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	August 16, 2011 MABEL Bipedal Robot is Fast Enough to Run You Down It was only a year ago that the University of Michigan's MABEL biped robot was breaking its ankles trying to walk over rough terrain. Now the robot is defying death once again by becoming the world's fastest bipedal robot, with the ability to sprint at up to 10.9 kph. More specifically, MABEL is the world's fastest "kneed" bipedal robot, which just means that it's the fastest robot that can run in a similar manner to us humans, leaving those Toyota robots (4.3 kph) and ASIMO (3.7 kph) in the dust. MABEL is capable of such blistering speeds thanks to an innovative mechanical design which, although it may not look like it, incorporates a lot of the characteristics of a human runner. For example, MABEL has a torso that's substantially heavier than its legs, just like a human, and it's also got a system of springs that act like tendons. This gives MABEL a very human-like, bouncing gait, and the robot spends 40% of its time running in a "flight phase" with both feet off the ground, similar to humans: For reference, MABEL's top speed of 3 meters per second probably isn't enough to catch a tolerably in-shape human, as Olympic sprinters can run at up to 10 meters per second over short distances. But the thing about robots is that they're determined, so in the end, it's a good thing that MABEL is tethered to that pole. And that it doesn't have any arms to grab you with. Or any vision sensors, either. So even if you can't run, at least you can hide. For now. This article appeared originally at IEEE Spectrum.   Recent Posts   New Robot, Old Tricks: Pet Projects     New Way to Keep Bipedal Robots from Falling Over     Humanoid Robot May Help in Nuclear Crisis     Ping-Pong Playing Robots     Obama Announces Major Robotics Initiative     DIY: An Automated Bartender     Next Big Thing in Silicon Valley: Robotics?   Tags   Biped Locomotion MABEL Running Robots University of Michigan   ### Featured News >  Systems >  MABEL Bipedal Robot  Bookmark & Share