Stickman, a bar-shaped robot that can be blasted from the aerial swing that Disney develops brilliantly

Disney Research (Disney Research), which is known for developing robots, is a robot capable of precisely controlling the posture by folding the body in the air to determine the basket "StickmanIt is under development. Stickman is a robot like "stick" as its name is used for research on risk avoidance technology required for future robots.

Stickman: Towards a Human Scale Acrobatic Robot - Disney Research
https://www.disneyresearch.com/publication/stickman/

You can check the way the Stickman supposes to decide a basket in the following movie.

Stickman: Towards a Human Scale Acrobatic Robot - YouTube


A stick-like object grasping to the rope like an aerial swing.


This rod-like object is the robot "Stickman" developed by Disney Research.


Stickman who bent the "knee" greatly ... ...


When you release the "hand" from the rope and be thrown into the air ...


Crouching on "legs" stretch "back" with exquisite timing ... ...


A perfectly one turn in the air.


In the end, we landing in horizontal condition with cushion to minimize shock.


Stickman is a human-sized robot consisting of three bar-shaped parts.


The rod-shaped parts can be freely adjusted in angle with a damper.



Looking at the situation of the aerial swing by Stickman from the side like this.


Beginning to bend your knees after the lowest point ......


Just before he flew away, his feet are completely folded.


By further bending your waist and making your body smaller, you can see that the turning radius is reduced.


It remains small even while turning in the air.


After that, I stretched the whole body and increased the turning radius, killing the rotation, I landed beautifully.


Stickman can rotate 2 turns in the air as well as 1 turn. By using your body well, you exquisitely adjust the turning power.


It seems that it is also possible to landing in the horizontal state.


Stickman is equipped with three laser distance measuring devices, "Leading" "Center" "Trailing", at an angle of 12.5 degrees. By measuring the distance in three directions, it is possible to understand not only the distance to the ground but also your own posture in the air.


Also, by releasing the hook, you can also decide the timing to release the rope by yourself.



Stickman has a built-in gyroscope system (inertial motion sensor) and can grasp the angle with the horizontal plane. The graph on the bottom right in the image is the angle on the vertical axis and the time on the horizontal axis.


Three distance measuring devices installed on the waist reflect the laser to the ground and measure the distance from the time difference.


The upper right graph in the image shows the time change of the height of each distance distance measuring device.


By changing the turning force according to the measured angle and height, you can change the aerial posture vividly.


Disney Research does not develop Stickman as a robot for mere show. As the robot technology progresses and the robot approaches practical use, it is assumed that the machine breaks down by impact when falling beyond obstacles or falling from a high place. In such a dangerous situation, there is no doubt that a system that adequately absorbs shock is required, and Stickman seems to develop its attitude control technology. If technology advances, Disney Research points out the possibility that a robot that can precisely control posture in the air can be useful even in the scene of life saving.