Robot kangaroo can jump efficiently by reusing energy

The Festo company has developed a robot that moves in the same way as a kangaroo. By reusing the energy released when landing, the robot would have great stamina.

The mechanical kangaroo was designed by Festo in his German research center. The designers also looked closely at the anatomy of a kangaroo. The marsupials can keep jumping around at a high pace for hours because they can partly reuse the energy released during landing.

The robot, aptly called BionicKangaroo, has a small battery and a motor to make the robot kangaroo jump using compressed air in the pneumatic muscles at the legs. The jumps are programmed in detail, whereby the released kinetic energy is collected during landing and reused for the next jump. The robot can be controlled via arm gestures, whereby the client must wear a special bracelet.

Festo states that it has no plans to build robot kangaroos on a large scale: the design has been a study into new possibilities for reusing released energy in industrial processes. The company has also tested new pneumatic technologies in combination with modern electronics. The robot will be on display in the wild at a trade show at the Hannover Messe next week.