Walk-Man robot that behaves like a human could replace firefighters and soldiers on rescue missions
Engineers have designed a state-of-the-art robot that can mimic the movement of humans.
It was created by boffins in Italy who hope that one day, humanoid creations such as the Walk-Man could replace humans on dangerous rescue missions.
Researchers from The Italian Institute of Technology and University of Pisa, who developed the bot, predict that the impressive machine could be used to replacefirefighters, bomb disposal experts and soldiers out in the field.
It would be operated by humans to go into dangerous situations to minimise the risk of loss of life.
The Walk-Man can already operate human machinery and interact with humans, engineers say.
And they are developing the robots movements so that it can easily walk across rough terrain - making it ideal for rescue missions.
Nikos Tsagarakis, lead researcher of the project, told Reuters: "There's one factor that everyone agrees, that actually our world, our environment it was designed for our body basically.
"So, we have tools that are designed to be grasped by humanoid, human hands. You have also areas or access paths that are actually appropriate for our body forms."
"So it means that if you build a robot that has a very similar form, you need to adapt less the environment in order to have this robot operational within such a space," he added.
The first prototype of the droid was unveiled at the DARPA Robotics challenge finals in June.
It can walk, use its hands to grip and reach out in front to keep itself stable.
Researchers are now hoping to develop its stability by working on the upper body strength of the robot.
Nikos added: "We believe that - as humans also do - that legs are not only enough."
"You have to use also the arms, you have to be able to grasp the environment and actually assist your locomotion by creating additional contacts with the environmental balance.
"This will make a big difference in humanoids where currently the technology is limited to the solutions that provide the balance basically only using the lower body."
They are also developing algorithms to help the robot to move quicker and have better reflexes.
No comments:
Post a Comment