This amazing robot broke a record by jumping more than 30 meters

Since many robots are more durable and consumable than humans, researchers have tried alternative means to get around this. Exceed Walking on two legs, including the new robot He can jump To astonishing heights and distances from the start of the stand.

Most robotics research focuses on creating machines that can take on the monotonous or dangerous jobs of humans. Here’s why robotic arms have been used in factories for decades, and why Boston Dynamics acquired the robot dog site from the night shift in PompeiiProtect the rest of the city from thieves. But robots can also be designed to outperform humans in many tasks with different mechanisms such as gears, ratchets and pulleys that can amplify their strength or power, something biological muscles cannot do.

Researchers at the Hawks Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have realized that most artificial jumping robots are based on designs from nature in which animals such as kangaroos, frogs and grasshoppers have specialized anatomy that exhibit amazing jumping abilities. At the same time, the force that these animals can put into one jump is limited by the amount of energy that can be expended with one muscle movement. Unlike superheroes, biological beings cannot dramatically regress, build up energy, and then take off into the sky. But robots can.

Although tragically lacking in a cool name, UCSD researchers have developed a simple robot that uses a mechanical feature known as “double action.” A small engine is combined with much larger springs made of carbon fiber strips that act like an bowler’s bow. As the motor slowly winds strong threads, the brackets are compressed and flattened while at the same time stretching a series of rubber bands that wrap around the brackets, adding more energy and increasing the strength of the fibers. rest time.

The jumping performance of the robot is believed to have reached the maximum possible performance from the materials used. When the tension in the brackets is released, the robot accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in just nine milliseconds, performs an acceleration force of 315 grams (most humans can’t handle more than 9 grams) and jumps to a height of about 30 meters. As the bows straighten and release their energy, they also transform the robot’s shape into a sleek streamlined arrow that improves its speed, but because it’s so light, it drops back to the ground without being destroyed in the process.

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Are there practical applications for a robot that can jump this far and in this way? Jumping over rough terrain and obstacles is much easier for a robot than trying to roll or walk over them, and the robot’s capabilities could be further enhanced if it was deployed to other moons and planets less attractive than Earth. The researchers estimate that the robot in its current form could reach heights of more than 120 meters and apparent distances of half a kilometer on the moon’s surface thanks to reduced gravity and less atmosphere. It could capture similar images during a leap as the Flying Creativity probe currently does on Mars, but without the weight and complexity of a helicopter that needs to land smoothly during takeoff.