RI-Medium: Collaborative Research: Robotic Parkour--Dynamic Climbing

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal Title: RI-Medium: Collaborative Research: Robotic Parkour--Dynamic Climbing Institution: Northwestern University Abstract Date: 05/29/08 We propose to explore design, control, and motion planning for robotic parkour---the highly dynamic form of locomotion that includes ascending chutes by leaping back and forth between opposing walls. Our broad goal is to give robots access to difficult-to-reach places by taking full advantage of their dynamics and the potential reaction forces afforded by the environment. The proposed work will address two challenge problems: 1. To design, build, and control a planar robot to dynamically climb in a rigid vertical chute, and 2. To design, build, and control a planar robot to reliably move from an initial state to any dynamically reachable goal state in a complex vertical environment of footholds at various orientations. The true goal of this work is not to build specific-climbing robots, but rather to address scientific issues fundamental to dynamic legged locomotion in non-trivial terrains by confronting these two challenges. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Proposal Abstract Proposal:0803734 PI Name:Lynch, Kevin Printed