New algorithm enables MIT cheetah robot to run and jump,
untethered, across grass.
Speed and agility are hallmarks of the cheetah: The big
predator is the fastest land animal on Earth, able to accelerate to 60 mph in
just a few seconds. As it ramps up to top speed, a cheetah pumps its legs in
tandem, bounding until it reaches a full gallop.
Now MIT researchers have developed an algorithm for bounding
that they’ve successfully implemented in a robotic cheetah — a sleek,
four-legged assemblage of gears, batteries, and electric motors that weighs
about as much as its feline counterpart. The team recently took the robot for a
test run on MIT’s Killian Court, where it bounded across the grass at a steady
clip.