University of Michigan Design Quick Two-Legged MABEL Robot

The MABEL robot, created at the University of Michigan, is believed to be the fastest bipedal robot with knees.

The robot is capable of running like a human being at a speed of 6.8 mi/h. Jessy Grizzle a professor from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has been working on the robot since 2008 along with Jonathan Hurst, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University and doctoral students KoushilSreenath and Hae-Won Park. All these years the team has been working on improving the feedback algorithm of MABEL in order for it to maintain its balance while operating in real-time environment.

After MABEL’s success in walking on smooth, flat surfaces, the team perfected its ability to walk on uneven ground. In July it was able to jog for the first time, this was the goal that Sreenath intended to achieve as part of his research work. The researchers claim that MABEL is the only robot that is capable of mimicking the human gait. The robot has been designed such that its weight is distributed just like a human body. Grizzle explained that the time for which MABEL is in the air is 40 sec, similar to humans, in contrast to other robots which are in the air for less than 10% of each step. The person who originally developed the robot claimed that such robots will be useful in assisting people on wheelchairs, provide super human abilities in rescue operations, developing prosthetic limbs and the like. With abilities to run on uneven terrains, these robots might be used as robotic soldiers in the future. Grizzle pointed out those robots which are to go to places where humans go need to have morphology similar to humans. Therefore, having two legs in place of wheels for movement will prove to be useful for such machines. The development work of the robot is financially aided by the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency