MIT Cheetah, bio-inspired quadruped robot, MIT Biomimetic Robotics Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

No IMU, No Force Sensor, No Mechanical Spring, No Mechanical Damper
Stand-alone system except for 4 22.2V Li-Po Batteries but replaced by 3kg dummy mass
at 22 km/h Avg Power: 1 kW COT: 0.52

The MIT Cheetah is being developed by MIT Biomimetic Robotics Lab, with funding from DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation Program.

Click to expand...

MIT Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Sangbae Kim describes his cutting-edge research in the area of biomimetics, the study of biological systems as models for the design and engineering of robots. Professor Kim's current project -- a robot inspired by the special abilities of the cheetah -- runs at high speeds with an energy efficiency similar to animals.

Click to expand...

Prof. Sangbae Kim took an ice bucket challenge from prof. John Leonard using MIT Cheetah robot.

Click to expand...

MIT researchers have developed an algorithm for bounding that they've successfully implemented in a robotic cheetah.

The key to the bounding algorithm is in programming each of the robot's legs to exert a certain amount of force in the split second during which it hits the ground, in order to maintain a given speed: In general, the faster the desired speed, the more force must be applied to propel the robot forward. In experiments the robot sprinted up to 10 mph and MIT researchers estimate the robot may eventually reach speeds of up to 30 mph.

The MIT Cheetah 2 contains the custom electric motor designed by Jeffrey Lang, the Vitesse Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT and the amplifier designed by David Otten, a principal research engineer in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.

This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Click to expand...

MIT Cheetah 2 is as efficient as animals and

Click to expand...

A team of researchers at MIT have created a 70-pound cheetah robot that can run and jump on its own power. Developers hope the mechanics behind the battery-powered animal will help in the creation of new prosthetics and other technologies. (Dec. 1)

Click to expand...

In a leap for robotic development, the MIT researchers who built a robotic cheetah have now trained it to see and jump over hurdles as it runs — making this the first four-legged robot to run and jump over obstacles autonomously.

Click to expand...

A four-legged robot with laser vision can easily detect and leap over objects in its path
Full story: "Free-running cheetah robot clears hurdles in a single bound"

by Sandrine Ceurstemont
May 29, 2015

Click to expand...

This may be the first time in history that a legged robot walked in the street with people.

Click to expand...

Recent technological advances in legged robots are opening up a new era of mobile robotics. In particular, legged robots have a great potential to help disaster situations or elderly care services. Whereas manufacturing robots are designed for maximum stiffness, allowing for accurate and rapid position tracking without contact, mobile robots have a different set of hardware/software design requirements including dynamic physical interactions with environments. Events such as the Fukushima power plant explosion highlight the need for robots that can traverse various terrains and perform dynamic physical tasks in unpredictable environments, where robots need to possess compliance that allows for impact mitigation as well as high force capability.

The talk will discuss the new mobile robot design paradigm focusing on the actuator characteristics and the impulse planning algorithms. As a successful embodiment of such paradigm, the talk will introduce the constituent technologies of the MIT Cheetah. Currently, the MIT cheetah is capable of running up to 13 mph with an efficiency rivaling animals, and capable of jumping over an 18 inch-high obstacle autonomously.

Sangbae Kim
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Click to expand...

MIT's Cheetah II Robot showed off integration with Amazon Alexa voice technology at the MARS conference. The Cheetah II can now have a conversation with and be told what to do.

Click to expand...

MIT's Cheetah 3 robot can now leap and gallop across rough terrain, climb a staircase littered with debris, and quickly recover its balance when suddenly yanked or shoved, all while essentially blind.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an independent, coeducational, privately endowed university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance knowledge; to educate students in science, engineering, and technology; and to tackle the most pressing problems facing the world today. We are a community of hands-on problem-solvers in love with fundamental science and eager to make the world a better place.

The MIT YouTube channel features videos about all types of MIT research, including the robot cheetah, LIGO, gravitational waves, mathematics, and bombardier beetles, as well as videos on origami, time capsules, and other aspects of life and culture on the MIT campus. Our goal is to open the doors of MIT and bring the Institute to the world through video.

Click to expand...

MIT'S new mini cheetah robot is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip. At only 20 pounds the limber quadruped can bend and swing its legs wide, enabling it to walk either right side up or upside down. The robot can also trot over uneven terrain about twice as fast as an average person's walking speed.

Click to expand...