Meet Gibbot
By Rebecca Boyle Posted 05.31.2012 at 3:30 pm 3 Comments

Gibbot

Robot locomotion can take many forms, from crawling like snakes to rolling like tanks. This one swings like an android ape, using brachiating arm motion to grab onto a surface and forward momentum to keep going.

“Gibbot” is being developed at Northwestern University, where researchers are studying robot horizontal movement, according to IEEE Spectrum. It mimics the brachiating movement of gibbons, which swing through trees with ease. Like gibbons, it’s designed to keep moving by conserving energy — a fast grab-and-go ensures forward momentum is not lost.

It contains two electromagnets at the ends of both arms, which grab onto a steel wall in the demonstration below. Finding the right gait and grabby motion is a key challenge, but with the right movements, the researchers say it’s theoretically possible to brachiate forever. The Northwestern team, led by Kevin M. Lynch, presented Gibbot at the e 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation this month.

[IEEE Spectrum]

3 Comments

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Robot
05/31/12 at 3:45 pm

What of this device makes it a robot, verse just a machine scaling sideways on a wall? Oh, I know, "Robot" is a cool POPSCI word. Yea, I do love the word "ROBOT", too. ;)

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Akim91
06/01/12 at 3:16 pm

Its a robot because it does it on its own without being controlled, but then again a lot of remote controlled toys are considered robots. So what is a robot, Robot? :)

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Robot
06/01/12 at 6:10 pm

Akim91,
This I believe the device in this article is just an automated machine, similar to a wind shield wiper on my car. It has some nice LEDs attaché to it and make it pretty!

My definition of a robot is a device that is aware of its environment and can make decisions about it and interact with it. The higher the intelligence of the robot with greater sensor ability and interactive limbs, the more this would be a sophisticated robot. Greater sensor ability may and or include communication with other devices, humans and animals.

Once a robot is self aware of its own existence has a desire to protect itself and continue to live on, procreate and make others, it then will be an artificial life form. At this level it may also develop an imagination, use of art, creativity and spontaneity too.

I do not include the 3 laws of robotics with our real world future robots. If one has to invoke 3 laws upon the robot, they it would stand it lays inside the computer programming in the first place NOT to follow the 3 laws, which is why we invoked them in the first place. Invoking the 3 laws would be a useless human endeavor, since the robot\computer would eventual work out a way around the 3 laws of robotics.

Resistance is futile! At this point it would be humanity that would be force to comply to the robot wishes.

I reserve the right to edit my above spontaneous definition of a robot. Thank you. ;)



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