If you’re a Wallace and Gromit fan, you’ll want a look at this pair of robotic legs, which a group of researchers claim are the first to model walking in a biologically accurate manner.
No, you can’t wear them like Wallace did — these pants walk alone. But they do have features that imitate biological muscles, sensors and nervous-system control. The research, published today in the Journal of Neuroengineering by researchers from the University of Arizona, could help us understand how human babies learn to walk.
The robot’s legs are made from plastic using a 3D printer, and the ”muscles” consist of motors that pull on kevlar straps to bend and straighten the legs. Force sensors in the straps endow the robot with proprioception, the human body’s sense of its limb positions and movements.
via Wired
July 6, 2012
