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XRL Hexapod Robot Gets a Tail, Learns To Use It

Posted by Unknown on from the robo-lizard-overlords dept.

New submitter toygeek writes "In an effort to give various robots more control during free-fall and navigation of severe obstacles, researchers have studied how agama lizards use their tails to retain or correct orientation during leaps and jumps. They've applied the research to both hexapod and wheeled robots, and the results are both astounding, and outstanding!"

3 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Re:For the love of... by swalve · · Score: 1, Informative

    Not to mention, sowing the seeds of the robot holocaust.

  2. Flywheel by labnet · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wouldn't a flywheel be much more practical?

    Tail:
    -gets caught on stuff
    -can only go half a turn

    Flywheel:
    -can accelerate until the material limits of the fly wheel
    -can use the stored energy for recovery.
    -can be embedded inside the robot.
    -can act as a gyroscope to provide stability in other axes.
     

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    1. Re:Flywheel by billyswong · · Score: 4, Informative

      Flywheel is less efficient weight-wise. To re-balance a 8kg robot (or even heavier model later) falling upside down, how heavy / how fast must the flywheel be?

      Tail can be further improved by giving it more angles of freedom. We can also let it be able to coil up. Hard to beat tail.