MIT researchers built a robot called the "Cheetah Robot", have now trained it to see and jump over objects as it runs making this the first four-legged robot to run and jump over obstacles autonomously.
"To get a running jump, the robot plans out its path, much like a human runner: As it detects an approaching obstacle, it estimates that object’s height and distance. The robot gauges the best position from which to jump, and adjusts its stride to land just short of the obstacle, before exerting enough force to push up and over. Based on the obstacle’s height, the robot then applies a certain amount of force to land safely, before resuming its initial pace."
"To get a running jump, the robot plans out its path, much like a human runner: As it detects an approaching obstacle, it estimates that object’s height and distance. The robot gauges the best position from which to jump, and adjusts its stride to land just short of the obstacle, before exerting enough force to push up and over. Based on the obstacle’s height, the robot then applies a certain amount of force to land safely, before resuming its initial pace."
They've conducted experiments on a treadmill and an indoor track, the cheetah robot can clear obstacles up to 18 inches in height more than half of its height all while maintaining a running speed of 5 miles per hour.
The robot uses LIDAR, which is a visual system that uses reflections from a laser to map its objects and terrain. The team developed a three-part algorithm to plan out the robot’s path, based on LIDAR data. Both the vision and path-planning system are onboard the robot, giving it complete autonomous control.
The team tested the MIT cheetah’s jumping ability first on a treadmill. On the treadmill, the robot only had 1 meter to detect the object and how high it was. It had a success rate of 70% compared to running on a track where it had more room to identify an object and how high it was. A success rate of 90%.
Their research was funded in part by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).
Original Article: http://news.mit.edu/2015/cheetah-robot-lands-running-jump-0529
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