Robot That Masters The Human Gait

roboticlegs Robot That Masters The Human Gait

Researchers from the University of Arizona have been working on this set of robot legs that are able to mimic the human gait. Bipedal robots that walk on two legs like their human creators have been around for a while, but apparently getting them to walk like us is a little more tricky.

It is believed that the robot legs that the University of Arizona team is working on are amongst the most biologically accurate in the world and they are trying to recreate the human gait in order to help scientists to better understand how humans learn to walk initially. It is hoped that this knowledge will be integral in helping patients who have suffered spinal cord injuries regain the ability to walk.

The machine was created using simplified versions of human neural, musculoskeletal and sensory feedback systems and they are unique in the fact that they are operated by rudimentary equivalent to the human’s central pattern generator (CPG). The CPG is a neural network that sits in the spinal cord and generates rhythmic muscle signals garnered from information gained from different parts of the body. This is one of the reasons that we are able to walk without thinking about it a great deal.

Using this basic form of CPG, researchers were able to get their robot to walk with a gait that is astonishingly human. Bet it can’t ‘walk like an Egyptian’ though!