Re:MIT Cheetah Robot Bounds Off Tether, Outdoors
by at-fates-hands on Monday September 15, 2014 @12:13PM
(#8319707)
I would argue the Pronghorn Antelope is actually a better model to replicate since Cheetah can only maintain their speeds over short distances - as opposed to the Antelope which can maintain their 60mph speeds over much greater distances due to their larger hearts and lungs.
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Re:MIT Cheetah Robot Bounds Off Tether, Outdoors
by jerf on Monday September 15, 2014 @12:55PM
(#8319926)
The technological problem of power density vs. limbs and the control of the limbs seem fairly separate to me. If we had 10 times more efficient batteries, this would simply run ten times further without any other changes. Unless the bottleneck here is heat dissipation in the motors, but even that would be way easier to fix than our battery problems.
Re:MIT Cheetah Robot Bounds Off Tether, Outdoors
by character0 on Monday September 15, 2014 @12:54PM
(#8319917)
Interesting point, but besides Cheetah being a sexier, more accessible name, the main problem they are trying to solve here is gait and top speed. The efficiency of batteries (heart/lungs) is a ancillary problem they have to solve, but not their main goal.