Researchers create ‘Mugatu’, the first steerable biped robot with a single motor

Small robots are important tools for investigating and inspecting small spaces. They can place their steps carefully, allowing them to navigate around obstacles, abilities that larger robots don’t always possess. This can allow them to inspect machines or search through rubble in disaster scenarios that other robots cannot reach. However, due to their size constraints, it is difficult to build small robots that can steer themselves and carry their own power sources.

Aaron Johnson, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Sarah Bergbreiter, professor of mechanical engineering, and their team of researchers revolutionized the field with the construction of “Mugatu,” the first steerable bipedal robot containing a single motor. Mugatu is also self-reliant and self-reliant; stable open loop in its gait; and controlled the steering left, right and straight. The design uses two rigid bodies and an actuator, a simple walker design that is still capable of performing the complex movements of other robots.

“The first direction of the project was to simplify the way robots walk as much as possible,” says first author James Kyle, a recent master’s and bachelor’s graduate in mechanical engineering. “Once we understand how scaling affects locomotion, it can be extremely useful for taking something that already exists and making it larger or smaller to do things like pass it through smaller pipes or carry more load.”

Another team member, Kendall Hart, a mechanical engineering undergraduate, worked on the robot’s current sensor, the part of the robot that allowed the team to calculate the total cost of transportation, the amount of energy used over a certain distance.

“Before coming to the lab, I had a vague understanding of MATLAB (a numerical programming and computing platform), but working on this project allowed me to put into practice what I learned in class. When “We were working on implementing the current sensor, there was a lot of debugging there, but now it’s made me feel more comfortable debugging without my mentors,” said Hart.

Dubbed “The LEGO Project,” the team ultimately aims to shrink these walkers down to the size of a LEGO. “It’s going to take a while because the mechanics of everything change as you start to downsize,” says Hart. “But what makes the project so special and so impactful in the community is that it has never been seen before.” The drastic simplification of this walking device, combined with its unique degree of freedom, represents a promising step (pun intended) toward small, highly efficient robots.

Collaborators on this project include James Kyle, Justin Y. Kim, Kendall Hart, Sarah Bergbreiter, and Aaron Johnson.