Humanoid Robots
Boston Dynamics' ATLAS robot continues to challenge robot developers. In a new example, researchers from Florida's IHMC have managed to train the humanoid robot to balance on one foot on a very narrow piece of wood.
Our readers will probably remember the DARPA Robotics Challenge last year with a smile, recalling the often humorous falls and fails of the humanoid robots in the competition, at even the seemingly simplest of tasks.
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Well, researchers at The Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC) Robotics Lab seem to want to learn from that experience, and prevent it from happening to their robot in the future. They have taught their Boston Dynamics' ATLAS robot, a new skill: balancing on one foot on a narrow piece of plywood for almost a full thirty seconds.ATLAS is a pretty proficient balancer it would seem, but probably more interesting is the humanlike way it tries to regain its balance at the end of the video. In a fraction of a second, the robot leans its weight to the side, rotates its torso, and shifts its foot placement—just as you or I might do in the same situation.
According to the researchers, "This video was recorded during a lucky run, usually the robot is not able to maintain balance for this long."
This is a level of coordination is impressive considering ATLAS was only learning how to stand up a few months ago.
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