Quadruped Ice Skating Robot, Skatebot, Can Compete With Hockey Players

Not everyone in the world can skate, but "Skaterbot" managed very well when it slid on the ice itself. Skaterbot is a Swiss robot created and designed by Professor Stelian Coros and his team at ETH Zurich’s Computational Robotics Laboratory. This robot first appeared under the admiration of many spectators at an ice rink last month in Devos, Switzerland. That means it was released to the public at the same time the World Economic Forum took place.

Skaterbot was displayed in Switzerland last month

Skaterbot appeared in an official video provided by ETH Zurich, in which it is skating with local hockey players. As you can see, it does that very well and easily. In the video, we can see that the feet are constantly changing left and right to move on the slippery plane.

Coros explains about his research with BBC’s Click that the robot has been taught the way the skates work on ice and from which it finds its own way of sliding. Instead of using wheels to move, this quadruped robot uses blades in the same way as those of ice skaters in order to move on ice. It has a very high friction force at a right angle to it and this helps it maintain stable while moving. The robot can operate comfortably in the direction of the blades under its four legs. Its speed when sliding on the ice is quite fast.

Scientists have succeeded in the first steps of designing devices capable of moving on ice

Not just simply sliding on the ice, Skaterbot can also slide with more than 4 feet.

Researchers have devised many uses based on the development of Skaterbot, such as the rescue on ice or cargo transport. Currently, this robot is still being studied and developed more. For Coros, this was his first steps in developing technology to implement on the ice, he said that his team had done quite well.