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Pogo-Style Robot Legs Allow 9-Foot Bounces

Posted by timothy on from the mind-the-parquet dept.

destinyland writes "A new pogo stick jumps nine feet using legs developed for running robots. (It replaces the stick's spring with a fiber-reinforced 'bow' that was developed at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics institute.) One scientist even suggests robots could use its 'BowGo' technology in the low-gravity environment of the moon. 'Hopping many meters above ground level, the robot would have an excellent view of the terrain.'"

42 comments

  1. Make A Great Xmas Gift by mindbrane · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... for those you want dead.

    --
    ideopath @ play
    1. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by clockwise_music · · Score: 1

      Sort of reminds me of pogo stilts.

    2. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by W3bbo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Their full name is "Powerbocking Stilts" actually, and they use a bow-spring as well, they've been around since 2004. I think CMU needs to move with the times. The claims about 9-foot jumps seems about right, the world record for a bock-assisted jump is just over 7 feet. I was at a bocking event in London last weekend, actually. (Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/w3bbo/sets/72157622131665912/ )

    3. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

      Like the obnoxious neighbor kids? I'll take 2...

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    4. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now you just need somebody in that Victorian steam-punk garb to go around RP'ing as Spring Heeled Jack. I'm sure some people would get the joke and find it amusing. (But if they go off the main Wikipedia pic, they might get mistaken for trying to be Batman.)

      Speaking of Spring Heeled Jack, that story makes me wonder if this kind of invention is older than we think it is. Not like spring steel and the necessary mechanics were unknown back then, so it seems plausible. Yet could anyone back it up by finding a really old obituary record involving an unusual fall or ceiling-related incident?

    5. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by lysergic.acid · · Score: 1

      Powerbocking looks awesome. I remember seeing it on Time Warp as a powerbocker did a front flip over a car length-wise; and, yea, it does look suspiciously similar to what this "new" patented invention does. It's also similar in concept to the carbon-fiber prosthetic legs used by some athletes. Way to go CMU, you've patented another pre-existing idea.

    6. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by cailith1970 · · Score: 1

      Didn't you tell them to get off your lawn? :)

      --
      I intend to live forever, or die trying. - Groucho Marx
    7. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by zobier · · Score: 1

      I, for one, welcome our new moshing-pogo-robot overlords.

      --
      Me lost me cookie at the disco.
    8. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by jamstar7 · · Score: 1

      Hey, these superpogo sticks'll get them off my lawn just that much quicker...

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    9. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

      Seems like this could be a killer technique for those robot-gladiator competitions, too. Maybe combined with some sort of stiletto to impale its opponent. Maybe it's already been done...

    10. Re:Make A Great Xmas Gift by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      The neighbours kids make great fertilizer for the lawn. you just need to pulverize the bones sufficiently. The way that a fall from a great enough height would do.

      I need to order 4 sets and about 3 sq.m of new turf.

      "Damned kids, get into my lawn!"

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  2. Imagine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A BowGolf Cluster of these!

  3. How would a robot do this? by improfane · · Score: 1

    Since this is powered by your GPE, the robots will have to be pretty heavy to start but where would the downward force come from?

    Would the central shaft be hydraulic to provide the initial compression?
    How does a robot become a dead weight?

    Give this a 1080 camera like the high speed hand and you could have a robot that knows exactly where to go, which direction to shift its weight.

    We could have high speed robot sports. I have something called straight spine so is likely to be painful for me. Trampolines do the same thing.

    --
    Slashdot needs Geekcode | Can anyone recommend any good SCIFI? My tastes: Foundation, Startide Rising, CITY, Ringworld,
  4. On the moon by Okomokochoko · · Score: 1

    Just imagine, we may soon be able to watch nauseatingly bouncy video footage of the moon courtesy of the pogobot!

    1. Re:On the moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Look on the bright side. It won't take long for people to figure out:
      1. Give BowGo sticks to some large-breasted girls
      2. ???
      3. Profit!!!
  5. i'd rather see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a revised version of Moon Shoes using this newfangled ROBOT FEETS technology.

  6. Spoilers by Kratisto · · Score: 1

    This will be the gimmick in the next Mirror's Edge. Sure, free running around a distopian future is fun, but wouldn't it be more fun if you were also a deadly, deadly robot?

    --
    Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
  7. Fiberglass by sexconker · · Score: 3, Funny

    TFA says it's basically a fiberglass bow.

