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IIS BioBots (TM) - Biologically Inspired Robots
Patent Pending
IIS BioBots - Robots that walk and run. It is the goal of a group of engineers and
scientists at IIS Corp. to develop these IIS BioBots.
IIS BioBots use artificial muscles and stretch sensors instead of heavy motors and
position encoders that are commonly used in traditional robots.
Biologically Inspired technology (Patent Pending) is used to enable model-free
intelligent control and learning in these BioBots.
“Evolutionary designs” and “Intuitive rules” are the key words in
this Biologically Inspired technology.
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Team
The IIS BioBot team consists of a multidisciplinary group of engineers and scientist
working at IIS, UC Berkeley and Stanford. Prof. Robert Full and Dr. Kenneth Meijer from the Department of
Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley and Prof. Felix Zajac from the Division of Biomechanical Engineering at
Stanford University are our academic partners in the development of the IIS BioBots. Top
Progress
A first prototype of the two-legged robot has been developed. The robot employs similar
features as in humans, including hip, knee and ankle joints. It also has the most
important leg muscles determined in humans with 20 artificial muscles, i.e. 10 per leg.
The control is based on combinations of different muscles for different movements.
The robot is remarkably stable even with little input from a controller. A closed-loop
feedback controller for balancing uses only a few intuitive rules.
The control of walking is also remarkably simple and intuitive. Using intuitive rules to
generate movement behaviors, our first prototype robot can complete the walking
cycle.
The power and future potential of biologically inspired legged robots is demonstrated
in our first prototype. To our knowledge and as stated by some expert colleagues, our
robot is unique in the world. It demonstrates the power of using artificial muscles and
biologically inspired control. The control is greatly simplified compared to conventional
robot designs. Top
Challenges
Our development focuses on mobility and control. From that perspective, the most
important technical challenges for the successful development of the biologically inspired
legged robots are in the area of:
- Intelligent control
- Artificial muscles
- Self-contained power
- Embedded control
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Internships
IIS Corp has new openings for interns to work on the design and development of the
BioBots. To apply for an internship, please send an email to hr@iiscorp.com.
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Contact
For more information, please contact Dr. Hamid Berenji at IIS Corp. Email:
berenji@iiscorp.com
Phone: (408)730-8345 Top
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