Originally published April 17 2004
Sony Teaches Their Qrio Humanoid Robot How To Jog
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
It's official: Sony has produced a humanoid robot that can run. Running
is a complex motion that humans generally take for granted. Yet flying
through the air, one leg at a time, while keeping the torso balanced, is
no small feat. We do it unconsciously, but if we had to think about how
to do it, we'd find it far more difficult. Sony engineers, on the
other hand, have to think about how running really works and then
program their Qrio robot to make it happen. It's much more than just a
sequence of commands, by the way: Qrio must respond to its environment
and adjust its body movements in real time to stay in balance. A slight
slope, for example, requires an immediate adjustment in the robot's
stride. There's also the not-so-easy task of transitioning from a
standing position to a jog.
As usual, Sony is well ahead of the game
on robots. The United States remains a laggard in the world of robotics,
while Japanese companies continue to make great strides with robots like
Qrio. The first humanoid robot you own, by the way, will almost
certainly be made in Japan.
TOKYO --- Sony Corp. has developed an integrated walking, running and
jumping motion control technology that enables its humanoid robot "Qrio"
to smoothly combine conventional walking movement with new running and
jumping motions.
Sony demonstrated Qrio, a humanoid robot, running today," said
Toshitada Doi, executive vice president of Sony and president of Sony's
intelligent dynamics laboratories.
The theory calculates the motion pattern that satisfies the dynamics
balance between either one or both feet of robot on the floor, and
between robot feet and the opposing force produced at the contact point.
Development of a running algorithm was completed about two years ago,
and experiments using Qrio began about one year ago, said Kenichiro
Nagasaka, assistant manager of Sony Entertainment Robot Co.
Sony executives were tight-lipped about marketing plans during a
recent demonstration.
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