    Over time, fiberglass will crack and weaken (severely accelerated by moisture).

    Some kid will be coming down from his 9 foot jump, the bow will fail, and he'll break his legs.

    1. Re:Fiberglass by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm sure there will be *A LOT* more broken bones from normal operation of the device, than from failure of the device. eg: coming down from a 9 foot jump and slipping off the foot pedal, coming down from a 9 foot jump and getting launched backwards or sideways, coming down from a 9 foot jump after realizing there was only 8 feet of head space.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    2. Re:Fiberglass by Atario · · Score: 1

      Doctors?

      So you're suggesting that doctors like it when people get injured?

      Welcome to cynicism, terminal stage. It won't be long now till you're finished.

      --
      "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
    3. Re:Fiberglass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be a hit at parties.

    4. Re:Fiberglass by Sinical · · Score: 1

      Just think: when it does break like this, it might go off like a bomb and spray fragments all over the place. How many toys can you buy that provide for friendly fire mass casualties?

      Yeah, I think that needs to go in the sales pitch. "Bowgo: so awesome it kills your friends!"

  8. See also... by jamesfalloon · · Score: 1

    http://www.bpmlegal.com/wpogo.html Gas powered pogo, I'm sure that sounded like a good idea at the time, I mean what could possibly go wrong?

  9. Many metres? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    9 feet is only 2.74 metres. Hardly 'many'.

    1. Re:Many metres? by radtea · · Score: 1

      9 feet is only 2.74 metres. Hardly 'many'.

      On my reading of the article they've only attained a height of 42 inches so far--the 9 or 9 1/2 feet is speculation. /.: news that's wrong, stuff that's false.

      --
      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  10. Control on landing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess it's great to be able to jump that high ONCE.

  11. red dwarf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when can i go hopping around titan in a taxi using these?

  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  13. beaten by other CMU tech unveiled this week by Trepidity · · Score: 1

    A 9-foot vertical won't be enough to clear the university's new 40-foot artificial geyser.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    1. Re:beaten by other CMU tech unveiled this week by RegTooLate · · Score: 0

      9 feet of vertical leap should be enough for anyone.

  14. Seems a lot like air trekkers but lamer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They've been around for a while and use carbon fiber bows. People pull off some pretty crazy stunts with them. There's other brands too and any of them seem more versatile than a pogo stick. http://www.air-trekkers.com/

  15. Relax you guys by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    The summary makes clear only that the pogo stick jumps nine feet. It says nothing about the rider.

    1. Re:Relax you guys by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Whereas the ARTICLE clearly states they expect extreme pogo athletes to go 9 or 9.5 feet on the thing.

    2. Re:Relax you guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the ARTICLE also states that the sound the athlete makes while flying over your head is

      WHOOOOOOSH

  16. Good job... by CustomDesigned · · Score: 1

    We've invented a mechanical flea!

    1. Re:Good job... by liquiddark · · Score: 1

      You forgot the word "giant". It's not B-list science fiction until it's giant.

  17. Slashvertisement? by Fizzl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    80% of the article seem to be centering around promoting some event called pogopalooza6. I would have been curious to see more videos about the BowGo and its scientific possibilities. All I got was 5 minute promotional video with traditional pogo-sticks and 10 seconds of someone bouncing on the BowGo.

    This is bizarre. I feel confused.

    --
    Bot Assisted Blogging
  18. now protect brain from 100 mph wall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you know you want to.

  19. Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've seen similar technology available in superior formats
    For example: http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/bocking-velocity-stilts-bionic-man/uncategorized

  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. Bad Title by chrisG23 · · Score: 1

    Do the approvers of article submissions RTFA? The article says this pogo stick has been able to clear a bar 42 inches high. How does that become 9 feet jumps? I know, the article says that the high jump competitors this year are going to probably be able to clear a 9 foot bar.

    Clearing a 9-foot bar with your whole body (and presumably landing on your back on a mat or something) != != != != != a pogo stick bouncing 9 feet. The signal to noise ratio on Slashdot is becoming increasingly bad in my opinion. Things getting worse include articles, article titles and summaries, and comments, as this has become more of a humor forum than a discussion of cool nerdy shit from cool nerdy people. Humor is good, but absence of meaningful comments is not good, in my opinion (for this site that is.)

  22. Why didn't I think of that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the same fiberglass spring as the one in a set of spring-stilts (Powerisers, etc). And they'll throw my 200lb carcass over a vehicle. Darn and blast!