New Walking Robot May Herald an Age of Human-like Robotics

Scientists may have created the most realistic robotic implementation of human walking to date. The new dynamics could be huge when it comes to creating human-like robots in the future.

The technologies evolved from intense studies of both human and animal walking and running. In order to learn how animals achieve a fluidity of motion with a high degree of energy efficiency, researchers examine animals performing these behaviors. Animals, in particular, combine a sensory input from nerves, vision, muscles and tendons to create locomotion that researchers have now translated into a working robotic system.

"I'm confident that this is the future of legged robotic locomotion," said Jonathan Hurst, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We've basically demonstrated the fundamental science of how humans walk. Other robotic approaches may have legs and motion, but don't really capture the underlying physics. We're convinced this is the approach on which the most successful legged robots will work. It retains the substance and science of legged animal locomotion, and animals demonstrate performance that far exceeds any other approach we've seen. This is the way to go."

The current technology is still a crude illustration of what the future may hole. When further refined and perfected, though, walking and running robots may work in armed forces and be used for other applications.

"Robots are already used for gait training, and we see the first commercial exoskeletons on the market," said Daniel Renjewski, the lead author of the new study. "However, only now do we have an idea how human-like walking works in a robot. This enables us to build an entirely new class of wearable robots and prostheses that could allow the user to regain a natural walking gait."

The findings are published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

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