Posted on 09/15/2014 10:52:14 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
Speed and agility are hallmarks of the cheetah: The big predator is the fastest land animal on Earth, able to accelerate to 60 mph in just a few seconds. As it ramps up to top speed, a cheetah pumps its legs in tandem, bounding until it reaches a full gallop.
Now MIT researchers have developed an algorithm for bounding that they’ve successfully implemented in a robotic cheetah — a sleek, four-legged assemblage of gears, batteries, and electric motors that weighs about as much as its feline counterpart. The team recently took the robot for a test run on MIT’s Killian Court, where it bounded across the grass at a steady clip.
In experiments on an indoor track, the robot sprinted up to 10 mph, even continuing to run after clearing a hurdle. The MIT researchers estimate that the current version of the robot may eventually reach speeds of up to 30 mph.
The key to the bounding algorithm is in programming each of the robot’s legs to exert a certain amount of force in the split second during which it hits the ground, in order to maintain a given speed: In general, the faster the desired speed, the more force must be applied to propel the robot forward. Sangbae Kim, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, hypothesizes that this force-control approach to robotic running is similar, in principle, to the way world-class sprinters race.
“Many sprinters, like Usain Bolt, don’t cycle their legs really fast,” Kim says. “They actually increase their stride length by pushing downward harder and increasing their ground force, so they can fly more while keeping the same frequency.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsoffice.mit.edu ...
Now that “Bounding” is complete, they can move on to “Pounce” and “Tear Limb from Limb”.
How long before the first Police Cheetah-bot? Trained to kill dogs and take down people.
RoboCop Dog!
I can just see these as “drones” for ground troops. Equip them with a belt fed battle rifle. You can even have a armored “carrier” that would provide local signals aggregation, transportation and automated refit (ammo and fuel). Put the infantry troops back from the front lines but in close proximity. Perhaps the traditional Bn Hq area?
Drone wars?
Very cool, but I guess I’ve watched too many sci-fi movies and read too many books. It also makes me a bit nervous.
If you get four more of them can you build a giant robot out of them?
video of bot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMKQbqnXXhQ
Another good reason to own an “assault rifle”. Now I want one with a grenade launcher.
gotta watch your diction, start telling people there’s a “cheetah” at MIT and New Englanders will be wanting him/her expelled ;-)
That thing looks and runs more like a Hyena.
I still would rather have the reconfigurable Valkyrie or Alpha Fighter. An SDF-1 would be nice too.
I still would rather have the reconfigurable Valkyrie or Alpha Fighter. An SDF-1 would be nice too.
But if you say he is a black cheetah or panther, it’ll be OK, in fact, encouraged.
It was running in the pawk.
Wicked cool man.
Bump for later. :)
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