MIT Cheetah 3
Forty kilogram electric quadruped that climbed cluttered stairs and jumped onto tables using only proprioception, with no cameras.
| Maker | MIT Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| First shown | 2018 |
| Status | Research platform |
| Mass | 41 kg |
| Top speed | 3 m/s (10.8 km/h) |
| Degrees of freedom | 12 |
| Actuation | Proprioceptive brushless motors with low gear ratio transmissions |
| Power | Onboard battery pack |
| Sensors | Inertial measurement unit and joint encoders only |
| Autonomy | Model predictive control with contact detection and no exteroceptive sensing |
Cheetah 3 kept the proprioceptive actuators of the earlier Cheetah machines and added greater joint range and a stiffer frame. Two algorithms did the work: a contact detection routine that decided when each foot had truly touched down, and a model predictive controller that recomputed leg forces every fifty milliseconds. Working blind from gyroscopes, accelerometers and joint sensors alone, it climbed a debris strewn staircase and leapt onto a desk about seventy six centimetres high.
Of note
- Climbed stairs littered with obstacles with no vision at all
- Its control software became the basis of the open source stack used on Mini Cheetah
Maker: www.mit.edu