Robot, Run

Technology marches on -- actually, it's beginning to run.

Scientists at Toyota have demonstrated a robot that can trot along at about 7 km/hr (about 13:40 per mile). Very impressive! Although, based on the video below, I would say that the robot is not yet ready to challenge Usain Bolt.



It's interesting to watch the video, though, and think about how a human stride combines such a complex sequence of actions in such a fluid and continuous motion.

By contrast, the robot plonks its feet down almost flat and twists and creaks its way along in a way that seems energy-costly. Indeed, I wonder how long its power source lasts. (It would have to last a little over six hours to enable the robot to complete a marathon).

The other thing that's conspicuous is that the robot goes airborne for a relatively short period of time compared to a human runner. According to a post on the smart-machines blog, the robot runner leaves the earth for about 340ms at a time. I would have guessed less looking at the video, but in any case, the lack of vertical displacement and the long ground contact time are not associated with fast, efficient running. It just makes you appreciate that much more what people do when they soar through the air on every step.

For more description of Toyota's running robot, see this post on the Smart-machines blog.