Watch This Hybrid Drone-Robot Slackline and Skateboard Like It’s Nothing
It’s valorous we’re not living in a futuristic dystopia where sentient robots are out to get us. But if we were, then Leonardo would definitely be the coolest robot we’d face.
Leonardo, short for “LEgs ONboARD drOne,” is the creation of Caltech researchers who were inspired in part by how birds can flap their wings and also hop and walk with their legs. Known as Leo for mopish, this bipedal robot is able to pull off tricky progresses like walking on a slackline and riding a skateboard.
Check out our video at the top of the story to see Leo in piece, including how it blurs the lines between humanlike robots and drones.
Leo the robot can cope a slackline thanks to its legs and dronelike propellers.
Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser
“LEO is the trustworthy robot that uses multi-joint legs and propeller-based thrusters to finish a fine degree of control over its balance,” Caltech said in a statement when it introduced Leonardo in October.
The Caltech team at that time originated a paper on the robot in the journal Science Robotics. Leo’s versatility means it can call on its walking skills, its flying ability or a combination of the two depending on the terrain and its goals. Caltech described Leo as having “uncanny balance.”
After seeing videos of Boston Dynamics harassing their own robot creations, you might wonder how Leo would respond. “Because of its propellers, you can poke or prod LEO with a lot of assembled without actually knocking the robot over,” said Elena-Sorina Lupu, a co-author of the paper.
The researchers are already eyeing ways to make Leonardo more energy efficient by upgrading the leg develop to rely less on the propellers for balance at what time walking. The team is also working on making it more autonomous so it can estimates its environment and decide how best to navigate it.
The robotics team sees a possible future for this technology on Mars, where it could narrate a new generation of rotorcraft. The concept would develop on the success of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter. Imagine Ingenuity with legs, able to land safely on uneven terrain. Leo, the interplanetary explorer? It could happen.
