This New Robot “DURUS” Walks Just Like Humans, Watch Video Here
Researchers have developed a new robot that has human-sized feet, wears a pair of sneakers and walks just like humans. Scientists say that robot can walk on rugged terrain and uneven surface and human-like motion makes it energy efficient.
Unlike other bipedal robots that have flat foot, the new robot namedDURUS has toe, fingers, and heel, and their combo help in imitating the human locomotion. Designing foot with such minute detailings was a daunting task, but it enabled researchers to copy human-like walk, said Christian Hubicki, a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The humanoid robot DURUS was designed collaboratively by the research non-profit SRI International and Georgia Tech’s Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics (AMBER) Lab.DURUS is a humanoid which looks like a human being and walks on two legs. Its legs are similar to the size of leg of an average human being.
Scientists have designed an algorithm to move it in the forward direction and the algorithm dictates and monitors the movement of each part and tries to keep the foot flat on the ground to maximise the stability and minimise the risk of falling on the ground.
What’s striking is that robot can move by just moving parts located on the foot. Scientists say that flat-footed robots perform well on the treadmill but on rugged terrain their performance is not satisfactory. The new DURUS can walk easily on the uneven surface.
Researchers explained that for every step, DURUS first uses its heel and makes a contact with the ground and then rolls the ball of the foor to push off from the ground. It repeats the same step again and again to imitate a human-like walk.
Mr Hubicki said that they have tried to make the foot of the DURUS similar to the size of humans and they have also given a pair of sneakers just to increase the similarity.
You can watch the video of DURUS walking here:
Scientists are now working on algorithms as they believe a better algorithm can improve the performance and increase the efficiency by a significant amount.