The Tree Climbing Robots of RiSE

There is a video on New Scientist that shows a robot climbing a tree and other vertical surfaces. This is from the RiSE initiative, a descendent of the BR MURI project.

BR MURI, Biomimetic Robots Multi-University Research Initiative, focused on building legged robots that ran. The goal of RiSE, Robots in Scansorial Environments, is building legged robots that climb. Judging by the video and the Wiki, RiSE is off to a good start.

The RiSE platform runs QNX 6.1.0 on a Geode 266MHz processor. The body (v1.0) contains 12 Maxon RE motors and a 4-bar linkage connected through a differential (v1.2 uses a belt drive system) that reveals 2 DOF (wing and crank angle) per leg. The leg position is controlled by RMCs (RiSE motor controller) that use PD control. Currently the body uses LSANs (leg sensing and actuation node) to collect sensor info (accelerometer, potentiometer on 4-bar joint) for feedback.

Stay tuned to GoRobotics for a peek back at the robots of BR MURI.

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