It is fortunate we’re not dwelling in a futuristic dystopia the place sentient robots are out to get us. But when we have been, then Leonardo would undoubtedly be the good robotic we might face.
Leonardo, brief for “LEgs ONboARD drOne,” is the creation of Caltech researchers who have been impressed partly by how birds can flap their wings and in addition hop and stroll with their legs. Referred to as Leo for brief, this bipedal robotic is ready to pull off difficult strikes like strolling on a slackline and using a skateboard.
Try our video on the prime of the story to see Leo in motion, together with the way it blurs the traces between humanlike robots and drones.
Leo the robotic can deal with a slackline due to its legs and dronelike propellers.
Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET
“LEO is the primary robotic that makes use of multi-joint legs and propeller-based thrusters to realize a advantageous diploma of management over its steadiness,” Caltech mentioned in an announcement when it launched Leonardo in October.
The Caltech group at the moment printed a paper on the robotic within the journal Science Robotics. Leo’s versatility means it might name on its strolling abilities, its flying potential or a mix of the 2 relying on the terrain and its objectives. Caltech described Leo as having “uncanny steadiness.”
After seeing movies of Boston Dynamics harassing their very own robotic creations, you would possibly marvel how Leo would reply. “Due to its propellers, you possibly can poke or prod LEO with lots of power with out really knocking the robotic over,” mentioned Elena-Sorina Lupu, a co-author of the paper.
The researchers are already eyeing methods to make Leonardo extra vitality environment friendly by upgrading the leg design to rely much less on the propellers for steadiness whereas strolling. The group can also be engaged on making it extra autonomous so it might assess its surroundings and determine how greatest to navigate it.
The robotics group sees a potential future for this know-how on Mars, the place it may symbolize a brand new era of rotorcraft. The idea would construct on the success of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter. Think about Ingenuity with legs, capable of land safely on uneven terrain. Leo, the interplanetary explorer? It may occur.
