Team in Scotland produces world's fastest robot of its kind

Citation

(2007), "Team in Scotland produces world's fastest robot of its kind", Industrial Robot, Vol. 34 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2007.04934aab.006

Team in Scotland produces world's fastest robot of its kind

Team in Scotland produces world's fastest robot of its kind

Quick thinking by a team in Scotland has produced the world's fastest robot of its kind.

The experts from the Universities of Glasgow and Stirling have combined with researchers at Goettingen University to develop “RunBot” a two- legged 30 centimetre-high robot, which can reach speeds of up to 3.5 leg- lengths per second.

The understanding of human walking is important for researchers who work with patients with spinal injuries.

RunBot has been developed by PhD student Tao Geng under the supervision of Dr Bernd Porr and Professor Woergoetter.

“We wanted to show that natural walking can be established by combining simple reflexes,” said Dr Bernd Porr, of the University of Glasgow's Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department.

“Unlike other walking robots, RunBot uses a minimalist approach with only a handful of sensors and neurons which establish walking. It makes use of the passive mechanical properties of the legs.”

“RunBot challenges the classical view that walking needs a central rhythm generator which tells the legs when to lift and when to swing, for example, like the pacemaker in the heart. Instead, the robot uses reflexes which are triggered when a foot touches the ground which then makes the other foot lift and so on. Consequently, the robot adjusts its speed when running up or down a slope which looks very natural and human-like.”

“The reflex-based walking robot has been developed to show that simple reflexes are able to exhibit complex movements. We have also shown that these reflexes can drive learning to improve walking behaviour.”