A two-arm mobile manipulator, which would fall if it did not brace itself on the wall, rolls across the steep incline by using the team’s approach to identify placements for its arms. Credit Yu-Chi Lin.
A two-arm mobile manipulator, which would fall if it did not brace itself on the wall, rolls across the steep incline by using the team's approach to identify placements for its arms. Credit Yu-Chi Lin. Robots that need to use their arms to make their way across treacherous terrain just got a speed upgrade with a new path planning approach, developed by University of Michigan researchers. The improved algorithm path planning algorithm found successful paths three times as often as standard algorithms, while needing much less processing time. A new algorithm speeds up path planning for robots that use arm-like appendages to maintain balance on treacherous terrain such as disaster areas or construction sites, U-M researchers have shown. The improved path planning algorithm found successful paths three times as often as standard algorithms, while needing much less processing time. "In a collapsed building or on very rough terrain, a robot won't always be able to balance itself and move forward with just its feet,” said Dmitry Berenson , associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and core faculty at the Robotics Institute.
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