One of the greatest accomplishment from the engineers of OSU, the ATRIAS robot bears resemblance to bipedal animals in the way it walks. In a recent news released by the OSU, Jonathan Hurst a mechanical engineer at OSU says: “That’s part of what’s unique about ATRIAS. Not just that it can walk, and will eventually run — but that it’s doing so with animal-inspired fluidity of motion that is so efficient.” The ATRIAS robot has got its walking attributes from ostriches. Further, it is for the first time that a bi pedalled robot has shown its efficiency to walk in a far more challenging environmental conditions that include bumpy and uneven surfaces of the park, not only is it able to walk at a mind boggling speed of 3 miles per hour, it can do so while maintaining its balance. The researchers tried to check its balance maintaining capabilities by hitting it with rubber balls and eureka! it could sustain those blows and still maintain itself on the uneven surfaces. The two legged robot is not only three times efficient than any other human sized bi-pedal robots but it can also move up and down a hill at a steady pace. ATRIAS robot is the result of a joint collaboration of engineers and biologists at the University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon and the Royal Veterinary College and it has got the financial back up from DARPA. It was last week when the bio mimic two legged ATRIAS robot with commendable locomotive efficiency was brought to the OSU campus for its first demonstration outside the laboratory. Bearing the size of a human it is packed with li polymer battery including 6 electric motors which is required for its performance. The simple ‘spring mass’ model is made of lighter material and it uses a ‘4 bar carbon fiber leg’ mechanism that aids it in its graceful walk; due to this mechanism each foot step that it takes is much softer which prevents its upper body from large shocks. ATRIAS also has elastic legs that is mounted on a series of elastic fiber glass springs. The legs not only act as a suspension but also it is used to store the mechanical energy. Further the legs aids in graceful and smooth motion of the two legged bot which is much more closer to human walk . It seems that OSU engineers visualize a more prominent running two legged bot in future in addition to its walk. The bi pedal bot has the capacity to move to all places that human can! During the entire outdoor demonstration in the campus OSU researchers used extra precaution, by using safety harness that was mounted on a supporting frame which rolled along with the bot, to prevent it from falling and causing any damage which could incur additional expenses during the R&D phase. You can enjoy the graceful motion of the bot during its outdoor demonstration in the below video:
All those who feel it is boring to go for walks or jogging can soon rely on this two legged bot for constant motivation and companionship for long strolls and jogs in park!
