Baby Steps Robots Are a Long Way from Dancing, But U-M Professor is Taking
   Them Closer
From: Ann Arbor News (MI) - 06/25/2007
By: Amanda Hamon

Hollywood often shows robots capable of walking, running, and even dancing,
but in reality bipedal robots still have difficulty operating smoothly.
However, University of Michigan electrical engineering and computer science
professor Jessy Grizzle is working to improve robotic dexterity. Grizzle is
working on a project that he hopes will provide an invaluable contribution to
robotics, and to education as a whole. The unnamed robot is a collaborative
effort between the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University.
"The idea is to make it energy efficient, and to study the dynamics of
running," Grizzle says. If everything works as designed, the robot will be
the first bipedal machine with spring-infused joints and feedback control,
which would allow the robot to recover if pushed off course. After being
tested, the robot, which is funded by a $450,000 National Science Foundation
grant, will be used as a teaching aid in Michigan. The project was started in
2004, and when completed the robot will stand 5 feet, 9 inches and weigh 150
pounds, though there is still significant work still to be done. "The
challenge for me is writing the algorithms that allow the robot to move
smoothly and to run," Grizzle says. Grizzle says the technology could lead to
the creation of robots capable of going where humans are unable. A better
understanding of bipedal motion could also lead to improved prosthetic limb
technology and new approaches to stroke and accident victim rehabilitation
methods. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1182782598195720.xml&coll=2

Links:
Jessy W. Grizzle
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~grizzle/

Robot walks, balances like a human
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0405/Jan10_05/26.shtml
http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/May05/r051105
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050512101305.htm
http://www.theallineed.com/science/05052401.htm

Walking Tall Like A Human
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/robot-05zj.html