Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Robot With Broken Leg Learns To Walk Again
Antoine Cully and fellow researchers at the Sorbonne University in Paris say they’ve developed a technique that allows a damaged robot to learn how to walk again in just a few seconds.
(Robots recover from damage by trial and error)
This robot has 18 motors to power its six legs. Consequently, its gait depends on 36 different parameters that describe things like the amplitude of the movement of each motor, the phase shifts between them, the duty cycle for each joint and so on.The hexapod also has an on-board computer and a depth camera to estimate its walking speed. Its goal is to walk as fast as possible.
Before the robot is released into the wild, Cully and co calculate a behavioural repertoire of some 13,000 different gaits. However, they do not evaluate them; so the robot does not know how good each one is when a certain kind of damage occurs. Instead, the robot does this after it has become damaged.
So when the leg finally becomes damaged, the robot chooses a gait from the subset that minimises contact with the ground for that leg. It then measures how quickly it can walk using this gait.
It then uses this information to choose another gait, measures the resulting walking speed and feeds this information back into the model. After just a handful of tests, it can then select the best gait.
I think I saw this very idea demonstrated in a science fiction film thirty years ago. In the 1984 movie The Terminator, the Terminator robot's leg is damaged. Is the Terminator helpless? No, of course it determines a workable gait, and continues its inexorable pursuit of Sarah Connor, as seen in the following clip:
American roboticists have also worked on this problem. See Starfish Robot Shows Robotic Introspection And Self-Modeling which features one of my favorite robots, a robotic starfish, which can also determine a new gait for itself if it has a broken leg.
Via Medium.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/26/2014)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Robot Gas Station Attendant Pumps Gas For You
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.' - Philip K. Dick, 1974.
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'' - Isaac Asimov (1940)
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...' - Elizabeth Bellamy, 1899.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?
Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer?
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
Robot Gas Station Attendant Pumps Gas For You
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
TRANSFORM Dynamic Furniture Concept Becomes What You Need
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Dino From Magical Toys An AI Companion To Children
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship
'There was no wheel, and no steersman!'
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
