Robotics

Russian team builds walking ostrich bot on a budget

Russian team builds walking ostrich bot on a budget
Konstantin Ivanov's walking ostrich robot was built with just $1,500
Konstantin Ivanov's walking ostrich robot was built with just $1,500
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Konstantin Ivanov tests the robot's balance
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Konstantin Ivanov tests the robot's balance
Konstantin Ivanov's robot-driven carriage turns heads when taken out on city streets
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Konstantin Ivanov's robot-driven carriage turns heads when taken out on city streets
Konstantin Ivanov's robot-driven carriage preceded the ostrich robot
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Konstantin Ivanov's robot-driven carriage preceded the ostrich robot
Konstantin Ivanov's ostrich robot carried a dummy on Russian TV
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Konstantin Ivanov's ostrich robot carried a dummy on Russian TV
Konstantin Ivanov's goal is to build this robot saddle horse
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Konstantin Ivanov's goal is to build this robot saddle horse
Konstantin Ivanov's walking ostrich robot was built with just $1,500
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Konstantin Ivanov's walking ostrich robot was built with just $1,500
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A group of four Russian robot fanatics calling themselves Konstantin Ivanov has built a walking ostrich robot with just US$1,500 and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. You can see it walking on a Russian television show, along with a robot-driven carriage, in the video after the break.

Their walking ostrich robot, which is made primarily out of wood, weighs 180 kg (396 lbs) and can stand on one leg. Its construction and the way it walks suggests it slides an internal weight over the supporting leg to keep its balance, a technique implemented in some of the first walking robots developed in Japan in the early 1970s.

The ostrich robot may not be the most technologically advanced biped robot, but it was made on a budget to prove Konstantin Ivanov can keep their costs to a minimum. The team says it would like to build other types of robots based on those seen in sci-fi films like RoboCop and Star Wars, but to do so they need the help of a financial backer.

The team members – Sirotin, Jarmarkin, Stulov, and Isakov – come from a variety of backgrounds, including an aviation technician and an electronics engineer, but have no academic training in robotics. They may find their ultimate goal of building a robot saddle horse with a maximum speed of 70 km/h (43.3 mph) is a tad ambitious, given that the current land speed record for legged robots (set by Boston Dynamics' Cheetah robot) is 45.5 km/h (28.3 mph).

Source: Konstantin Ivanov YouTube channel

Russian Walking Robots

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