ANYmal, a four-legged dog-like robot, developed by researchers at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, in hopes of using it for search and rescue on construction sites or in areas natural disasters Now, ANYmal has been updated to perform rudimentary parkour moves, also known as "free running".
Parkour fans are known for their extremely agile acrobatic skills, and while ANYmal can't match them, the robot successfully jumped over gaps, climbed and descended over large obstacles, and crouched low to maneuver under an obstacle, according to a recent paper published in the journal Science Robotics.
The ETH Zürich team introduced the original ANYmal approach to reinforcement learning back in 2019 and improved its proprioception (the ability to sense movement, action and location) after three years.
Just last year, the team demonstrated a trio of customized ANYmal robots tested in conditions as close as possible to the harsh lunar and Martian terrain.
As previously reported, robots that can walk can help