MIT Cheetah Robot Runs Fast, and Efficiently
The Cheetah robot developed at MIT's Biomimetic Robotics Lab first grabbed our attention when the project was announced back in 2009. In the years that followed few details emerged about its progress, until finally in July 2012 the lab posted videos of the robot walking on YouTube. Now, at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the MIT team has shown its cheetah-inspired robot running at a respectable 22 km/h (13.7 mph). And more: the robot has an energy efficiency that rivals that of real running animals.
That speed makes it the second fastest legged robot in the world, beaten only by Boston Dynamics' Cheetah (which can run twice as fast). The MIT Cheetah knocks the Planar Biped, developed at the MIT Leg Lab in 1989, which achieved 21 km/h (13 mph) down to third place. It's worth noting that both the MIT Cheetah and Boston Dynamics' Cheetah are attached to horizontal bars that constrain them along the sagittal plane (preventing roll and yaw movement). So, yeah, you might say that is cheeting, but hopefully we'll see these robots running free sometime in the future.
Watch it running : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UBHJqnM8RTU
MIT Cheetah Robot Runs Fast, and Efficiently The Cheetah robot developed at MIT's Biomimetic Robotics Lab first grabbed our attention when the project was announced back in 2009. In the years that followed few details emerged about its progress, until finally in July 2012 the lab posted videos of the robot walking on YouTube. Now, at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the MIT team has shown its cheetah-inspired robot running at a respectable 22 km/h (13.7 mph). And more: the robot has an energy efficiency that rivals that of real running animals. That speed makes it the second fastest legged robot in the world, beaten only by Boston Dynamics' Cheetah (which can run twice as fast). The MIT Cheetah knocks the Planar Biped, developed at the MIT Leg Lab in 1989, which achieved 21 km/h (13 mph) down to third place. It's worth noting that both the MIT Cheetah and Boston Dynamics' Cheetah are attached to horizontal bars that constrain them along the sagittal plane (preventing roll and yaw movement). So, yeah, you might say that is cheeting, but hopefully we'll see these robots running free sometime in the future. Watch it running : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UBHJqnM8RTU
