August 12 - Zhejiang University released a blog post today (August 12) thatannounced that its Center for Crossed Mechanics (XMECH) has developed its own high-mobilityquadruped"White Rhinoceros completed the 100-meter dash in 16.33 seconds.The robot, which was originally held by the Korean robot "Hound", broke the time of 19.87 seconds."The fastest 100 meters for a quadrupedal robot."Guinness world record.
Team members said that in nature, animals such as rhinoceros or horses can maintain their weight while exploding with amazing speed; but for robots, sprinting and running not only tests explosive power and speed, but also examines the robot's ability to stabilize its posture and precision control during rapid changes.
The team built sophisticated dynamics models for this purpose and used a multi-objective optimization algorithm to collaboratively tune the robot's geometric proportions, motor specifications, and reduction system.
In terms of power system, the Center for Cross Mechanics of Zhejiang University has independently developed a set of high power density joint actuators, which can both output strong torque and realize fast response, in addition to the dynamic control strategy based on reinforcement learning algorithm, which really endows it with intelligent movement capability.
"The White Rhinoceros is a high-dimensional and complex system that includes 12 motors. In order to provide good performance and consistency, the team tested the 12 motors with high intensity oscillations prior to assembly, laying the hardware foundation for the "White Rhinoceros" to run.
At the hardware level, the team enhanced the strength of the mechanism. At the motor level, the team developed its own actuator, which went through more than 10 iterations to arrive at this actuator that controls 3,000 watts with a communication delay of less than 2 milliseconds.
The team trains the controller by adding external perturbations and randomization of some physical parameters to the robot to adapt it to some of the noise and physical parameters of the real environment, and eventually it is able to achieve fast and stable running.
Zhejiang University Center for Cross-mechanics R & D team said that this is not the end, but a new starting point. In the future, the "white rhinoceros" will be further expanded application scenarios: from disaster rescue to extreme terrain transportation, its significance will be extended from "fast" to "useful".