced you to yesterday that can read, sing and is beginning to learn human expression.
So, these robots can read and run, but can they save trapped miners? Yup. Take a look at this new one. Developed to be a first responder for trapped miners, it can go in before rescuers and assess the situation and help develop a rescue plan.
[H/T Popular Science]
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Comments (161)
wboehmer
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:08pmA pretty clumsy imitation of what God’s creation does almost effortlessly!
Report Post »javasport
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:08pmYeah but can it sneak up on you? I think not!
Report Post »db321
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:06pmMake it walk backwards
Report Post »Veritas vos liberabit
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:12pmSkynet is online
Report Post »Warphead
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:19pmNot today, maybe not tomorrow but someday soon it will not only sneak up on you, it’ll sneak up on you at about 30mph. It will be armed and fire faster and more acurately than any human ever dreamt with weapons never imagined. You can’t hide, it will see in the dark, it will see the very heat eminating from your body, and if that isn’t enough it will just smell you out. Cold wet environments or the hottest of deserts are all the same to it. It won’t get tired, it doesn’t need sleep and it can feed itself from sources you never imagined. So if you think it can’t sneak up on you, well, it already has. The future is here and it is dangerous.
Report Post »taskmaster78
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 3:04pmJust take the rod which holds it up and watch it fail. This is the biggest waste of money yet, it compares to all the beer I’ve bought in the last two weeks. But it was much funner then watching this tin dummy run.
Report Post »101
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 3:13pm“boom for lateral stabilization” [FAIL]
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 3:20pm.
Report Post »Oh, yeah!
Well I wouldn’t fall either if I had a post to hold me up!
Secret Squirrel
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 3:23pm.
.It can never match the wonder of the human mind.
So how did Obama get elected.?
Dem-bots.
Report Post »quickstudy
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 3:51pmIt has a stabilizing pole. It is NOT running free. Take away the pole and it would make a nice noise as it fell.
Report Post »101
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 5:53pmPut a motor on the center axis so it spins like a centrifuge and it will spin at1320 miles per hour or mach 2.5, unfortunately the “robot” would frag-out under the G-force.
Report Post »ProbIemSoIver
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 7:20pmI am not impressed !!! Major fail !!!!
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 7:22pmmust be Obama it has a stick up its butt
Report Post »Flybot
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 7:33pmNot impressed at all now make it run with out the center support and I might give it a second look
Report Post »RoBoTech
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 8:28pm“RepubliCorp
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 7:22pm
must be Obama it has a stick up its butt”
STOP IT, you are KILLING me, HAAAAAHHAHAAAAAA, omigawd!
Report Post »The vision that incites in my head.
Meyvn
Posted on August 18, 2011 at 8:14amIt’s absurd how loud it is. It‘s not supporting it’s own weight, and it’s tethered. Not impressed so far. But they gotta start somewhere I suppose. I bet God laughs at us when we attempt to copy his designs while coming across so clumsy and clueless in the process. To Him it’s probably like watching a toddler play with toys they cannot understand.
Report Post »Napkin
Posted on August 18, 2011 at 4:50pmI’d be more impressed if someone could make a Coke taste like a Coke used to… damned corn syrup ruined the world…
Report Post »408 CheyTac
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:08pmDont tell me we don’t have any money.
Honda has had asimo running at nearly 4mph just fine.
And it doesn’t look like something jeremy clarkson built.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:43pmI don’t think it is cool at all. I mean if it were meant to help crippled people walk, yeah fine. That think looks like a prototype “hyper-alloy Terminator” chassis. I guarantee you the US Govt has already contacted them and will fund secret research to weaponize the dang thing. Then, turn them loose on us in about 30 years.
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:20pmFrom the state that has given us Detroit comes a robot attached to a post that can run in a circle. Yes, the finest minds are in the universities these days. Honda’s robot outclasses this pile of crap in ways that are almost indescribable, but I’ll try. It’s like some kid looking for admiration from Henry Ford or Benz at their auto plants for saying he just invented this wonderful new technology called… a bolt.
Report Post »RoBoTech
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 8:28pmBecker
Report Post »Or make some pie.
One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:07pmI have MS and that thing walks and jogs better than I can. :( I hope someday they can use this type of research to help those who can’t walk at all someday be able to use their legs again. It’s tough not being able to use your body the way GOD intended, believe me. And there‘s millions out there who have it far worse than I do so I ain’t complaining too much, I can still walk thank God.
Report Post »Warphead
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:50pmCheck out the military exo-skeleton suite. It maybe sometime off in the future before it becomes more available but it just might be the ticket for those in your situation. One youtube video shows a soldier being able to lift heavy blocks over and over again without fatigue. The exo-skeleton did the work and his arm, legs and hands just acted as guides. I wish I had one. Sure could get a lot of the honey-do’s taken care of real quick.
Report Post »fastfacts
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:00pmI WONDER HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT SPENDING WENT INTO THIS PROJECT???
If I gave you a list of government spending examples, could you tell the difference, watch the man on the street try to tell the difference: http://www.americanparchment.com/video/2011/aug/real_fake_spending.html
Report Post »Bluefish49
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:15pmDammit…just like Terminator started…..they’ll be back…
Report Post »salvawhoray
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:59pmthe biggest problem they face is making it run without the attachment.
