![]() Such detailed models are not frequently included in dynamic simulations for robots.” But simulation is still simulation, of course, and no matter how good your modeling is, that transfer can be tricky, especially when doing highly dynamic motions. ![]() “We include in our simulations detailed models for the robot’s actuators and battery, models that have been validated experimentally. “When it comes to the physical capabilities of the robot, anything we demonstrate in simulation should be feasible on the robot,” Chignoli says. But MIT is putting a lot of work into accurately simulating everything that they possibly can-in particular, they’re modeling the detailed physical constraints that the robot operates under as it performs dynamic motions, allowing the planner to take those constraints into account and (hopefully) resulting in motions that match the simulation pretty accurately. Now, it’s easy to say “oh well pfft that’s just in simulation and you can get anything to work in simulation,” which, yeah, that’s kinda true. As we continue to improve the performance of our proprioceptive actuator technology, as we have done for this work, we aim to demonstrate that our unique combination of high torque density, high bandwidth force control, and the ability to mitigate impacts is optimal for highly dynamic locomotion of any legged robot, including humanoids. The design strategy matters because the field of humanoid robots is presently dominated by hydraulically actuated robots and robots with series elastic actuators. We hope to develop robust, low inertia and powerful legs that can mimic human leg actions.” “Dynamic ankle actions have been rare in humanoid robots. “The main focus of the leg design is to enable smooth but dynamic ‘heel-to-toe’ actions that happen in humans’ walking and running, while maintaining low inertia for smooth interactions with ground contacts,” Chignoli told us in an email. ![]() While the robot’s torso and arms are very similar to Mini Cheetah, the leg design is totally new and features redesigned actuators with higher power and better torque density. It’s got the appearance of a sort of upright version of Mini Cheetah, but that appearance is deceiving, says MIT’s Matt Chignoli. Image: MITįirst let’s talk about the hardware that we’ll be looking at once the MIT Humanoid makes it out of simulation. MIT Humanoid performing a back flip off of a humanoid robot off of a 0.4 m platform in simulation. In a paper recently posted to arXiv (to be presented at Humanoids 2020 in July), Matthew Chignoli, Donghyun Kim, Elijah Stanger-Jones, and Sangbae Kim describe “a new humanoid robot design, an actuator-aware kino-dynamic motion planner, and a landing controller as part of a practical system design for highly dynamic motion control of the humanoid robot.” So it’s not just the robot itself, but all of the software infrastructure necessary to get it to do what they want it to do. Recently, they’ve been doing a bunch of work with their spunky little Mini Cheetahs (developed with funding and support from Naver Labs), which are designed for some dynamic stuff like gait exploration and some low-key four-legged acrobatics. We’ve seen a variety of legged robots from MIT’s Biomimetic Robotics Lab, including Cheetah and HERMES. We know that IHMC has been developing their own child-size acrobatic humanoid named Nadia, and now it sounds like researchers from Sangbae Kim’s lab at MIT are working on a new acrobatic robot of their own. ![]() The next step seems to be to find ways of pushing the limits of human performance, which it turns out means acrobatics. Thanks to the talented folks at companies like Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics, we now expect bipedal robots to meet or exceed actual human performance for at least a small subset of dynamic tasks. For a long time, having a bipedal robot that could walk on a flat surface without falling over (and that could also maybe occasionally climb stairs or something) was a really big deal.
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