World's 1st Robot in a 5K

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 Robot Completes Outdoor Run in 53 Minutes






                             Source:  Oregon State University

Cassie the Robot Makes Robotic History

Cassie, a bipedal robot developed at Oregon State University, has made history by being the first robot to run a 5K race.  She finished the 3.1 mile course in 53 minutes, which is almost as good of a running time as that of the average human runner who can run the same distance in 30 to 40 minutes.  The technology and split second adjustments this feat took are considered major milestones in robotics.

DARPA Funded Project

Cassie was created by students in the University's Dynamic Robotics Lab under the guidance of Robotics Professor and Agility Robotics co-founder Jonathan Hurst.  To build Cassie they used biomechanics, existing robot control technologies and new machine learning tools.  Cassie is the first bipedal robot to use machine learning to control her run.  Agility Robotics produced Cassie.  The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency - DARPA - provided a $1 million funding grant for the project.

Self-Learner

Cassie taught herself to run with what is called a deep reinforcement learning algorithm.  Professor Hurst says "this holistic approach will enable animal-like levels of performance" in robots, which is "incredibly exciting".  Concerning Cassie, her knees bend like that of an ostrich.  To stay upright during the run, the robot made an infinite number of tiny adjustments.  She did fall twice during the 3.1 mile run but recovered and continued to run.  Professor Hurst believes that bipedal robots like Cassie will soon be part of our everyday lives and improve the quality of life.  

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