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
 |
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
Slick new video from MIT's Cheetah team shows the transition point where the robot goes from a trotting gait to a full gallop.
(MIT's Cheetah Robot - faster than a real cheetah?)
The MIT Cheetah—about the size and weight of a real cheetah—requires approximately 1 kW when running at 22 km/h, which translates to a cost of transport, or COT (defined as power consumption divided by weight times velocity), of 0.52. The team says this COT performance rivals that of running animals of the same size. By comparison... Boston Dynamics' BigDog has a COT of 15, which is far less efficient than their biological counterparts.The MIT team, led by Professor Sangbae Kim, believes that electric motors are a better choice than hydraulics... His group developed its own "three phase permanent magnet synchronous motor," which reportedly doubles the torque density of the commercial motors they were using in the robot. With further improvements, the motors will help reduce the robot's COT to 0.33, which is "between the efficiency of runners and fliers in nature."
And they also incorporated biomimetic principles. A Kevlar tendon stretches from the foot to the knee, reducing the stress on the legs during stride by close to 60 percent. The bones themselves are made primarily out of a light polyurethane foam-core which is covered in a high stiffness resin, which makes them both light and strong. The researchers also gave their robot a spine, which is actuated not by individual motors but a differential system driven by the action of the legs...
(Diagram for MIT's Cheetah robot)
I know that fans of Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash are thinking of the Rat Thing:
The body is Rottweiler-sized, segmented into overlapping hard plates like those of a rhinoceros. The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's. It must be the tail that makes people refer to it as a Rat Thing, because that's the only ratlike part - incredibly long and flexible.
(Read more about Stephenson's Rat Thing)
However, I'd also include the slamhound from William Gibson's 1986 novel Count Zero; I remember what an impression it made on me when I first read it when the novel first came out.
THEY sent A SLAMHOUND on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair. It caught up with him on a street called Chandni Chauk and came scrambling for his rented BMW through a forest of bare brown legs and pedicab tires. Its core was a kilogram of recrystallized hexogene and flaked TNT.
Via IEEE.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/16/2013)
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 ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...' - Philip K. Dick, 1955.
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.' - AG Stangland, 1929.
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
'The automatic massager began to fumble gently...' - AE van Vogt, 1944.
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.' - William Morrison, 1941.
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
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Hybrid Wind Solar Devices
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
'The automatic massager began to fumble gently...'
Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants?
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
Skip Movewear Arc'teryx AI Pants
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These
There are alternative names that are probably in the public domain by now.
How Old Are Tesla Designs?
You be the judge.
Is Your Autonomous Tractor Safe?
'The field-minder finished turning the top-soil of a two-thousand-acre field.'
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'
Police Drones In China Would Like To Have A Word With You
''OVERRIDE,' the City Fathers said suddenly, without being asked anything at all.'
Oh Great (Part 2), Fence-Climbing Robots
Please, no stingers.
