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Bipedal Robot Floats Gently While Walking
This bipedal robot was created by Dennis Hong and Tanaka Yusuke at the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at UCLA. It is composed of helium balloons and articulated legs.
ヘリウム風船と関節のある脚で構成された浮遊する二足歩行ロボット。カリフォルニア大学ロサンゼルス校のロボット工学・機構研究所(RoMeLa)デニス・ホン氏、タナカ・ユウスケ氏の作品。pic.twitter.com/JgZqqelUrP
— 萩原幸也 ®️ (@onipro) October 24, 2025
Thomas Edison had a similar idea in mind when he worked with George Parsons Lathrop on In the Deep of Time, published in 1897. He describes a "walking balloon":
...they were in Wisconsin, and stepped off into a "walking balloon", which proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs over a slant of steep upland.
(The Walking Balloon)This vehicle is a shallow car with small hollow sails of silk above it, containing just enough gas to keep it about thirty feet above ground, assisted by a small electric engine in the centre. From the bottom of the car two long rods or mechanical legs, made of aluminum—the lightest metal known— extended down to the ground, where they are reciprocated at regular intervals by an electrometer, which enables them to imitate the motion of walking, and carry the balloon along at the rate of some fifteen miles an hour. They are not meant for high speed, and can travel only, of course, on prepared routes, but are very convenient in certain places.
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