Scientists at our Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems together with a team at ETH Zurich developed a robotic leg powered by electro-hydraulic artificial muscles known as HASELS. Inspired by living creatures, the leg jumps across different terrains such as grass, pebbles – even rocks – in an agile and energy-efficient manner. Plus, the artificial muscles are self-sensing, allowing the entire leg to detect collisions with obstacles and overcome them. More so, the leg uses up almost no energy when holding still and shows no observable temperature change – so very different to electric motors which would heat up. This innovative leg is a Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems research project. The paper with the title “Electrohydraulic musculoskeletal robotic leg for agile, adaptive, yet energy-efficient locomotion” was published in Nature Communications on Sept 9th, 2024.
https://is.mpg.de/news
Paper:
nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51568-3
