Dynamic Rough Terrain Robots

Departments: Electrical Engineering
Time: Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Type: Seminar Series
Presenter: Dr. Marc Raibert, Father of Walking Robots & Founder of Boston Dynamics
Room/Office:
Location:
Davies Auditorium
15 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States
See map: Google Maps

The 2014 Nyquist Lecture in Electrical Engineering

"Dynamic Rough Terrain Robots"

Dr. Marc Raibert
Father of Walking Robots
Founder of Boston Dynamics, Just acquired by Google

Abstract: Dynamic robots with advanced control systems and high-performance mechanical designs are leaving the laboratory and entering the world. They can operate in rough terrain, where existing wheeled and tracked vehicles cannot go. Examples of such robots are AlphaDog, the follow-on to BigDog, a fast running quadruped called Cheetah, and Atlas, an anthropomorphic robot designed to explore real-world tasks. These robots move dynamically, balance as they go and rely on sensing and computation for their behavior. In this talk Raibert will give a status report on recent developments.

Bio: Marc Raibert is a Founder of Boston Dynamics, a company that develops some of the world's most advanced dynamic robots. Inspired by the movements of animals, Raibert's robots are capable of running, climbing, jumping, and even gymnastic maneuvers—advances that led Google to acquire the company last year.

Raibert is internationally recognized for his work on dynamically moving systems, including development of the first self-balancing hopping robots. In addition to Atlas, a highly mobile humanoid robot developed for the DARPA Robotics Challenge, robots he's created at Boston Dynamics include BigDog, a four-legged robot that can run, climb, and carry heavy loads; Cheetah, a four-legged robot that holds land speed record for legged robots; and Sand Flea, a robot that drives like an RC car on flat terrain but can jump 30 feet into the air over obstacles. Before founding Boston Dynamics, Raibert founded and directed the Leg Laboratory. Under Raibert's leadership—first as associate professor of computer science and robotics institute at Carnegie Mellon University then as professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—the Leg Lab helped establish the scientific basis for highly dynamic legged robots through the creation of one-legged hoppers, biped runners, a quadruped, and two kangaroo-like robots.

Raibert is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. 

Thursday, November 20 
4:00 p.m. 
Davies Auditorium 
10 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven, CT 
Reception to follow the lecture