A First Small Step Toward a Lego-Size Humanoid Robot

When we think of bipedal humanoid robots, we tend to think of robots that aren’t

just human-shaped, but also human-sized.
When we think of bipedal humanoid robots, we tend to think of robots that aren’t just human-shaped, but also human-sized. There are exceptions, of course—among them, a subcategory of smaller humanoids that includes research and hobby humanoids that aren’t really intended to do anything practical. But at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) last week, roboticists from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are asked an interesting question: What happens if you try to scale down a bipedal robot? Like, way down? This line from the paper asking this question sums it up: “Our goal with this project is to make miniature walking robots, as small as a LEGO Minifigure (1-centimeter leg) or smaller.”

The current robot, while small (its legs are 15-cm long), is obviously much bigger than a Lego minifig. But that’s okay, because it’s not supposed to be quite as tiny as the group's ultimate ambition would have it. At least not yet. It’s a platform that the CMU researchers are using to figure out how to proceed. They’re still assessing what it’s going to take to shrink bipedal walking robots to the point where they could ride in Matchbox cars. At very small scales, robots run into all kinds of issues, including space and actuation efficiency. These crop up mainly because it’s simply not possible to cram the same number of batteries and motors that go into bigger bots into something that tiny. So, in order to make a tiny robot that can usefully walk, designers have to get creative.


for details : 



www.dprg.co.in