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Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2019 Symposium (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Robots That Walk: What the Challenge of Locomotion Says About Next-Generation Manufacturing - Christian Hubicki
Pages 11-16

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 11...
... • Bipedal roboticists have designed robots with underactuation and com pliance for improved agility and efficiency, and automated manufactur ing facilities can similarly lower capital and energy costs. • Walking and running controllers are being designed for robustness to unknown terrain, and manufacturing can use similar robust control to operate on parts of unknown shape and softness.
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From page 12...
... Underactuation can also reduce robot weight as well as stiffness due to highly geared drive transmissions. These combined improvements often lead to increased efficiency: A simple underactuated walker called the Cornell Ranger was able to walk 40 miles on a single battery charge.1 Another approach to increased efficiency comes in the form of compliance, or elasticity in the robot.
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From page 13...
... shows the Atlas humanoid from Boston Dynamics walking over a snow bank, an effective example of terrain robustness. This need for terrain robustness led researchers to develop force control techniques for locomotion: if a user controls a robot leg to produce a specified force, it has a vastly different behavior in response to dis­urbances than if its t position is controlled.
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From page 14...
... With emergent control behavior, a factory can be inherently more ­ lever c and effective than initially imagined by its engineers. TASK-FLEXIBLE CONTROL ALGORITHMS The locomotive robotics field has pushed for not only more stable, faster, and more efficient locomotion but also a variety of walking and running behaviors.
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From page 15...
... The emergence of these planning algorithms enabled the next generation of versatile legged robots, including prototypes for package delivery with Agility Robotics' Digit robot (figure 4)
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From page 16...
... 2018. Dynamic humanoid locomotion: A scalable formulation for HZD gait optimization.
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Key Terms

  • legged robotics
  • control algorithms
  • task flexibility
  • unknown terrain
  • energy costs

  • emergent control
  • bipedal robots
  • force control
  • running robots
  • digit robot

  • humanoid robots
  • atlas humanoid
  • terrain robustness
  • boston dynamics
  • highly geared

  • robotic arms
  • including expeditiously
  • uncontrolled locations
  • robots typically
  • including manufacturing

  • algorithms simpler
  • control target
  • locomotive robotics
  • specified force
  • single battery

  • conclusion legged
  • energy economy
  • energy otherwise
  • generate stable
  • robots traditionally


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