The MIT Mini Cheetah: A Revolutionary Robot with Unparalleled Speed and Agility
The MIT mini cheetah has come one step closer to earning its epic name with a serious speed boost thanks to learning and simulation. As explained by the researchers behind the project, this achievement is reminiscent of Neo's abilities in The Matrix. By mastering backflips, hopping, and landing from falls three years ago, the mini cheetah's next challenge was to increase speed and robustness using machine learning.
Machine Learning: The Key to Unlocking the Mini Cheetah's Full Potential
The researchers employed machine learning techniques to clean the robot and learn from its experience quickly in simulation before deploying it in the real world. This approach has resulted in a robot that can run faster over a more diverse set of terrains, but with a twist - its style of running has changed a bit in the process. The team aimed to give the robot some freedom to decide how it looks, as its behavior would need to adapt to different environments.
For instance, if the mini cheetah is walking across ice versus rough terrain, its game plan might be entirely different. The power of machine learning lies in finding ways to optimize objectives, and sometimes these solutions may not look pretty or intuitive to humans but can indeed be magical. The mini cheetah's unique running style has made it much faster from a top speed of about five and a half miles per hour back in 2019 to a top speed of eight to nine miles per hour today.
One Roll of Robotics: Taking Tedious Challenges Away from Humans
The mini cheetah is primarily a research platform for students and faculty from MIT to advance robotics hardware and software. However, it's not the only comparable four-legged robot being used for commercial purposes. Companies like Boston Dynamics and Unity are taking a close design approach to the MIT mini cheetah in terms of form factor price.
Seeing this thing run is indeed startling, especially when compared to sci-fi movies. The researchers were asked about potential Black Mirror-style weaponization of this technology, and they emphasized that it's not just about doing cool research or developing a fancy product. Each technology has its users and abuses; scientists have a role to educate people about proper usage to prevent misuses.
The Future of Four-Legged Robotics: Manipulating Objects in the Environment
The researchers' next challenge is to use similar machine learning techniques to teach the mini cheetah to manipulate objects in its environment, making it more useful for four-legged robotics. As the researchers mentioned, this is a crucial step towards deploying robots that benefit humanity instead of detracting from it.
To stay updated on the latest developments and news, check out Andy's video on the Unity Tree A1 over here and subscribe for the latest and greatest Tech news.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmit's mini cheetah has come one step closer to earning its epic name with a serious speed boost thanks to learning and simulation like Neo in The Matrix don't worry I talked to people who worked on the project to help explain everything let's get into it after mastering backflips hopping and Landing from falls about three years ago the mini cheetah's next challenge was to increase speed and robustness using machine learning we can clean the robot to learn from its experience very quickly in simulation and then deploy it in the real world the result is a robot that can run faster over a more diverse set of terrains but let's just say its style of running has changed a bit in the process what we want to give the robot some freedom to decide how it looks because you know sometimes it does have to change that for example if it's walking across ice versus walking across rough terrain its game might need to be different you know the power of machine learning is to find things which are going to optimize the objective and sometimes they may not look pretty to a human when they observe it they might not also seem intuitive to a human when they observe it but sometimes those could be magical because humans may not have thought of that way the mini cheetah's unique running style has made it much faster from a top speed of about five and a half miles per hour back in 2019 to a top speed of eight to nine miles per hour today thankfully that means you'd still have a pretty decent shot about running it at least for now one roll of Robotics is you know taking tedious hard challenging dangerous things away from humans so that they can do the things that they really want to do and do it in a safe way the mini cheetah is mainly a research platform for students and faculty from MIT to advance robotics hardware and software but there are some comparable four-legged robots being used for commercial purposes right now I would point to you I guess like Boston Dynamics antibiotics and unity as we companies with unitary may be taking the closest design approach to the MIT mini cheetah in terms of form factor price maybe it's just my love of sci-fi movies talking but seeing this thing running is a bit startling I asked the researchers from MIT if they had any thoughts about a potential Black Mirror style weaponization of this technology it's not just about doing the cool research it's not just about developing that fancy product each technology has hydros users and abuses you know if we consider nuclear fusion and nuclear fission they can solve all of our energy needs but on the other hand they've also led to some very bad things we do have a role as scientists to educate people about you know the proper use of technology to warn them so that we can really deploy robots for the benefit of humanity instead of taking away from Humanity the researchers say their next challenge is to use similar machine learning techniques to teach the mini cheetah to manipulate objects in its environment making it more useful for more four-legged robotics goodness check out Andy's video on the uni tree A1 right over here and subscribe for the latest and greatest Tech news as always thanks so much for watching I'm your host Jesse orl see you next time with the fammit's mini cheetah has come one step closer to earning its epic name with a serious speed boost thanks to learning and simulation like Neo in The Matrix don't worry I talked to people who worked on the project to help explain everything let's get into it after mastering backflips hopping and Landing from falls about three years ago the mini cheetah's next challenge was to increase speed and robustness using machine learning we can clean the robot to learn from its experience very quickly in simulation and then deploy it in the real world the result is a robot that can run faster over a more diverse set of terrains but let's just say its style of running has changed a bit in the process what we want to give the robot some freedom to decide how it looks because you know sometimes it does have to change that for example if it's walking across ice versus walking across rough terrain its game might need to be different you know the power of machine learning is to find things which are going to optimize the objective and sometimes they may not look pretty to a human when they observe it they might not also seem intuitive to a human when they observe it but sometimes those could be magical because humans may not have thought of that way the mini cheetah's unique running style has made it much faster from a top speed of about five and a half miles per hour back in 2019 to a top speed of eight to nine miles per hour today thankfully that means you'd still have a pretty decent shot about running it at least for now one roll of Robotics is you know taking tedious hard challenging dangerous things away from humans so that they can do the things that they really want to do and do it in a safe way the mini cheetah is mainly a research platform for students and faculty from MIT to advance robotics hardware and software but there are some comparable four-legged robots being used for commercial purposes right now I would point to you I guess like Boston Dynamics antibiotics and unity as we companies with unitary may be taking the closest design approach to the MIT mini cheetah in terms of form factor price maybe it's just my love of sci-fi movies talking but seeing this thing running is a bit startling I asked the researchers from MIT if they had any thoughts about a potential Black Mirror style weaponization of this technology it's not just about doing the cool research it's not just about developing that fancy product each technology has hydros users and abuses you know if we consider nuclear fusion and nuclear fission they can solve all of our energy needs but on the other hand they've also led to some very bad things we do have a role as scientists to educate people about you know the proper use of technology to warn them so that we can really deploy robots for the benefit of humanity instead of taking away from Humanity the researchers say their next challenge is to use similar machine learning techniques to teach the mini cheetah to manipulate objects in its environment making it more useful for more four-legged robotics goodness check out Andy's video on the uni tree A1 right over here and subscribe for the latest and greatest Tech news as always thanks so much for watching I'm your host Jesse orl see you next time with the fam\n"
