Humanoid Robots Can Find Its Way To Walk Through And Over Cinder Blocks

Though walking may seem like a simple task for humans, it is not so simple for robots. Especially when rough, uneven terrains are involved.

However, the researchers at Florida’s Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) have embarked on a project to give robots the capability to not only navigate efficiently but also through various kinds of difficult terrains. Though the project has uploaded various videos since 2016 showcasing its numerous achievements, the latest serves to show just how great the progress had been since three years ago.

Treacherous paths

The ‘autonomous footstep planning’ program developed by IHMC was uploaded into the two foremost humanoid walking robots in the world: Boston Dynamics’ Atlas and NASA’s Valkyrie.

In the video, the robots not only managed to navigate over piles of cinder blocks that looked even difficult for humans to do. The video also showed the robots navigating through narrow paths, which are inherently more difficult because unlike open roads, the navigation options for the robots are lesser and require more computations on their parts.

Condensing into layman’s terms, IHMC managed to achieve such stunning results by utilizing sophisticated computational tools and models. First, the team specifies the starting point and the endpoint for the robot. Then, they will map all possible navigation routes on a footstep by footstep basis. By evaluating the costs (in terms of efficiency, difficulty, time traveled, etc.), the best possible path can be found. While it may sound mathematically strenuous, it is a pretty quick and painless process for modern hardware.

More work to be done

IHMC’s work introduces a degree of adaptability to the robot, so now, they can navigate around obstacles and such. As demonstrated in the video, the sophistication is up to the point where it is possible for them to walk a difficult route like a narrow row of cinder blocks.

Of course, IHMC’s work is yet to be finished. As of now, they have only achieved a 50% success rate on narrow paths, a better 90% on rough terrains, and lastly, nearly perfect navigational record in straight, even ground. The future of robotics certainly seems optimistic as we are closer and closer to human-like robots.