Blog: Virtual Walkers Lead the Way for Robots

Virtual Walkers Lead the Way for Robots
New Scientist (08/06/10) Campbell, MacGregor

Researchers are studying ways to use simulated physics and evolution to give robots and virtual characters more realistic gaits. Simulated evolution, a process developed by NaturalMotion, begins with a population of virtual skeletons controlled by a network of virtual nerves. Each skeleton has a slightly different network, affecting its ability to walk. Those that can walk furthest are declared "most fit" and are used to spawn the next generation, in which a subset of the nerves are slightly altered. Over several generations the skeletons automatically evolve into better walkers. Meanwhile, University of British Columbia researcher Michiel van de Panne and University of Toronto researcher Martin de Lasa have developed overarching controllers, instead of animating a character by controlling each joint independently. The controllers create rules that specify how the character should behave, and the individual joints move to obey them. In the researchers' model, once the path of the swinging foot is specified by the controller, the angles between various joints in the leg and hip are automatically calculated. The researchers want to apply their work for use in humanoid robots.

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