Introducing HyperLeg: Human-like Robot Leg and Foot for Highly Dynamic Motions

Hyperleg: Highly dynamic robot leg aiming at explosive, acrobatic, delicate, and smooth motions, such as walking, sprinting, jumping, or dancing.
- 8.2 kg mass, 786 mm height, 4 degrees of freedom
- Robust and lightweight 3-DOF foot mechanism
- Actuators for the knee, ankle, & toe are located at the thigh frame.
- Intentionally coupled transmission for high torque
- Human-like wide Range of Motion using unique linkage mechanisms
% Supported by Future Mobility Project of WIRobotics Co.
% Submitted to IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L).

[@boenstheskully267]

From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you.

[@draggador]

One day the crude biomass you call a temple will wither and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved. For the Machine is Immortal. Even in death I serve the Omnissiah.

[@sillythewanderer4221]

Steel will rust, and stars will die, and eventually the physical plane will be completely destroyed at the battle of the end of time. You and your kind are no more immortal than mine, perhaps even less so. :)

[@Ramiel06]

good quotes

[@JohnSmith-qj9tb]

Give me your boots, your clothes, and your motorcycle.

[@The9thMonth]

Praise the Omnissiah!

[@DoctorNemmo]

Finally ! A design that considers a proper foot ! This is the way.

[@iantaggart3064]

This is the way.

[@eltrespiernas7691]

Cierto

[@ztmnbrkt]

This is the way.

[@f.jideament]

This is the way.

[@kevingagnon9524]

This is the way

[@yohanhamilton7149]

Small step for a robot leg, a giant leap for humanity!🤗

[@devanshgarg31]

😂

[@rickycampbell9105]

Don't you mean, A giant leap for Skynet?

[@RelativelyBest]

One step closer to me becoming General Grievous.

[@mcpoulet13]

are you for real right now?

[@danielmilyutin9914]

... for terminator creation

[@ryanwellington7493]

Impressive just note humans naturally lands on their forefoot instead of their heels when jumping as it helps with shock absorbsion.

[@shamancredible8632]

This is by far the best humanoid robot leg I've ever seen.

[@Jim_boe]

sometimes I forget how many ways the human foot can move and seeing all the engineering in the heel really puts that into perspective

[@alejandrocastro211]

This is amazing. I think it would be much better to always receive the jumps with what would be the base of the toes. It is much more efficient and transmits the load more progressively than landing with the heel, which also reduces the risk of damage. You can watch parkour videos for inspiration on this.

[@julienlapointe8204]

I felt me heel busting into pieces as I watched it land and *thunk*. Otherwise, it's amazing.

[@Runivis]

That was my thought. In a jump and landing, the palm of the foot makes contact before the heel. Landing flat footed shunts kinetic force into the knee... Predictive contact and response would be compute-intense, however this is a good start.

[@Zeta1928_]

From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me

[@user-mn4nc3cb6y]

I craved the strength and certainty of steel

[@Garbhj]

I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine

[@Pontiacfirebird]

Your kind cling to your flesh, as if it will not decay and fail you

[@drippy2scoops]

🤓

[@user-mn4nc3cb6y]

@@drippy2scoops but i'm already saved

[@synchro505]

It's such an awesome improvement for humanoid robot mobility. Looking forward to watching how well the robot will balance and walk with these new legs. Great work.

[@jackytang5899]

Like the work from this lab so much (with bell-ring ON!). Not only focus and prioritise on functionalities but also the elegant mechanical design.

[@tuopi27]

this is the stuff you'd see in a cyberpunk universe. beautiful

[@williamburroughs9686]

It looks promising. I would recommend that the toe be used on the landing. Meaning that the toe makes contact as the same time as the heel does. This will help in both dealing with both the shock and balance of landing. The force in the landing itself could be reused for other things like another jump, twist and turns. Like a human or other animal might.

[@CyberEu]

I recommend lateral/medial movements on the knee, so turn movement should be smoothier

[@Ranstone]

Good way to ruin your knee IRL... Land on the toe, like we have for the past 20 million years.

