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A walking robot goes mountaineering
July 13, 2007The human gait is a marvel of coordination. All aspects of movement control - from the angle of the knee joints to the momentum of the hip up to the balance point of the torso - need to be meticulously adjusted. In addition, the gait is adaptable to different environments. Walking on ice is different from walking on solid ground, walking uphill is different from downhill.
In their study, publishing in PLoS Computational Biology July 13, 2007, scientists around Florentin Wörgötter, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of Göttingen, have simulated the neuronal principles that form the basis of this adaptivity in a walking robot. "RunBot", as it is called, lives up to its name - it holds the world record in speed walking for dynamic machines. Now its inventors have expanded its repertoire. With an infrared eye it can detect a slope on its path and adjust its gait on the spot. Just as a human, it leans forwards slightly and uses shorter steps. It can learn this behavior using only a few trials.
The robots ability to abruptly switch from one gait to the other is due to the hierarchical organization of the movement control. In this respect, it resembles that of a human and can hold as a human model. On the lower hierarchical levels, movement is based on reflexes driven by peripheral sensors. Control circuits ensure that the joints are not overstretched or that the next step is initiated as soon as the foot touches the ground. Only when the gait needs to be adapted, higher centers of organization step in - a process triggered by the human brain or, in case of the robot, by its infrared eye leading on to a simpler neural network. Because of the hierarchical organization adjustment of the gait can be achieved by changing only a few parameters. Other factors will be automatically tuned through the regular circuits.
At its first attempt to climb a slope, RunBot will fall over backwards, as it has not yet learned to react to its visual input with a change in gait. But just like children, RunBot learns from its failures, leading to a strengthening of the contact between the eye and the sites of movement control. Only once these connections are established, step length and body posture are controllable by the visually induced signal. The steeper the slope, the stronger RunBot will adapt its gait.
Public Library of Science
At its first attempt to climb a slope, RunBot will fall over backwards, as it has not yet learned to react to its visual input with a change in gait. But just like children, RunBot learns from its failures, leading to a strengthening of the contact between the eye and the sites of movement control. Only once these connections are established, step length and body posture are controllable by the visually induced signal. The steeper the slope, the stronger RunBot will adapt its gait.
Public Library of Science
Robot Current Events and Robot News RSSPatient's weight not linked to success of fibroid surgery
Obese patients are no more likely to have post-operative complications than those of average weight when undergoing robotic surgery to remove uterine fibroids, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital.
A motley collection of boneworms
It sounds like a classic horror story-eyeless, mouthless worms lurk in the dark, settling onto dead animals and sending out green "roots" to devour their bones.
Sensor biochips could aid in cancer diagnosis and treatment
It is very difficult to predict whether a cancer drug will help an individual patient: only around one third of drugs will work directly in a given patient.
Is my robot happy to see me?
People are social creatures. Robots - not so much. When we think of robots, we think of cold, metallic computers without emotion.
Caltech scientists create robot surrogate for blind persons in testing visual prostheses
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a remote-controlled robot that is able to simulate the "visual" experience of a blind person who has been implanted with a visual prosthesis, such as an artificial retina.
TECNALIA presents innovative mobile robots which are autonomous and polyvalent
TECNALIA Technological Corporation has introduced innovative robots at Euskotren's station in Atxuri (Bilbao) and which are mobile, multifunctional, collaborative, autonomous and polyvalent, suitable for a wide range of work from street cleaning and rubbish collection to accompanying elderly people.
Secrets of insect flight revealed
Researchers are one step closer to creating a micro-aircraft that flies with the manoeuvrability and energy efficiency of an insect after decoding the aerodynamic secrets of insect flight.
Research teams successfully operate multiple biomedical robots from numerous locations
Using a new software protocol called the Interoperable Telesurgical Protocol, nine research teams from universities and research institutes around the world recently collaborated on the first successful demonstration of multiple biomedical robots operated from different locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. SRI International operated its M7 surgical robot for this demonstration.
Penn State College of Medicine research isolates liver cancer stem cells prior to tumor formation
Penn State College of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Southern California, have taken an important step in understanding the role of stem cells in development of liver cancer.
New robot travels across the seafloor to monitor the impact of climate change on deep-sea ecosystems
Like the robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which wheeled tirelessly across the dusty surface of Mars, a new robot spent most of July traveling across the muddy ocean bottom, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) off the California coast.
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