It may not have the agility of Cheetah - or other real-life simians - but Brachiator III, created by Toshio Fukuda and his engineering team at Japan's Nagoya University, is a big step toward a fully functioning humanoid robot. Modeled on a gibbon skeleton, the Brachiator's frame - 5' 4" tall, 21.6 pounds - houses 14 motors that propel its arms, wrists, hips, and knees. Data from the motors' movements is fed into the robot's external brain - a Motorola 68050 computer, which analyzes every move. "The programming uses neural networks, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithms," says Fukuda. "We're trying to develop an artificial intelligence that can learn and adapt."
Already able to swing from bars, the pseudoprimate's biggest limitation is its cumbersome external battery. Once a lightweight device is available, Fukuda will be able to build a robot that can not only play on the jungle gym but also walk. "We won't teach it how to walk, though," Fukuda says. "It will have to learn that by itself."
ELECTRIC WORD
New Weave
Star Market
Swing Theory
Super Conductor
Jetropolis
Time Sync
