A few years ago, the robot dog was such a hot topic that almost everyone had heard of it. But have you ever wondered how long and bumpy the road the robot dog has been through?
For that amazing creation, we can thank Boston Dynamics, an American engineering and robotics design company, which was founded in 1992. The company eventually established the scientific basis for highly dynamic robots, which were inspired by the remarkable ability of animals to move with agility, dexterity, perception, and intelligence. Boston Dynamics created many different variations of animal-like robots, for example, Spot, which has been made commercially available, making it the first commercially available robot from Boston Dynamics, while the company has stated its intent to commercialize other robots as well. But what interests us is specifically LittleDog (created around 2010), which was intended as a testbed for other institutions. That definitely was a big chance and an inspiration for worldwide engineering and robot design.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Stuttgart conducted a similar research study to find out how animals learn to walk and learn from stumbling. They built a four-legged, dog-sized robot, that helped them figure out the details. Newborn animals learn how to walk properly, sometimes it takes months, or weeks, but their robot dog achieved it even faster - it took only one hour.
The idea is not to just input software that tells the robot how to walk, but to create software that can learn from mistakes and adapt quickly.
The learning algorithm adapts the control parameters of a Central Pattern Generator (CPG). In humans and animals, these central pattern generators are networks of neurons in the spinal cord that produce periodic muscle contractions without input from the brain. Central pattern generator networks aid the generation of rhythmic tasks such as walking. The same pattern works for the Labrador-sized robot-dog named "Morti". It studies in a very similar way, but as a bonus, compared to animals Morti does it in the blink of an eye.
Just the idea of a robot learning the same way as a living being, with the only difference being having a CPU and wires instead of a brain and neurons, can be unbelievable.
If you want to find out more details about the achievement of Max Planck Institute, you can find them here.
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