An MIT research team has developed a four-legged robot that can play soccer. The “Dribblebot‘ is designed to track and take over the ball even on uneven and changing terrain if the object crosses its path.
The robot uses a mix of onboard sensing and computing to traverse a variety of natural terrains such as grass, sand, gravel, mud and snow, adapting to different effects on the ball’s movement.
machines for rescue operations
Robot, ball and terrain were simulated to test its performance. With the help of a digital twin, the researchers can set different physical parameters. Specifically, around The 4,000 version of the robot is simulated in parallel in real time. That’s 4,000 times faster data collection than with just a robot.
The effectiveness of legged robots is generally a much-discussed topic. “If you look around today, most robots are driving on wheels. But imagine there is a disaster scenario, a flood or an earthquake, and we want robots to help humans with search and rescue,” says the MIT researcher Pulkit Atrawal.
You would need machines that can drive over terrain that is not flat. According to him, robots on wheels would not be able to cross these landscapes. This is more realistic with machines on legs.
