Festo Develops Robot that Jumps like a Kangaroo [Video]

Festo, the German Automation company, has developed a kangaroo-like bot called BionicKangroo Robot.

In the past few years, engineers have started using designs perfected by nature to create robots. The new kangaroo-inspired bot is part of Festo's Bionic Learning Network. The company has earlier produced several bots that mimic nature including a Smart Robotic Seagull and a robotic arm fashioned after an Elephant's trunk.

BionicKangroo is about a meter tall and weighs around seven kilogram, IEEE Spectrum reported. The bot can jump 0.4 meter up and 0.8 meters horizontally. This is the first time that Festo has tried creating a bot that copies locomotion abilities of an animal.

Kangaroos have strong, flexible hind legs. A red kangaroo can jump as high as six feet and cover a distance of 25 feet in a single leap. These animals are also fast, reaching speeds of over 35 miles (56 kilometers) an hour, according to the National Geographic. Given the size, the BionicKangaroo actually resembles a wallaby, an animal from the Marsupial family, than a real kangaroo.

Kangaroos or wallabies use energy efficiently. Their muscles store energy from a previous jump to power its next jump. The ability to recover energy helps these animals hop for a long time.

"With the BionicKangaroo we have precisely reproduced the most characteristic features of natural kangaroos: recuperating and storing energy, and then releasing it once more in the next bound," said Heinrich Frontzek, head of Corporate Communication and Future Concepts at Festo

The Achilles tendon is highly specialized in kangaroos. "In the artificial kangaroo, we realised the function of the natural Achilles tendon by means of an elastic spring element made of rubber," said Frontzek in a press release.

BionicKangaroo has a small compressor or a storage tank that provides high pressure air for the artificial muscles to power the jump. A kinematic control system helps the bot achieve balance, IEEE Spectrum reported. The bot is controlled via a gesture-based Thalmic Labs Myo armband.

BionicKangaroo will be officially unveiled next week at Hannover Messe, according to IEEE.

More information about the robot and images can be obtained here.

Video courtesy Youtube/IEEE Spectrum.