Ai Dreams Forum
Robotics => Robotics News => Topic started by: Tyler on August 26, 2008, 11:15:08 pm
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Robots Walking in a Wiggly World
Traditional robotics applications such as CNC and welding have relied on
the idea that robots should be extremely rigid, with very precise
mechanics and encoders. This leads to robots that are very bad at
interacting with the real world. Animals, which are very good at
interacting with the real world, are full of wiggly, springy, imprecise
actuators. A new
paper (PDF format) from the CMU Robotics Institute looks at the
benefits of adopting this principle in robot leg design. Using
compliant, spring-like mechanisms, the robot can recycle energy and
exert higher mechanical power when walking or running. The researchers
examine a range of compliance using a variable stiffness leg, called the
Electric Cable Differential
(ECD) Leg.
http://robots.net/article/2624.html