5 June 2014
LittleDog
In 2005,
Boston Dynamics unveiled BigDog (also search “Big Dog”) a four- legged
(quadrupedal) robot. The project, funded
by DARPA, was intended to develop the robotic equivalent of a pack mule to work
directly with soldiers in the field. As
a “legged” robot, BigDog was expected to go where wheeled vehicles
couldn’t. Then came “Alpha Dog,” the
LS3, an advanced version of BigDog.
Boston
Dynamics has continued with the on-going development of a faster quadruped, Robo-Cheetah. Even as Robo-Cheetah took the speed record
for “legged” ‘bots, topping 28 mph on an in-lab treadmill, developers remain
optimistic that this ‘bot will, someday, reach even higher speeds.
While Robo-Cheetah
remains tethered to the treadmill, last October, a slightly smaller and slower
spin-off, the Wildcat, jumped off the treadmill. The Wildcat left its “power cord” behind
running at speeds just over 15 mph.
But that’s
not all. A bipedal robo-ostrich,
“FastRunner,” has been modeled (computer simulated prototype) as, yet another,
more advanced battle ‘bot. FastRunner’s two legs will allow it to gain more
speed and move with more agility than any four-legged robot ever could.
But let’s
take a few steps back. There’s a smaller
less celebrated robot that has had a significant place in the process of development
of all this robotic technology. I can’t
call this an “unsung” robot, but it’s certainly “less-sung” than the full sized
robots we’ve been talking about. To many,
this small robot seems almost like a detail on the R & D trail to the
ever-growing family of ever more amazing legged robotic achievements.
LittleDog was
developed by Boston Dynamics with DARPA funding. Unlike other robotic prototypes, Little Dog
was never intended as a stand-alone “field” robot. LittleDog was, and is, a “testbed.”
A testbed
is a sort of a standard “model” of a device of a certain type -- such as an
automobile, airplane, computer, or computer operating system. This model is used to test new
components. So, let’s say an automobile
manufacturer develops the prototype of an innovative new automobile engine or
chassis. The manufacturer’s research
division will maintain a sort of “standard” or “model” vehicle into which the
newly developed component and be installed and tested.
So, LittleDog,
“The Legged Locomotion Learning Robot,” is not, and never will be, a robot for
use in the field. Instead, it is a model
used to test components being developed for other projects. And there is more perfected technology
stuffed into this small ‘bot than you would ever suspect.
Each of
LittleDog’s four legs is powered by three electric motors. At a length of about 12 inches, a width of
about 7 inches, and a height of about 5 and a half inches, this small ‘bot can
move over obstacles much larger than the length of its legs and body.
Several
separate teams are working at the development of LittleDog’s speed and agility
of movement confident that if they can make LittleDog do it, the same capacities
and abilities can be built into its bigger “field” counterparts. LittleDog already has such a good “sense of
it surroundings” that it can avoid obstacles that, sometimes, trip-up its
relatively giant “field” counterparts
Among other
things, LittleDog is trying out new software, which is intended to allow this
little ‘bot to read maps and navigate through the corresponding terrain. Other teams have introduced LittleDog to new
walking techniques to allow the ‘bot to negotiate obstacles the ‘bot could
neither see nor predict.
While
LittleDog may not actually “run with the big dogs,” there’s nothing those
bigger dogs do that LittleDog hasn’t done first.
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