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Robosaur roams with spring in its step.


For the first time, a two-legged, nonhumanoid robot has walked completely on its own, says the machine's inventor.

For the past 5 years, Peter Dilworth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Sloan School of Management has notable programs in business,  has been developing Troody--his mobile model of a Troodon, a small, possibly feathered feath·ered  
adj.
1. Covered, provided, or adorned with feathers.

2. Having feathering, as an animal's coat.

3. Moving swiftly: feathered feet.

4.
 beast that lived some 70 million years ago. Soon, says Dilworth, larger, faster, feather-covered versions of the robosaur will be scurrying scur·ry  
intr.v. scur·ried, scur·ry·ing, scur·ries
1. To go with light running steps; scamper.

2. To flurry or swirl about.

n. pl. scur·ries
1. The act of scurrying.
 around museums and other entertainment venues.

Besides mimicking the way these birdlike dinosaurs <onlyinclude> This list of dinosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been included in the superorder Dinosauria, excluding class Aves (birds, both living and those known only from fossils) and purely vernacular terms.  probably walked, the current, 4.5-kilogram model might open new directions for designers of independent walking machines.

For one thing, Troody relies on springs for muscles instead of the stiff gears used so far in humanoid robots It has been suggested that Android & Actroid be merged into this article or section. . So, the device walks with a more "biological" gait, Dilworth says. Moreover, he adds, the robosaur's resilient control system enables it to negotiate irregular terrain better than the humanoid robots do.
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Article Details
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Title Annotation:non-humanoid robot
Author:P.W.
Publication:Science News
Article Type:Brief Article
Date:Jun 23, 2001
Words:146
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