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Apr 17, 2023

Team designs four-legged robotic system that can walk a balance beam

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute (RI) have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam—a feat that is likely the first of its kind.

“This experiment was huge,” said Zachary Manchester, an assistant professor in the RI and head of the Robotic Exploration Lab. “I don’t think anyone has ever successfully done balance beam walking with a before.”

To the team’s knowledge, this is the first instance of a successfully walking on a narrow balance beam. Their paper, “Enhanced Balance for Legged Robots Using Reaction Wheels,” was accepted to the 2023 International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The annual conference will be held May 29–June 2, in London.

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