This Impressive Bipedal Robot Can Walk Through Burning Vegetation

The University of Michigan has made a video of a bipedal robot, Cassie Blue walking through a grass fire on campus. The robot is designed by Agility Robots and is walking through the flames thanks to controlling laws developed at the robotics department at the University of Michigan. 

The fires were part of a controlled burn done every year on the college grounds to promote the ecology of native species. Professor Jessy W. Grizzle has led the university's research into creating the control laws for the two-legged robot. 

The video shows the blue two-legged robot traversing over the uneven groups while small flames lap at its ankles. It manages to stay upright despite the difficult terrain. 

The video notes that although Cassie doesn’t have any hands to pick you up from a fire, the research they are doing may one day allow for fire-resistant robots to help with fire search and rescue missions. 

The Michigan Robotics: Dynamic Legged Locomotion Lab has a series of great videos that document some of the lab's research including their work on making a robot use a Segway. 

Agility Robotics have developed Cassie, a two-legged robot for broad application from research to task assistance. Agility Robotics describe their mission saying, “In the near future, robots will deliver groceries, help take care of us in our homes, and assist in disaster recovery. We are pioneering legged robot technologies to solve the mobility challenges and enable this future.” 

The University of Michigan purchased the bipedal robot from Agility Robotics with funding from NSF Inspire Grant ECCS-1343720 and Toyota Research Institute (TRI).

Via: Michigan Robotics: Dynamic Legged Locomotion Lab