Claw-wielding robot climbs telephone poles in mere seconds | DVICE

Description

Just this morning we told you how Boston Dynamics is getting robots to hop like rabbits, and now the company, working with the University of Pennsylvania's "Kod*lab," has them climbing up poles. The 28-inch-long RiSE V3 has four claw-tipped legs that allow it to ascend vertical surfaces at a rate of 8 inches per second. That's certainly a lot faster than I could get myself up a rope back in gym class, but then again I wasn't specifically designed for rescue mission, recon and surveillance like this 'bot.

Want to see it in action? Click on through for a video. It's worth noting that the rope tied to RiSE in the video is just to make sure this expensive piece of equipment doesn't crack like Humpty Dumpty - it's doing all the climbing.

Original URL

http://dvice.com/archives/2009/05/claw-wielding-r.php

http://dvice.com/archives/2009/05/claw-wielding-r.php