Whoa! I am totally blown away by the just released video of Boston Dynamics’ Petman bipedal humanoid robot (check it out later in this post). Bipedal humanoid robots have been in earnest development for the last decade, and there are several pretty solid success stories out there already. But now Boston Dynamics, maker of the famous Big Dog robot, has jumped into the ring in a big way with its Petman. The field of bipedal humanoid robots is literally exploding before us.
With Petman’s ability to withstand a a decent kick or hit from the side while walking it is clear that robots are now capable of balance and control that nearly matches a human on flat terrain. In the next decade we can expect bipedal humanoid robots to conquer more than flat terrain, and also to bump up their speed to full out running. Robots that not only match, but exceed human ability to walk and run in your lifetime? Yes – that is assuming you have another 10, maybe 20 years ahead of you!
First lets just cut to the video and save the commentary for after:
As we can see from the video, the Petman’s walking style and ability is eerily human. Apparently the walking technology from the famous quadruped Big Dog robot has been transferred over to Petman, rapidly accelerating the development timeline for the project. The heel to toe walking style and gait is just like a human, and the robot reaches a respectable speed of 3.2mph. Its the first video of a bipedal walking robot that really has my mind racing, almost scared, that the vision of robot supremacy is racing towards us. Its like the uncanny valley, but for walking instead of for its typical instance of emotion or behavior.
The humanoid m2v2 robot from Bucknell
The only data available from Boston Dynamics about this DARPA military funded Petman is from a website that is pretty sparse on information. Apparently Petman is “anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing used by the US Army.” Am I the only one who thinks that is a bunch of PR bullshit? Do they really need to build the most advanced humanoid robot to date simply to test chemical protection clothing? According to Boston Dynamics the Petman robot is slated for completion in 2011. Watching this robot in action, I can imagine a public backlash of fear and doubt creeping in, especially as its abilities dramatically improve over the next 2 years of the project. Perhaps labeling the robot as a “chemical protection tester” is more acceptable to the public than its real label of “badass humanoid robot that can whoop your ass”.
Although the Petman humanoid is awesome, lets not forget some of the other impressive efforts that are also out there right now. The ASIMO, HRP-4C, and Toyota humanoid robots each offer their own solid performance in the field.
Bucknell University last year received $1.2 million in federal funding for research and development of military bipedal humanoid robots. A detailed description of their work is available, and they have released an informative video on youtube. They do have a pretty awesome looking pic of the robot embedded to the left.
Probably the best I have seen other than Petman is the Dexter robot from Anybots, which in some ways, such as jumping, looks to exceed the Petman in capability. Check out these awesome videos of Dexter in action:
From Petman to Dexter, bipedal humanoid robots are on the rise. It is common for people to say that “nothing is happening in robotics” because to the general public these robots are hidden away in the labs with “chemical protection tester” as their designation. Yet the truth is starkly different – robots are advancing at a fantastic rate. The Petman video is one of the more vivid reminders in recent memory. The robots are indeed coming…by foot!
Tags: Big Dog, bipedal, Boston Dynamics, dexter, humanoid, petman, robots
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Excellent article. You’re on the cusp of capturing the sea change that’s occuring in humanoid robotics.
What’s interesting to note (and what I would love to see in a more in-depth analysis in the field) is that American companies (Boston Dynamics, IHMC, and AnyBots) are by and large leading the charge when it comes to dyamically balanced machines, while Japanese companies (Honda, Toyota, and lots of others) have by far been the mainstay when it comes to developing statically stable machines (that, by and large, use ZMP as a fundamental control strategy). It looks like there is some development in dynamic movement from the Japanese front, like the Toyota running robot, but by and large Japanese companies have shied away from making robust robots capable of maneuvering over unknown, broken terrain. I’d be particularly interested in learning why that development hasn’t taken place in Japan.
As a quick note, the IHMC biped (what you refer to as the Bucknell University robot) is in fact public, and has been since February. You can find video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPM_uiPxLtY
Thanks for the informative comment. I have updated the story with this new information.
It is interesting to note the difference between Japanese and American style here. Perhaps this is a common outcome in fields dominated by only two major players. Something that might shake up both camps into a new level of achievement would be the entrant of a third player in the field, such as China.
Japan makes assisting robots (nurses, elderly care, guides, etc.), as do the Europeans.
The Americans make warrior robots, for use in combat and police actions.
It took humans how many thousands or hundreds of thousands of years to master bipedality, and robots are less than 100 years old (the word robot being coined in 1920 as the launch of robotics) and already walkin just fine, up from the humble beginnings of moving colored toys from one stack to another for video games in the 1980s.
And, much like computers, once one robot learns it any other can be birthed with full knowledge of it’s predecessor’s skills.
I’m sure most people would be like “Big deal, it’s so slow and I could knock it over if I barely tried, it doesn’t look a thing like what I’ve been promised in the movies.”
Ten years ago this just wasn’t happening. People were trying but it wasn’t like baby’s first steps. Bipedal robots were considered foolish, why bother learning how to walk when the wheel is already there!
And really, all the robot needs to do is be able to not be knocked over by the recoil of it’s weapon to be pretty damned effective in combat (I mean, they’re not going to miss, right?).
Watch this video and tell me we were just stacking bricks in the 80s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd5iEke6UlE&feature=related
As the caption says, these are some of the same people who went on to found Boston Dynamics – notably Marc Raibert – back in the 80s and 90s. It seems some of the most significant advancements involved here actually happened some fifteen or twenty years ago, but I for one didn’t notice.
There’s one thing wrong with this article, and that is that this field is figuratively exploding before us, not literally. Because if it were literally exploding… that would just be weird.
[...] PETMAN is being developed for the U.S. Army to test chemical suits in hazardous environments (though at least one blogger wonders if that’s not just a cover story). [...]
This is awesome, but the dog robot is still my favourite. I think it will be easier to model a walking human robot than the dog one.
The only thing that bothers me about most of these videos is that none of the robots work without the assistance of a tether of some sort, I’m assuming for power at least. I wonder how much power a short walk consumes and how soon they’ll be on batteries.
Yeah, it’s all about the technology of batteries catching up for these things to become untethered. Don’t worry though that is very much on the way.
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“By your command” baby!
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