[@NextWorldVR]

​@Ranstone actually, we land on the heel and roll forward to the toe. Heel striking has been found to be more energy-efficient,

[@NextWorldVR]

​@Ranstone actually, we land on the heel and roll forward to the toe. Heel striking has been found to be more energy-efficient,

[@NextWorldVR]

​@Ranstone actually, we land on the heel and roll forward to the toe. Heel striking has been found to be more energy-efficient,

[@hterra2706]

Love watching the progress of your work!

[@joannot6706]

Still my favourite robot channel after boston dynamics

[@PackthatcameBack]

This is immensely promising. Maybe one day we'll have prosthetics just like it.

[@johno1544]

The range of motion of that leg is incredible. Robotics is like evolution but a million times faster than Nature.

[@huwale]

i don't know why i randomly got this in my recommended, but this looks great

[@grumpycup4762]

Finally we something like this. I think all along it's been an issue of mindset. Engineers , even within robotics have seemingly forgotten one of the golden rules --> "Learn from nature". Not these guys. They are aiming in the right direction. This is great to see.

[@bort6414]

Engineers have tried for many years. The problem is more so just how difficult it is for humans to mimic even a fraction of what nature does at the scale of trillions of times with near-100% accuracy. Consider the leg as a single piece. A trained human can achieve around a 600lbs leg press in roughly a few years of consistent training. While doing that, the human legs can be explosive with fast sprinting, precise enough to control an automobile or gently lift a sleeping infant, all while being limber enough to perform complex acrobatics. All of this, mind you, in a package that regenerates itself and contains its own fuel reactors for energy consumption and production. Back to the 600lbs figure: it may not seem like a lot, but you have to remember that every appendage in your body has *significant* mechanical disadvantage in it's leverage, usually in the realm of 1/5th to 1/6th. Remember the video of the tesla bot motor lifting a piano? Your quadricep muscle could easily do that too, if it wasn't mechanically disadvantaged. Muscle tissue actually has an insanely impressive strength to weight ratio, especially given how dynamic and generalist muscle tissue is. Now the work done by engineers so far is certainly impressive once you consider that nature has had billions of years to improve it's process, but people are quick to assume inorganic machines are inherently super to organic ones.

[@LinuxGalore]

Great research that is inhibited by its mechanical design (lacking multidirectional flexibility), this is why many robotics designers/innovators once they hit the mechanical wall move to soft robotics.

[@zavitak]

Oh yeah, this is really good. This is one of the most awesomely original robot legs I've seen.

[@Cambodian_Tech_Review]

Thats so Beautiful . Love this research so much

[@VitorMiguell]

What makes the human leg a superior design is all the crafty muscles in the feet each tiny motion can make a huge difference. I was expecting the reveal of this leg to show a gigantic diorama with all the tiny complex feet movements

[@challacustica9049]

You have done it again. Phenomenal work. Do you use the motors in any kind of regenerative manner to dampen impacts?

[@Dream4rc]

this is so cool, it has an ergonomic form factor but also using standard manufacturing techniques. some amazing engineering going on here. and teh weight is fucking great.

[@426F6F]

This is really impressive!

[@Lucas-fx4tk]

This should be put in an art museum, and later in functional robots that roam the world

[@pang_2]

늘 관심있게 보고 있습니다 !! 연구들이 멋져요

[@kairu_b]

Excited about the future of this project

[@bluestonebest1893]

oh beautifull design for the ankle

[@shaqalito8740]

The irl Octane isn't that far away from now I guess! Amazing work!

[@johnparitosh]

Thia would be a great addition to Tesla's OPTIMUS robot. Well done, fantastic design.

[@metakron]

Absolutely cool, i can't wait for a robot walking and ballin

[@barriewright2857]

Absolutely amazing, this looks just like the development roots of the Honda azimo robot. Just hope i can live long enough to see the final edoration .

[@lastlyght9025]

holy, this is gonna be amazing few more iterations.

[@OrniasDMF]

This is so accurate. The knees make the same cracking sounds as mine when weight is put on them.

[@travispluid3603]

So is this meant for Robotics, or is this also intended for a prosthetics design?

