Humanity has not yet figured out exactly what all these powerful, flexible four-legged robots, which are being developed now, will be engaged in, but will never get tired of looking at how they do they work. The latest example is the Italian model of a robot called HyQReal, which demonstrates its strongman skills by pulling a plane.
Video debut about HyQReal which is the successor to HyQ, a much smaller model created by the Italian Institute of Technology many years ago has launched. Researchers from Italy presented at the ICRA 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation, held in Montreal (Canada), the latest results of the new version of the hydraulic four-legged robot HyQReal. On tests, the development shifted the 3-ton aircraft to 10 meters.
According to the developers, HyQReal is 1.33 meters long and 90 cm in height, and its weight is 130 kilograms with regard to hydraulics and batteries. The robot is protected by an aluminum coating and a kevlar, fiberglass and plastic sheath. It is equipped with custom-made special rubber feet to ensure a high grip on the ground. In the same list is a 48-volt battery that powers four electric motors connected to four hydraulic pumps. The novelty has two computers onboard, one for sight and the other for control. New features were tested at the airport of Genoa, where HyQReal moved a small passenger plane Piaggio P180 Avanti weighing 3,300 kg.
The robot was presented today at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, where the team described HyQReal at a seminar. It is about 120 centimeters long and about 90 meters high, weighs 130 kilograms, of which the battery is 15 – this is enough for two hours of work. It is resistant to dust and water and should stand on its feet if it falls or turns over. The robot was created in collaboration with the company Moog, which created special powerful hydraulics for this purpose.
It all sounds good, and the robot has the residual power needed to carry a small passenger plane, as shown in the video above. But this is not exactly what such robots are needed for – they must be universal and reliable under various circumstances, and also smart enough to navigate in the world, focus on the person, and provide useful services.
At the moment, HyQReal is just a test sample – it needs to perform many actions to ensure that it will work in conditions that robots like the Spot Mini of the same Boston Dynamics have already withstood.
