Robot makes strides in sneakers

Researchers at Georgia Tech’s AMBER-Lab have now improved their DURUS robot’s movements to incorporate even more human-like heel strikes and push-offs. As you can see in the video, the new range of motion gives DURUS a more natural stride, and the ability to wear some sweet sneakers. Until about a week ago, the robot shuffled along flat footed before getting a pair of new metal feet with arches soles. After some tweaking of the algorithms and a few falls, DURUS now strides like the rest of us.

DURUS has springs between its ankles and feet that act like elastic tendons in humans. The springs allow the robot to store mechanical energy from the heel strike to be used when the toe pushes off the ground. As you might expect, this makes the system very efficient with a 1.4 cost of transport, a common measure of robotic locomotion. Compare that to the 3.0 cost of transport for other humanoid robots and you can see the kinds of upgrades Ames and the students at Georgia Tech are making. Ames also said that updates like this one to DURUS could mean big improvements to robotic devices like prostheses and exoskeletons.