back to article Human-made hopper out-leaps rival robots in artificial jumping contest

Scientists with a grant have done what none thought possible – perhaps few even gave any thought to – and smashed the world record for the highest jumping robot. With a design resembling two bicycle wheels held together with rubber bands, the engineered jumper can leap more than 30 metres high, 100 times its own height and …

  1. Pete 2 Silver badge

    The next hurdle

    > The researchers hope the rubber band and carbon fibre combo will find applications in the real world, and beyond.

    An impressive feat.

    I look forward to seeing the Mk2 version that can carry a usable payload.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: The next hurdle

      Yes, From the articles "...125m high while covering half a kilometer in a single bound..." might be impressive, but what is it going to do when it gets there? How many bounds before it breaks?

      The principle is interesting, but will it scale up enough to carry some sort of scientific instruments, a transmitter to send data back and a battery pack enough for the mission. I suspect current solar cell tech might not survive the bounds or the landings, probably dust uplifted by the landing settling on the solar cells or even a safe way of landing right side up for the solar cells to work.

      I sometimes wonder if this sort of technology is on similar lines to a Space Elevator. Possible in principle, but the materials aren't there (yet).

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: The next hurdle

        "How many bounds before it breaks?"

        That was my first thought. Longevity can't be good. Too much stress in components designed to be as light as possible.

    2. Paul Cooper

      Re: The next hurdle

      I look forward to seeing the Mk2 version that can carry a usable payload.

      There's plenty of instrumentation available for much lighter birds and insects. As it is, it could carry a useful payload with several sensors.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: The next hurdle

        "There's plenty of instrumentation available for much lighter birds and insects."

        What kind of G forces can that instrumentation repeatedly take without failing?

    3. ThatOne Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: The next hurdle

      > I look forward to seeing the Mk2 version that can carry a usable payload

      Indeed, because if it can not carry something useful and deploy it somewhere distant, sorry, it's just a toy. Not wanting to dis their baby, but given it's shaped as a big circular spring it won't be easy to put much payload on it (and any additional (pay)load will severely reduce its performances anyway).

      Last but definitely not least, its sole CV entry "able to overcome obstacles previously only navigated by flying robots" begs immediately the question "what's wrong with flying robots?". Remarkable technical achievement, but it seems to me it solves a problem nobody had. (Once again.)

      1. Death Boffin
        FAIL

        Re: The next hurdle

        The problem with flying robots is that the don't work well on the Moon.

        1. TDog

          Re: The next hurdle

          Nor at Moon ambient surface temperature and atmospheric pressure does rubber (freezes or looses volatiles and melts) and to a lesser extent carbon fibre. On the more heavy side of things you would know exactly where to find it, just where it was left.

        2. jake Silver badge

          Re: The next hurdle

          "The problem with flying robots is that the don't work well on the Moon."

          That would depend entirely on how much reaction mass the robots have access to.

        3. ThatOne Silver badge

          Re: The next hurdle

          > don't work well on the Moon

          So what? There isn't much going on on the Moon right now, is there. Yes, there have been sound bites and promises all around for several years now, but we're not there yet, literally. Also, if eventually we need some kind of aircraft for the Moon, we'll need something able to move people and cargo around, not just a tiny hopping webcam style thingy. *shrug*

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
            Alien

            Re: The next hurdle

            Everyone always remembers the Eagles from Space: 1999, but who remembers the Moon Hopper from U.F.O?

      2. jake Silver badge

        Re: The next hurdle

        "but it seems to me it solves a problem nobody had."

        There is an awful lot of that going around these days.

  2. saif

    Just one jump?

    Not more than a complicated spring if it can't jump again. How does it qualify as a robot?

    1. Paul Herber Silver badge

      Re: Just one jump?

      Code written in Cobol. Helps it jump with grace.

      1. jake Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Just one jump?

        ::snort::

        Have a beer :-)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Just one jump?

        Well, it is a Hopper.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Just one jump?

          Amazing.

        2. A.P. Veening Silver badge

          Re: Just one jump?

          Well, it is a Hopper.

          But neither an admiral nor gracious.

    2. JassMan

      Re: Just one jump? @saif

      Not more than a complicated spring if it can't jump again.

      I suggest you read the article again.

      It employs a rotary motor to multiply the work and uses specially selected springs and rubber bands that allow the system to store energy. If you look closely at the photo supplied you can see that a "string" from the cone to the opposite side of the "wheels". The motor reels in the string to flatten the wheels and tension up the rubber bands. Presumably, a radio signal (or possibly just a timer), tells the motor to start winding again after the jump is completed.

      Personally, I think it could be made to jump higher simply by removing the rubber bands and simply relying on the stored energy in the carbon fibre. As an engineering student (several millennia ago), I was was taught never to call rubber bands, "elastic bands" because they are far from elastic. I know some modern elastomers are far more energy efficient, but I believe the current research is going into Carbon Nano Tube (CNT)Yarn as the way to store spring energy. Maybe they could substitute CNT yarn for the rubber although I don't know how extensible it is.

      1. Irony Deficient

        Maybe they could substitute CNT yarn for the rubber

        At first glance, I’d read “CNT yarn” as “CNT yam”. Perhaps unadorned 16px Arial could use a bit more letter spacing after a lower case “r”. (Italic is nearly as ambiguous; bold, however, is readily distinguishable, as the comment title shows.)

  3. ITS Retired

    How high can this thing jump before it needs something

    to slow its decent to keep it from becoming wreckage when it hits the ground?

    Nothing is free. There are always trade offs that can and will get in the way of any new miracle gizmo ideas.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: How high can this thing jump before it needs something

      The suggestion in the article was for Moon exploration, so that only leaves rocket motors to slow its decent.

    2. Adrian 4

      Re: How high can this thing jump before it needs something

      Some of the energy will get stored back in the spring. If part of the jump energy came from motor action, maybe the motors can recover most of the remainder ?

    3. steelpillow Silver badge

      Re: How high can this thing jump before it needs something

      It would be neat to fit regenerative braking, so the landing impact winds the thing up again most of the way.

  4. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
    Meh

    Wow

    I'm glad there was a photo because the video was almost pointless

  5. G Mac
    Joke

    Red Dwarf Hopper?

    When I saw the headline my first thought was the sequence when Lister dropped his cigarette between legs while operating his Hopper. That comedic sequence had me weeping with laughter.

  6. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Pint

    Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...

    Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Hoppppppperrrrrrr!

  7. Zebo-the-Fat

    May not be a comfortable ride!

    1. ThatOne Silver badge

      Well, the version able to carry an average human would dwarf a A380... Won't happen anytime soon, even if the passenger had a chance of surviving.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like