LAURON, six-legged walking robot, FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

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Developer and manufacturer - FZI Research Center for Information Technology

LAURON on Wikipedia

 

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Walking Robot LAURON V - Search and Rescue

Published on Jul 12, 2013

The six-legged walking robot LAURON V was evaluated at the EU-Taranis Field Exercise in a Search and Rescue (SAR) scenario. The robust mechatronic system, the adaptive control system and its kinematic structure allow LAURON to walk over rough and unstructured terrain. The onboard sensor systems (cameras, IR-Camera, 3D lidar) enable LAURON to gather important information about the current site and support the Search and Rescue teams.
Filmed at "Chemical Accident Golling" site during the Taranis International Field Exercise, Austria, 2013.

 

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Walking Robot LAURON V - Advantages of additional Leg Joints

Published on Jul 12, 2013

The six-legged walking robot LAURON V has some interesting advancements compared to the last generation. For example, each leg is equipped with an additional rotational joint.
This video shows the advantages of this new joint. The leg's workspace is increased significantly and the joint can be used to orientate the foot towards the ground. LAURON V is now able to use its forelegs to grasp and manipulate objects.
Filmed in the night before the IEEE ICRA 2013 (International Conference on Robotics and Automation) at FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013.

 

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Walking Robot LAURON IVc - Walking Capabilities

Published on Jul 8, 2013

The versatile kinematics and control architecture of the six-legged walking robot LAURON IVc were inspired by the stick insect. LAURON's behaviour-based control system combines multiple independent behaviours with current sensor feedback (e.g. foot sensors and IMU) to a highly flexible and adaptive system.
This robustness and flexibility enables LAURON to cope with difficult, rough terrain (as presented in the first part of the video). But the behavior-based control system also allows LAURON to walk with higher speeds in flat, structured terrain, still using all sensor feedback.
Filmed at FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2012.

 

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Walking Robot LAURON V - Hexapod on Wooden Slope

Published on Oct 31, 2013

The six-legged walking robot LAURON V has an additional, fourth rotational joint close to the main body, which allows LAURON to orientate its legs towards the ground. The behaviour-based posture control enables LAURON to walk up slopes by adapting this leg orientation, shifting the Center of Mass (CoM) and redistributing stress. The posture control uses no visual or 3D data and has no knowledge about the inclination of the slope. LAURON's posture control only relies on its foot contact sensors and its internal IMU. The slippery surface of the wooden slope did not provide enough friction to walk up inclination greater than 25°. Next experiments will be performed on a slope with higher friction coefficient.
Filmed at FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2013.

 

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Walking Robot LAURON V: Grasping and other skills developed for DLR SpaceBot Cup

Published on Dec 10, 2013

The six-legged walking robot LAURON V was equipped with a lightweight gripper, a 3D-laserscanner system and multiple cameras to cope with the challenges of the German SpaceBot Cup Challenge, which was organized by the German Space Agency (DLR Raumfahrtmanagement). The FZI has developed new skills that enable LAURON to find objects, grasp these objects and carry them to a target point, create a detailed 3D environment map and plan feasible paths within this environment. The most important and interesting new skills are shown in this video.
The hexapod grasping and object recognition part were filmed right after the SpaceBot Cup at FZI Research Center for Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany, Nov 2013. The 3D-environment map was created during the "free for all" time slot at the end of the DLR SpaceBot Cup at Rheinbreitbach, Germany, 2013.

 

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LAUROPE Forschungszentrum Informatik Karlsruhe (SpaceBot Camp 2015)

Published on Nov 6, 2015

 

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Published on Nov 13, 2015

Team Laurope in qualifying for the 2015 Camp Spacebot

 

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Walking Robot LAURON V - Planetary Sample Return Mission at DLR SpaceBot Camp 2015

Published on Sep 25, 2018

The bio-inspired, six-legged walking robot LAURON V participated as team LAUROPE (LAUfROboter für die Planetare Exploration, walking robot for planetary exploration) in the DLR SpaceBot Camp 2015. The challenge was initiated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR Raumfahrtmanagement) as a performance evaluation for space robotics. Ten research teams from all over Germany developed rover concepts to tackle one of the most challenging scenarios of space flight – the exploration of an unknown planet. LAURON V was equipped with a lightweight custom-built gripper on its leg, a 3D laser scanner system for autonomous navigation, and multiple cameras to cope with the various challenges, such as difficult terrain, steep slopes and the acquisition of samples. During the challenge, LAURON could not only show its terrain adaptability and flexibility of its behaviour-based control system by walking into a simulated crater, but also its autonomous capabilities. He acquired a 3D map of the environment, gathered and transported samples and autonomously navigated through the environment to explore and find all the objects. His human colleagues could only supervise the action and send high-level commands from a control station far away from the robot and with an added delay as it would be present in a real space mission.