Machines Like Us

A well-understood two-legged walking/running robot could open the doors to several areas of development. Darpa and the military, for example, envision a lower-body exoskeleton that would let average GIs carry oversized loads.

People with problems walking, including the aged, could also use exoskeletons for getting around. "If we build a device that works with the body's natural biomechanics rather than fight them," says Carnegie Mellow grad student Jonathan Hurst, "we could assist a lot of people with disabilities by using only a small amount of additional energy."

One of the few ways to make mobile robots compatible with spaces designed for humans is to give them legs, says Hurst. "Wheeled robots are fine for roads and even some fairly rough terrain," he says. "But they can't climb stairs and have problems in narrow corridors.

"It may take time, but eventually humans will be working with robots," he continues, "We'll want to do that on an eye-to-eye level, so they will have to be tall and thin.

"Eventually, we will have walking, humanoid robots," insists Hurst. "People want it to happen, so it will."

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