Watch: This humanoid robot can walk across a narrow plank with incredible ease
Named Atlas, the robot uses an algorithm to determine how to do it.
If you have tried balancing on a tightrope or a plank high above the ground, you would know that it is no mean feat. But a robot built by Boston Dynamics and programmed by The Institute for Human & Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Florida, made it seem like it required no effort at all.
The IHMC has released a video of Atlas, the humanoid robot, negotiating a narrow and winding balancing beam with ease. The company said the robot used Light Detection and Ranging technology to map the terrain and a path-planning algorithm to work out the “walk”.
“The robot is currently about 50% successful over this type of terrain,” the company said. “We plan to increase the rate of success by adding balance using angular momentum and by better considering joint ranges of motion.”