/ News
Bipedal robot conquers uneven ground
Getting a robot to walk is one thing, getting it to walk without tripping on the first obstacle it encounters is quite another. Engineers at the University of Michigan are developing a set of algorithms that allow an unsupported bipedal robot named MARLO to negotiate steep slopes, thin layers of snow, and uneven, unstable ground without toppling over. Designed as a general purpose robotic system, the algorithms may also have applications in advanced prosthetics.
According to the Michigan team led by professor of electrical engineering and computer science, Jessy Grizzle, MARLO has the best walking ability of any robot not equipped with powered ankles. It builds on the work of their previous robot, MABEL, which was a bipedal running robot capable of reaching speeds of up to 10.9 km/h (6.8 mph). However, the older robot could only walk back and forth and had no lateral stability. MARLO, on the other hand, is designed to move and balance in any direction.
MARLO is operated by means of a conventional Xbox controller, which allows the operator to give commands to move and in a given direction. Once it is under way, the robot makes its own decisions as to how to handle rough terrain, such as a test course of inclines, uneven plywood squares covered in astroturf, and bits of foam rubber.
This is not the first robot capable of handling such conditions, but other successful designs, such as the latest Boston Dynamics Atlas robot, use powered joints and a battery of sensors to maintain balance, while MARLO is much simpler.
"The robot has no feeling in her tiny feet, but she senses the angles of her joints — for instance, her knee angles, hip angles and the rotation angle of her torso," says Grizzle. "It's like walking blindfolded and on stilts."
MARLO's capabilities are due to advances made in its navigation algorithms by doctoral student Xingye (Dennis) Da, which combine two 2D algorithms – one for forward and back stability and another for lateral stability. According to Da, this greatly speeded up development. He then wrote a library of 15 gaits for different walking speeds and ground heights, so that MARLO could, without special sensors, recognize changes in the ground height and alter its gait accordingly.
The team says that while MARLO is a great advance over MABEL, it still has a lot of room for improvement, such as in making quick turns or stepping sideways. To achieve this end and to make its responses faster, doctoral student Brent Griffin is working on a fully-integrated 3D controller algorithm that keeps the robot running at an optimal speed as it handles terrain. In addition, the team is also developing a "super-algorithm" to make MARLO more agile.
"We are able to design full 3D walking gaits using a mathematical model of the robot and then apply them directly to MARLO," says Griffin. "Because the implementation works without any robot-specific modifications, it is generalizable to other walking robots."
One important aspect of the team's work is that the algorithms must have general applications, so they can be used in other walking robot projects. One early result of this was at the University of Texas-Dallas, where assistant professor of mechanical engineering and bioengineering Robert Gregg used the algorithm to control a robotic lower-leg prosthesis, which enabled an amputee patient to walk naturally in treadmill tests.
"The ability of MARLO to gracefully navigate uneven terrains is very exciting for my work in prosthetics," says Gregg. "We hope to encode similar abilities into our robotic prosthetic leg so that lower-limb amputees can just as easily walk about the community without having to think about the terrain."
See more of MARLO in action below.
Source: University of Michigan
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/marlo-robot-algorithm/43199/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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