Meet The Bipedal Droid That Can Run

Durus-2D

After the world managed to create robots on hind legs that could easily walk around in a test lab, it was only a matter of time before researchers found a way to make these robots run; which is exactly what AMBER (Advanced Mechanical Bipedal Experimental Robotics) Lab did.

The lab, based at the Georgia Institute of Technology, just introduced the Durus-2D—a bipedal droid that very closely mimics the human’s natural style and stride while jogging.

While it can move at a pretty brisk pace, it’s still not as fast as the MABEL. But if you check out the video below, the movement of the Durus-2D is the closest by far robotics engineers have come to copying the natural movement of humans running.

 

AMBER

AMBER Lab has been known to focus their expertise on creating “human-inspired” robots—specifically mimicking the motion of walking and running in robots.

To achieve this, the team collects data from human subjects and studies the kind of restrictions that muscles and bones have on movement. These factors go into the development of robotic limbs and controllers that effectively replicates it.

Their achievement is not only significant in the field of robotics—this could also prove to be valuable in the development of prosthetics. Robotic limbs that offer the same dexterity and functionality of human limbs could one day provide amputees the ability to regain full mobility.