Report Post »Balance is the big promble.
mossbrain
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:12pmI don’t know where the video is but I saw a video about a year ago of a military robot that had excellent balance. They could shove it to the side and it would recover excellently and not fall down.
Report Post »Jbones
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:41pm@mossbrain It was the DARPA pack mule called BigDog http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-03/darpas-amazing-robot-pack-mule-keeps-its-balance-ice
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:48pmMan, nice work Jbones. On the ball.
Report Post »rabidbunny
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:59pmCreepy as all hell…
Report Post »SavingtheRepublic.com
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:15pmCyberdyne Systems Model T-BP01
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:45pm@Saving
Report Post »That is exactly what I said in a post above. We are on the same page brother.
altops
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:57pmis there something wrong with wheels? for a robot anyway?
Report Post »Mannax
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:03pmWheels have problem with terrain that a legged robot would not have.
Report Post »Mil-Dot
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:47pmMannax has it right. They would have a harder time chasing down dissidents if they had wheels. All they need now is to figure out how to attach a GE mini-gun to it.
Report Post »Your Name Here
Posted on August 18, 2011 at 8:33pmJust ask Spirit and Opportunity on Mars if they’d rather have legs or the wheels that get clogged with dust.
Report Post »You might also ask someone in a wheelchair if wheels are superior.
ILConservative
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:56pmThese things will totally wipe out the need for illegals!
Although, pretty soon we’ll have storm troopers coming after us too!
Report Post »Evil_Conservative
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 4:32pmyeah, just give it some white armor, a jetpack, and lots of weapons and you have yourself a dark trooper..
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:54pmcreepy
Report Post »LMW
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:52pmCan you think of how wonderful for those who can’t or have never walked to be sitting and having the robot holding you facing front and feeling like you are actually walking? What a blessing that would be.
Report Post »I can see filled with robots carring people in towns where cars are not allowed. At the speed they can walk that is faster then traffic in some cities. Amazing and exciting to think of the many endless uses.
sWampy
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:07pmVery, very limited use, walking upright is a very inefficient mode of locomotion.
Report Post »Veritas vos liberabit
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:09pm@swampy – walking upright is inefficient? How do you walk?
Report Post »timej31
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:50pmSoon we can have them mowing lawns – for free! Como? Si!! Business owners will drive up to a house and off load one with a mower and set it and forget about it. Come back an hour later and find it sitting on the curb waiting for you.
Report Post »timej31
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:51pmIf someone takes it will it be theft or kidnapping?
Report Post »bikerr
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:14pmBy then there will be lawns that will only grow to a certain height and no mowing necessary.
Report Post »DougfrominsolventCA
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 3:16pmSo you can take it back to Home Depot.
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on August 18, 2011 at 8:19amIf someone destroys it will it be murder or vandalism?
Report Post »TXWildfire
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:48pmTerminator 1! Terminator 2! Terminator 3! etc……..
Report Post »mossbrain
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:48pm“exoskeletons that enable wheelchair-bound people to walk again or that give rescuers super-human abilities, and powered prosthetic limbs that behave like their biological counterparts,”
Yeah well I don’t want to be paying my taxes or having my health insurance raised for some million dollar contraption for some cripple to walk. Pay for it yourselves crips or stay in your wheelchairs. Likewise idiots who need rescuing need to pay for it themselves.
Report Post »WhatsYerProblem
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:47pmSkynet is watching…waiting… Has anybody seen Sarah Connor?
Report Post »Lori
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:17pmSkynet is laughing at the tethered thing.
Report Post »conservative510
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:47pmYour tax dollars at work!
Report Post »headbtweenlegs
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:43pmSHHHH ! can’t sneak up on anybody
Report Post »southerngal
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:40pmi have spent most of my life running around in circles. So this is the future? Now machines will run around in circles for us. Hand me the remote please.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:38pmMake it work without the outrigger and you’ll have something.
Report Post »Warphead
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:50pmBefore you walk, you must crawl.
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:36pmThey should add a Terminator-like head to it.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:42pmMy dog runs faster than a human do and it too is tethered to a pole.
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:32pmTerminator war machines of the near future.
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:31pmCan’t wait for the Cyber Olympics!
Report Post »Goohuman
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:31pmLooks like something out of an anime movie.
Report Post »ddg7
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:30pmPut a pair of Nike’s on it and it could pass as the President. It makes a lot of noise, runs around in circles, and just follows the commands given to it.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:35pmGood ONE LOL
Report Post »jmiller_42
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:42pmlol
Report Post »lilsis
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:45pmCould’nt have said it better myself.
Report Post »jchristop
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:49pmand a cigarette hanging out of his mouth
Report Post »Wyatt's Torch
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:49pm…and is also having trouble “stepping down”
Report Post »Hephzibah
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:29pmEver since O’Narcissist stepped onto the horizon, I’ve thought he was a robot or an android. Why else can he not show an un-forged birth certificate and nobody can remember him from college?
Report Post »Veritas vos liberabit
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 2:14pmYes!!
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on August 17, 2011 at 12:27pmI want one!!
Report Post »