Steep sections on slippery ground, high steps, scree and forest trails full of roots: the path up the 1,098-metre-high Mount Etzel at the southern end of Lake Zurich is peppered with numerous obstacles. But ANYmal, the quadrupedal robot from the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, overcomes the 120 vertical metres effortlessly in a 31-minute hike. That’s 4 minutes faster than the estimated duration for human hikers – and with no falls or missteps. This is made possible by a new control technology, which researchers at ETH Zurich led by robotics professor Marco Hutter recently presented in the journal Science Robotics. “The robot has learned to combine visual perception of its environment with proprioception – its sense of touch – based on direct leg contact. This allows it to tack...
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Desperate to escape the pandemic lockdown, thousands of Hungarians have flocked to the country’s famous National Blue Trail to savour the calm, open air of the woods. Meandering for about 700 miles from Hungary’s western border with Austria to the northeast, the Blue Trail originated in 1938 and was recognized as Europe’s first long-distance trail. Tibor Miklosi and his family hike on National Blue Trail along the Pilis Mountains, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, near Pilisszentlaszlo, Hungary, February 6, 2021. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo It was featured by National Geographic in 2020 among the best trips to take in the world. While in previous years between 6,000 and 8,000 people bought the Trail’s booklet to collect stamps proving they had hiked various secti...
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