Improved technology allows bipedal robots to maintain human-like balance

( Natural News ) Texan researchers have just given bipedal robots the complex ability to balance their bodies in the same way that humans innately do. An article in Science Daily described how this will let robots catch up to their makers in terms of mobility. Humans are naturally capable of walking through a cramped or crowded area without putting much effort into it. The human brain contains the necessary set of complicated skills that control the body automatically. Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin (UTexas) decided to give that level of functionality to robots. Team leader Luis Sentis and his students from the school’s Human Centered Robotics Laboratory developed a brand-new means of bringing a human sense of balance to a bipedal robot named after the swift messenger god of the ancient Greeks. They believe their new method can be used to improve walking robots that are now being tested and used in all kinds of roles. Military units, search-and-rescue machines, and the like will one day be able to tread as carefully as the humans they are looking for. (Related: Coming soon: Mini robot grocery stores .) Reducing the human skill of whole-body balance into mere numbers for robots Long story short, the UTexas researchers took the physical dynamic skill of maintaining the balance of the entire body, which robots have a hard time understanding. They then translated it into a mathematical equation , which artificial intelligence can grasp pretty well. That numerical formula was integrated into the programming of the lab’s bipedal walking robot, Mercury. First built in 2012, Mercury underwent six years of testing before it achieved a semblance of human balance. Get CLEAN FOOD and help support our mission to keep you informed : The Health Ranger Store lab verifies everything we […]

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