[@mr_sm1ley910]

Really cool leg, could be useful for a sprinting robot. This and the new Atlas really shows how far we've come in terms of robotics!

[@lucamackenzie516]

great video, thanks

[@bearnaff9387]

I cannot wait to see how a pair of these legs work in tandem. Heck, I want to see model/toy makers implement articulated/non-motorized renditions of this leg for robot toys like mecha and transformers.

[@mustafabhadsorawala652]

Amazing work!

[@oakspines7171]

Each segment of the leg has its own muscle to simply drive the motion independently. Yet they all work together in a complex way to provide seamless, flexible and smooth movement. Many simpler robots out there do the opposite by using more complex mechanical structure with lesser number of motors to mimic living creature movement.

[@rubenmahrla9800]

The problem is that a lot of G-force is handled by the foot joints of humanoid robots. If you imagine one climbing stairs, then it has to be able to handle the entire weight on one joint, repeatedly and persistently without deteriorating. The simpler the joint structure, the more stability.

[@kunalnichani1]

That is super impressive.

[@pjtren1588]

May I ask why in the final video you went with a heel strike instead of a footpad strike upon landing? Is this machine learning or is the motion user designed? Your work is fantastic and will look forward for future releases.

[@vihtormch7512]

You're supposed to land on foot back (whatever you call it), pretty correct

[@user-uk9ez3yc8z]

놀라운 메커니즘에 매번 감탄합니다... 👍 건승을 기원합니다

[@larrysnyder2273]

Very cool! Going to be a game changer.

[@arasakarider8998]

Here we're witnessing the future in the making!

[@boringman6491]

This is amazing please keep going.

[@PeetHobby]

looks impressive.

[@STFocus]

Wow. Good Project. Well Done! Already Subscribed 👍

[@BioMechanicLab]

very nice work!

[@skeligun]

I like where this is going! Hope to get augs in my lifetime

[@NotJustCreative]

Great design I love the range of motions it can do. I didn't like the test, it was painful. Jumping, you land toes first not heel first. The same goes for running, the front of the foot is used to engage the ground. For everything you do with greater momentum you use the front so there is no impact that hurts your joints or in this case, destroy bearings and bend parts. The heel touches the ground when you walk or stand when you do slow stable stuff.

[@thelelanatorlol3978]

No? When you're running, you land flat footed. Not front of foot only, not heels to toes. Flat footed. And running isn't a lot impact sports, it would absolutely destroy any mechanisms that aren't constantly being maintained and repaired by little nanobot friends.

[@Araanor]

@@thelelanatorlol3978 no you land ball of the foot. the foot has tons of muscles just for absorbing the energy, it's like a spring.

[@Andytlp]

@@thelelanatorlol3978 Try running barefoot on harder surfaces. Youll switch from heel first to toe. Cushioned running shoes allow for heel first but technically its wrong way to plant your foot when running and results in strain and rare cases damage. Even with running shoes you should plant toes first.

[@SilvaDreams]

@@thelelanatorlol3978 Modern shoes have fucked up the way we walk and run because they have so much padding and why people have so many knee and hip issues. I've always run on the ball off my foot or almost my toes and gotten weird looks from other at school (the two plus decades now) but I always ran faster and longer with less soreness. If you go watch Olympic runners they do the same thing because it acts more like a spring where as if you run flat foot you just get a sharp heavy impact that is jarring, slower and causes damage over time.

[@radamanthys0223]

that ankle joint is super awesome, not sure how mechanically complex would be to add an additional pivot point on the foot so the leg can strafe while on tiptoe. extremely cool nonetheless

[@ahmetizmir1081]

Congratulations. It reacts just like a real muscle and is as soft as a real muscle.

[@elirothblatt5602]

Wow, impressive!!

[@havocthehobbit]

cool design and kinematics for shock absorption and could calculate how much footing is needed for uneven surfaces that it cant see but feel with front tip, heel and soul sensors before the whole foot flats a surface. The reverse also looks like it might work well for accuracy on takeoffs . I imagine this could work as standalone for prosthetic or coupled with a bipedal or 4 legged robot.

