MARLO is the first robot in the lab of Jessy Grizzle, the Elmer G. Gilbert Distinguished University Professor and the Jerry W. and Carol L. Levin Professor of Engineering, that can walk (and fall) in any direction. MARLO steps blindly without supports, sensing the changes in ground height and adjusting its gait according to terrain and speed. It draws on a library of gaits developed by PhD student Xingye Da.
In early attempts on the Wave Field in June, MARLO broke its legs trying and briefly burst into flames when an electrical connector blew.
By the end of July, Da and his fellow students updated the gaits and algorithms to help MARLO navigate the gentler waves between the earthen moguls by integrating the controller for forward-back motion with the one for side-to-side balance. With the team beginning to break up for vacation the following week, they took one last run at the Wave Field and were astonished at MARLO’s ability to walk down one of the gullies and back.
MARLO’s feedback control algorithms could help other two-legged robots as well as powered prosthetic legs gain similar capabilities.
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