Related Sections: Robots
Claw-wielding robot climbs telephone poles in mere seconds
Just this morning we told you how Boston Dynamics is getting robots to hop like rabbits, and now the company, working with the University of Pennsylvania's "Kod*lab," has them climbing up poles. The 28-inch-long RiSE V3 has four claw-tipped legs that allow it to ascend vertical surfaces at a rate of 8 inches per second. That's certainly a lot faster than I could get myself up a rope back in gym class, but then again I wasn't specifically designed for rescue mission, recon and surveillance like this 'bot.
Want to see it in action? Click on through for a video. It's worth noting that the rope tied to RiSE in the video is just to make sure this expensive piece of equipment doesn't crack like Humpty Dumpty - it's doing all the climbing.
Kod*lab, via Technology Review, via Technabob
By Mike at 6:31 PM ON 05/13/09
im glad such important things are bieng developed in this time of economic strife.....
By RichP at 6:50 PM ON 05/13/09
New developments mean new applications which lead eventually to new jobs. Stop innovations and economic growth and new jobs stop. Get a grip.
By IsoTek at 1:38 AM ON 05/14/09
Wait a minute, Boston Dynamics...Massive Dynamic is in Boston..Oh never mind.
By AgentDunham at 4:10 AM ON 05/14/09
How perceptive of you IsoTek
By Mario's Pants at 1:22 PM ON 05/14/09
I'd love to see how well this thing climbs up metal or cement poles - or rather, how it doesn't. In a decade, likely the only wooden poles either: a) won't be worth climbing or b) will be festooned with branches (and I don't see any facility on this device to handle that).
By Coyotecom at 8:00 PM ON 05/15/09
Decade? It's been decades since metal and cement have been used to make poles and most rural town around the world still use wooden poles because they are sturdy, inexpensive, and last. Metal poles are for the tourist parts of towns, wood is still ordered and used for replacement if one goes down in the neighborhoods, because wood looks and feels nicer.
Really tho, they should put the damned lines underground and not deal with it.
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Decade? It's been decades since metal and cement have been used to make poles and most rural town around the world ...More »