Kawada's HRP-4 has some excellent balance and flexibility.
Kawada and AIST continue to promote their newest bipedal robot, the HRP-4, with clips of its smooth motions and graceful movements. The streamlined HRP-4 has a better range of motion and more room to move than any previous robot in the HRP series- it also looks more human while working. Kawada recently announced that the HRP-4 will go on sale early next year for a price tag of $300,000 – aiming to get robotics researchers around the world to adopt it as a development platform. This series of bots certainly has demonstrated success in the past with bipedal motion, so the HRP-4 may be a popular unit come January. Watch the robot show off its smooth moves in the four clips from Kawada below. The video demonstrating how the HRP-4 can stretch and flex is pretty cool – looks like it’s warming up for a jog.
[screen capture and video credits: Kawada]
Comments
What I find even more amazing is the lack of bulky power packs or umbilici. What are they using to power the thing?
Wow, that was creepily naturalistic. Like a person in a robot suit….
When a robot can do the Cabbage Patch and the Running Man, that’s when it can be said to move like a human–an incredibly awesome human.
Dude… that does NOT move like a human.
so is it software or mechanical engineering prowess thats held back developers from making a machine that can physically maneuver itself on parr with humans??
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.