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Land Walker Japanese Robot Video

nym | 09:27 AM

We previously reported on this robot "suit" called the Land Walker here.

[ Link via YouTube ]

Comments

Fascinating, but it does *not* 'walk' - it's more like skating on rollers in the feet. Close, but not quite. The real excitement would be seeing something like that actually -walk-.

Posted by: M. Douglas Wray at August 8, 2006 09:29 AM

It is a great accomplishment already to have the skating mechanism. Lifting one foot up to take a step like the Honda or Sony Qrio can - requires feedback control that adjusts the COG quickly. The mechanical tissue in a human is complex and organic, but the mechanical tissue in a robot are alloys/plastics and directional actuators. The bigger the robot, the more difficult to manage its COG with control and placing sensors on the bottom may not be as directly related/effective with the entire structure's positioning in space. This is because such a large structure has more deflection in the materials due to weight and size. As you see, the robot looks like it's carrying a lot within.

Yes, it would be real excitement to see the "walk" - because it's so much more difficult and expensive to acheive in such a large robot with a high COG.

Posted by: James Liu at September 3, 2006 12:59 PM
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