Swiss, Italian scientists developed robot dog for disaster missions too dangerous for humans

Robotics engineers from Switzerland and Italy are developing a quadruped robot dog called HyQ, which can replace humans in search and rescue missions and dangerous environmental disaster events.

Reuters reported that HyQ was created by Claudio Semini of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoe. He finished the project in 2010. A copy of the robot dog was also made in the laboratory of Professor Jonas Buchli in ETH Zurich. One of its backers is the National Science Foundation. Buchli and his team are developing algorithms that could make HyQ robust enough for disasters too dangerous for humans.

According to the Business Insider report, it may not look like a real dog, but it sure does act like one as seen in the video released in the report. Even when kicked, the robotic dog will keep its balance well even when hit with a 50-pound punching bag. It can also cross uneven terrain without difficulty.

ETH Zurich researcher Thiago Boaventura said, "One of the key characteristics of this robot is that we use an actuation system that is mechanically very robust and is strong and fast, so wheels, hydraulic activators, to drive the joints. Us humans have muscles to move the joints, we use this kind of actuations to drive and move the joints and these actuators are able to withstand impact that some kind of actuations, for example electro motors they might have some issues. This is a key characteristic of this robot here to perform and withstand impacts that are intrinsic to walking and trotting motions, for example."

In a report by Arirang, Buchli said their major research interest in the robot dog is to have a machine that can go to work in environments that are not familiar to the robot but still navigate through them robustly, so that it can do something useful. Developers hope that the robot dog can "avoid and jump over obstacles like a person" soon.

The new algorithms allow the users to control the interactions in the robot's leg, so that it can perform dynamic actions. It also has elasticity and springiness, which is a plus factor to the new technology.