Like an angry ninja, a robot karate-chops a wooden plank, punches through drywall, smashes soda cans and kicks over a trash bin blocking its path in a new video from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The two-legged machine isn't really a troublemaker. In fact, it's not actually in control of its own actions. A researcher standing a few feet away from the bot keeps the machine's every move in check with the help of an exoskeleton — a sort of mechanical belt with armrests that the researcher wears around his waist and upper body.
Engineers at MIT developed the bipedal bot, which they call Hermes, with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). And now, the researchers are developing the human-machine interface to make this technology more useful outside of the lab.
Also known as a balance-feedback interface, the researchers' exoskeleton translates the natural reflexes of the human body into a language that a machine can understand. Bestowing the robot with humanlike reflexes — for example, having it steady itself by rocking back on its heels after a punch — helps the bot stay upright instead of falling over.
Bipedal robots like Hermes are notoriously clumsy. A lengthy blooper reel from this year's DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), in which a slew of two-legged bots struggled to complete a variety of tasks without tumbling over, is proof enough of that.
But the balance-feedback interface developed at MIT could give bipedal bots the sturdiness they need to stay upright and, eventually, complete difficult tasks in the real world. The hope is that these so-called "humanoid" robots will one day be able to do work that's dangerous for humans — things like sifting through debris after an earthquake or putting out a fire, according to Joao Ramos, a doctorate student of mechanical engineering who is working on MIT's new human-machine interface. (He's also the one seen controlling Hermes in the video.)
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