Rock ‘n’ roll robot regains its feet

Researchers at University of Tokyo have developed R Daneel, a humanoid 60-kilogram robot that kicks up its legs and rolls back onto its shoulders to gain the momentum it needs to rock up onto its feet and into a crouching position.

"The robot is not controlled all the time through a predefined trajectory - as is typically done in robotics," says Max Lungarella. The name R Daneel means Responsive Dexterous Actions aNd Embodiment ELucidation Study One and was inspired by the humanoid robot that appears in several books by Isaac Asimov.

Unlike most humanoid bots, it is designed to embrace a lack of constant control and instead follow the trajectory determined by the weight and shape of its body during the rocking motion, until it lands square back on its feet.

"At that point control goes back to the robot's brain which is ultimately responsible for integrating the information coming from its various sensors," explains Lungarella.

The same blend of control and flexibility used in standing up could also be applied to other robot tasks, Lungarella believes. "All kinds of tasks - particularly dynamics-based ones - can be addressed with our framework. We are currently looking at jumping, rolling, walking, trotting, swinging, reaching and grasping."

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Via New Scientist.