Robot Dog Has Hiked Swiss Alps Without Help & Could Move On To Other Planets

A robot dog has gone where many humans can only dream of. ‘ANYmal’, a four-legged autonomous bot developed by the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zürich, has hiked a mountain in Switzerland without assistance, proving it is capable of handling rough terrain.

ANYmal has successfully completed a hiking course at the steep Mount Etzel, which is located 1,098 meters (3,602 feet) above sea level, according to Euronews. “[The path] was even hard sometimes for us… but the robot could go over all these obstacles and we didn’t need to help,” detailed PhD student Takahiro Miki, one of the researchers of the project.

The bot dog stands out from others due to its rare ability to combine visual perception with a sense of how to maneuver obstacles, much like people and real animals can.

Normally, quadrupedal androids’ sensors only tell them if a map is accurate but don’t prepare their legs for deterrents like tall grass or deep snow. ANYmal, on the other hand, has a heightened sense of touch.

Having seemed to master this skill, scientists are confident that ANYmal can access dangerous or hard-to-reach territory, and are hopeful that it could accomplish missions on other planets.

The robot dog’s technology is outlined in the Science Robotics journal. You can witness its journey along the Swiss Alps below.

[via Euronews and IEEE Spectrum, video and cover image via ETH Zürich]