Baby Steps Robots are a Long Way from Dancing

Robots in Hollywood movies may walk, talk and even dance, but a University of Michigan professor says real-life robots are a far leap away from that fiction.

In fact, bipedal robots can’t even run smoothly - that is, not yet.

Jessy Grizzle, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, is working to change that. He has been involved in cutting-edge robotics projects since 1998 and is working on a project he hopes will be an invaluable contribution to the robotics industry - and to education in general.

The robot, which Grizzle said is as of yet unnamed, is being put together in collaboration with robotics teams from U-M and Carnegie Mellon University.

“The idea is to make it energy efficient, and to study the dynamics of running,'’ Grizzle said. “It’s going to be very exciting to see what happens.'’

If all goes as planned, the robot will be the first bipedal machine to have spring-infused joints and to exhibit feedback control, which means the robot will recover its motion if it’s shoved off course.

In effect, the robot will be moving more like a human than any other previous human-like robot, such as the Japanese-built Asimo or the French-sponsored RABBIT - with which Grizzle also worked.

The U-M-CMU robot is being funded by a $450,000 National Science Foundation grant. Once the robot is completed and tested, Grizzle said it will reside in Michigan to be used as a teaching aid.

“It will be used to bring in junior high and high school students (to U-M) to explain to them the basics of physics and math,'’ Grizzle said. “That was really NSF’s purpose for it.'’

Started in 2004 and still in its infancy, the project still has a long way to go, Grizzle said.

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