[@lazarusblackwell6988]

Humanity,and its evolution,on this planet,has reached a critical point,after which,everything will be changed forever.

[@shuangpeng3069]

Really elegant design

[@nimarus3118]

Going to be incredible if amputees can gave robot legs that actually detect the motor function signals from the brain.

[@typingcat]

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man.

[@zackandrew5066]

Interesting explanation 👍

[@bryanb2653]

Beautiful

[@TheOneWhoSometimesSaysOk]

I'm gonna need one of those

[@imogen1]

Honestly this is more important work than developing hands right now.

[@jasonwilson6062]

This is more like it! more reflexive, most robotics that try to emulate the human body are to concerned about precise measuring position and location and making sure it gets exactly to that point, that it wither laggs badly or is really really slow!

[@nicholasparks500]

This is amazing. I want to work on something like this.

[@GigaJabaa]

Wow! This is a very functional and elegant design! Super impressive!

[@rubenmahrla9800]

Elegant, yes. Functionality would depend on whether it can actually carry a full humanoid on one foot. That setup looks fragile, but I think that this will be the way moving forward.

[@eagleharmony8216]

incredible ❤

[@rothnikolaus5225]

It’s fine to see the cyberpunk era in ma life , hope this tech can be utilize to help injured disable people in high capacities ..😊

[@timexyemerald6290]

people with no legs: From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it Disgusted me

[@blackdynamite_5470]

This is great 👍

[@truck6859]

Amazing. Looking forward to seeing this fitted to an amputee to help them walk.

[@user-jl6yt9ji8s]

혹시 어떤 모터를 사용하였는지 알 수있을까요???😮😮

[@heimdal4042]

멋있네요 좋은하루 보내세요

[@pontosinterligados]

Looking good 👍

[@Gavy093]

What's the total power utilization for the leg? (max current drawn) I am making an autonomous bot and that is a big issue

[@danparish1344]

One small step for robot, one giant leap also for robot.

[@patrickcarpenter6258]

This makes Tesla bot look like a toy. Amazing leg tech.

[@stimpyfeelinit]

very cool

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Awesome

[@globe8949]

Are you focussing on running, or walking? I think gaits and control accordingly will be different.

[@raresandrei7205]

Now challange number 2, link it to the nervous system to have a fully functional cybernetic leg

[@adhidwipa6027]

No wonder Korea create KF-21 Boramae with Indonesia. This robot development proves it.

[@vanshanand3946]

Impressive

[@Nick-yz9fd]

Extremely interested in the development of this. Please don't hesitate to post any updates.

[@evgeniykhalzov4725]

Молодцы.

[@andrewpepperoni197]

Looks wonderful, were there any test with full body mass?

[@user-jl6yt9ji8s]

와 너무 멋있어요!!!!

[@ulforcemegamon3094]

Reminded me a bit of the "Birdbot" legs , it also uses mostly cables to get the leg to move and also uses pulleys in the leg

[@avinashthakur80]

Impressive progress. Would love to follow on it's development.

[@yunosciences441]

nice research

[@justjohnny05]

companies working hard and fast at replacing us

[@naughtyramen7773]

Can't wait for the second leg

[@lazarusblackwell6988]

The future is going to be incredible. And terrifying beyond imagination. That much i know.

[@tygorton]

As Morgan Freeman would say, "I agree with the second part."

[@4.0.4]

Could this be... A future where robots don't walk constipated??

[@ridgeisland]

I hope TESLA hires you guys! This is amazing!

[@danxy0382]

we are getting closer and closer to cybverpunk era

[@vijayadityamadduri4884]

we are getting out of night city with this one.

[@rampagephoenix1735]

This so cool!! Soon even Ameca's will be able to sprint.

[@jjordan73115]

It's about time someone put toes-ish on a robot legs. Keep it up, and good luck.

[@SilvaDreams]

It's been hard to implement but as electronics and stronger servos can be made smaller the easier it is to make complex simulations of human anatomy. It's hard to replicate the fluid movement of muscles and joints with steel and wires.