(technewsworld)
A baby's first step is often considered the hardest and the most significant. Human babies, which are among those that are altricial at birth, are unable to walk and must "learn" to do so, often by mimicking the movements of other people.

Now engineers with the University of Arizona have developed a set of robotic legs that essentially also work by mimicking the movements of humans. Researchers Theresa Klein and M. Anthony Lewis, both of the university's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, describe their project in a paper published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.

The robot is able to walk -- much like a human -- by placing one foot in front of the other. While this is a step forward for the robot, is it a step forward for robotic development?



(more)