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Watch Disney’s One-Legged Pogo Robot Hop On Its Own

We cannot wait for it to leap over the crackling ash-remains of humanity.
Image: Disney.

Disney Research made an adorable jumping robot, and we cannot wait for it to leap over the crackling ash-remains of humanity.

Most hopping bots to date are big and tethered to a power source. This little bot is made up of lithium polymer batteries, a microcomputer, and a springy, passively compliant leg, meaning that the springs can store their own energy. The linear elastic actuator in parallel (LEAP) mechanism uses a voice coil actuator (like you'd find in a speaker) and two compression springs.

It also has a gimballing hip joint, helping keep balance for about 19 continuous pogo-hops. You could totally take this thing in a game of Skip-It.

For interaction with humans, passive compliance is a robotics tradeoff: You're not pre-loading a spring and then unleashing it, so it's relatively safer for hanging out with us flesh-suits. But if that stored energy is released quickly and in a person's direction, well, life comes at us fast. For Lil' Bouncy Bot, on-board sensors measure velocity, so it doesn't spring off into the ceiling.

The Pittsburgh-based researchers write in their study that "to the authors' best knowledge, no untethered single-legged hopper has achieved continuous hopping without using offboard power." They're planning to redesign bouncy bot's LEAP mechanism for use in a multi-legged system — so that it can jump forever forward into our robotic dreams and nightmares.