Fastest robot on earth
2nd Quarter 2012
Electrical switching & drive systems & components
Engineers at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have set a new land speed record for a four legged robot, which is capable of speeds of up to 29 kmph. This shatters the previous land speed record of 21 kmph, set by a team at MIT in 1989. Named Cheetah, the robot was developed in collaboration with engineering and robotics firm, Boston Dynamics. Eventually, Boston Dynamics wants to be able to match the speed of a real cheetah, which is over 100 kmph.
A flexible back
While not yet up to Usain Bolt’s top speed of 45 kmph, Cheetah can move significantly faster than the average human’s running pace. The four legged machine has an articulated head and flexible spine. A significant challenge was to build a control mechanism that coordinated the movement of the device’s back, allowing the robotic Cheetah to increase its speed. Flexing the robot’s back was key to reaching these speeds and was modelled on the motion of a real cheetah. Cheetah’s spring-like back flexes on each step for maximum power and stride length, much as a live cheetah does.
The current robot runs on a laboratory treadmill where it is powered by an off-board hydraulic pump, and uses a boom-like device to help keep it running in the centre of the treadmill. Testing of a free-running prototype is planned for later this year.
Maximum mobility and manipulation
The Cheetah project aims to understand the limits of how fast a legged machine can go and demonstrate that technology. It is funded by DARPA’s maximum mobility and manipulation (M3) programme.
“To get Cheetah running faster and develop robots capable of operating in the natural world, we must create robot hardware and software with the speed, flexibility and strength of athletes,” says Marc Raibert, president of Boston Dynamics. “Going after these kinds of engineering challenges, that combine new theory with exotic hardware and radical performance, is what we love to do.”
To see the Cheetah robot in action visit http://tinyurl.com/7wapc39
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