RHex is an all-terrain walking robot that could one day climb over rubble in a rescue mission or cross the desert with environmental sensors strapped to its back.
Pronounced “Rex,” like the over-excited puppy it resembles when it is bounding over the ground, RHex is short for “robot hexapod,” a name that stems from its six springy legs.
Legs have an advantage over wheels when it comes to rough terrain, but the articulated legs often found on walking robots require complex, specialized instructions for each moving part. To get the most mobility out of RHex’s simple, one-jointed legs, Penn researchers are essentially teaching the robot Parkour. Taking inspiration from human free-runners, the team is showing the robot how to manipulate its body in creative ways to get around all sorts of obstacles.
The RHex platform was first developed through a multi-university collaboration more than a decade ago. Graduate student Aaron Johnson and professor Daniel Koditschek, both of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, are working on a version of RHex known as XRL, or X-RHex Lite. This lighter and more agile version of the robot, developed in Koditschek’s Kod*Lab, a division of Engineering’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab, is ideal for testing new ways for it to run, jump, and climb.
By activating its legs in different sequences, XRL can execute double jumps, flips, and, through a combination of moves, even pull-ups. For the tallest obstacles, the robot can launch itself vertically, hook its front legs on the edge of the object it’s trying to surmount, then drag its body up and over. The researchers fully demonstrated this particular maneuver under more controlled conditions in the lab.
The Latest Bing News on:
RHex
- Feed has no items.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
RHex
[google_news title=”” keyword=”RHex” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
All-terrain walking robot
- Swarm of tiny snail robots stick together to form new structureson May 8, 2024 at 6:15 am
Researchers have built a swarm of miniature, snail-inspired robots, minus all the mucus. Instead, a retractable suction cup works in tandem with the remote-controlled machine’s tank-like treads to ...
- Nvidia’s Eureka helps robot dog perfect yoga ball balanceon May 5, 2024 at 4:07 am
Researchers harness Nvidia's Eureka platform, with human-level reward design, to train a quadruped robot in yoga ball balancing and walking.
- Robot Masters Terrain with Animal-Like Gait Transitionson April 30, 2024 at 1:43 pm
Researchers leveraged deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to enable a robot to adaptively switch gaits, mimicking animal movements like trotting and pronking, to traverse complex terrains effectively.
- Robotic Dog Dressed as a Fox Saves Animals Lives…by Chasing Them?on April 26, 2024 at 3:00 am
Of all Boston Dynamics' deployed robots, this one may have the strangest assignment. The post Robotic Dog Dressed as a Fox Saves Animals Lives…by Chasing Them? appeared first on MotorBiscuit.
- Korean robot startup aims to transform human walkingon April 24, 2024 at 8:31 am
South Korean robotics startup WIRobotics aims to transform the walking experience via its award-winning wearable robot WIM ... the user's motion and the terrain they are on within 0.2 seconds.
- The Mammotion Luba 2 Is a Fantastic (If Expensive) Robot Lawn Moweron April 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
Credit: Amanda Blum From the beginning, I’ve been skeptical about robot ... stop walking and stare. They’d take pictures, and minutes later more people would arrive and they’d all stare ...
- NASA tests walking robot on Mount Hood for space exploration with universitieson April 17, 2024 at 1:10 pm
MT. HOOD, Ore. (KATU) — Researchers from six universities, including Oregon State, have teamed up with NASA to test a walking robot on the terrain of Mount Hood. They're trying to see how this ...
- Boston Dynamics Atlas robot: a full historyon April 16, 2024 at 3:58 pm
Not only is it all-electric but it’s also ... solves one of the Atlas' biggest issues: walking on uneven terrain. The new algorithm allows the robot to maintain its balance as it walks over ...
- MIT Technology Reviewon April 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm
He showed how the PR2 robot could hand some medicine to the television host. “All of a sudden ... scrambling up steps and navigating tricky terrain. The robots were first trained to ...
- Husqvarna’s Latest Mowing Innovation Is To Mow Lesson September 16, 2023 at 4:41 am
Called "Rewilding," your robot mower ... receiver and walking a robot around my yard" you say. Except only Husqvarna reps have access to the software that connects their EPOS, all-terrain, and ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
All-terrain walking robot
[google_news title=”” keyword=”all-terrain walking robot” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]