Robot dog that can hike peaks in the Swiss Alps unaided could be used on other planets

Robot dog ANYmal is able to work out how to walk over any terrain by combining what its sensors can “see” with what it knows about its surroundings.
Robot dog ANYmal is able to work out how to walk over any terrain by combining what its sensors can “see” with what it knows about its surroundings. Copyright Reuters
By Euronews and Reuters
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Its creators hope the dog, which uses its sense of touch to navigate, will help humans get to previously inaccessible, dangerous places.

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This robot dog hiked over a steep mountain in Switzerland - and it didn’t need the help of its humans to overcome the many obstacles of the rough terrain.

The skilled dog bot could be used to reach areas that are too dangerous or inaccessible to humans, including other planets, according to its creators.

The research by ETH Zurich effectively allows ANYmal, a four-legged robot dog, to move quickly over rough terrain while still taking care - a new trait for robots.

The robot dog is able to work out how to walk over any terrain by combining what its sensors can “see” with what it knows about its surroundings, just like people or animals.

“Until now when a robot used perception mostly they were just assuming that the map is always correct,” said Takahiro Miki, a PhD student at the Robotics Systems Lab at ETH Zurich.

“But often when we go outdoors this doesn’t happen, like when you go into the tall grass”.

The team used landscapes with visual obstacles like deep snow and tall grass as an example of when a robot’s camera systems produce a map of the landscape that doesn’t work when the robot puts its foot down.

ANYmal’s control system allows it to prioritise its sense of touch over its visual perception.

The team put the ability to the test on a hiking route up Mount Etzel in the Swiss Alps which stands 1,098 metres above sea level.

“The slope was quite steep, like it was even hard sometimes for us. It was quite exhausting but the robot could go over all of these obstacles and we didn’t need to help the robot,” Miki said.

The scientists hope the new skill could allow ANYmal to be deployed anywhere on Earth and on space missions to other planets.

Hundreds of four-legged robots, many of them made by Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics, are already in use, some in hostile industrial environments, including one performing survey work in Chernobyl and another working on a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

For more on this story, watch the video in the media player above.

Video editor • Marie Lecoq

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