Have you ever thought about what it takes to walk a few steps? Not much right? You just tell your body to place one foot in front of the other and away you go. No so fast… It turns out there is a lot more to the mechanics of walking than we ever realized, and it took an uncoordinated robot to help us it figure it out! 

So how do you get a robot to walk like a human being? To start with, it needs to get the balance right. The robot needs to be able to lift its knee and foot and not fall over at the same time. Once it’s mastered that, it’s off to walking boot camp, where it needs to figure out how to walk on different types of ground. How high does it need to lift its leg to get over a rock? These are things walking robots need to know. What if it’s walking on ice? It has to walk differently to maintain its balance…something a lot of slip-sliding humans haven’t got quite straight yet either! 

How does a robot sense that its environment has changed when it is walking? To determine how, a group of pretty smart scientists have built a world record holding, walking robot called “RunBot.”  RunBot is a lot like a human when it comes to walking. It uses the same methods we do to get around. For example, not only does it walk on flat ground, but it has a an “eye” sensor that tells it if it needs to change how it is walking in order to get up a hill. But being so human-like, it needs to learn before it can do a new task, just like a little kid. For example, as it comes to hill, it will probably fall flat on its face when it first tries to go up it. But that doesn’t stop RunBot. It is actually able to learn and change its posture and stepping motion until it figures out how to get up the hill. And the next time it tries it, it will be a lot easier. Pretty smart for a ‘Bot!