5/30/2010 PERMALINK
Advances made in designing robots able to walking and running using far less energy. Oregon State University Dynamic Robotics Laboratory : Researchers have made an important fundamental advance in robotics, in work that should produce robots that not only can walk and run effectively, but use little energy in the process. By achieving an optimal approach with robotic mechanisms, studies are moving closer to robots that could take on dangerous missions in the military, create prosthetic limbs for humans that work much better, or even let people who use wheelchairs start walking again. "In terms of locamotion," said Jonathan Hurst, an assistant professor of robotics and mechanical design at OSU. "Humans and other animals are a tough act to follow. Using limited energy, they can move easily over uneven terrain, and respond with a fascinating balance of muscles and tendons. They have different ways to deal with forces, such as holding something in place rigidly, or also responding to outside influences – like the delicate act of holding a cup of coffee level during a bumpy car ride." In their recent studies, the OSU researchers essentially proved that these two abilities are mutually exclusive. Humans deal with this problem by flexing opposing pairs of muscles, to change the dynamic properties of their arm. For a robot, the more it is able to do one of these tasks, the less able it is to do the other. "If robotic locomotion is ever to achieve some of what we want, it will have to use less energy," Hurst said. "There are machines that can walk with no active controls at all, using barely any energy, but they fall if they run into the smallest bump. We need to use as much of that passive ability as possible and only use motors or active controls if it's really necessary, so we can save energy in the process."