April 20, 2011 04:42 pm EDT

Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns

FROG has a long way to go before it can become a real dinosaur. It's skinny, it's awkward -- in fact, the camouflaged robot is downright timid when compared to, say, the horn-wielding matador's nightmare that is Boston Dynamics' BigDog robot. It's a heck of a start, though. FROG -- that's Four-legged Robot for Optimal Gait -- is actually a prototype of a triceratops skeleton designed by Dr. Wei Wang and a number of PhD students at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Automation. It has joint angle sensors, acceleration sensors, a pan-tilt camera, and a number of other sensing devices. FROG's got a Linux system inside and communicates wirelessly with a host computer -- in order to power it, however, you've got to plug the thing in, which puts it at a decided disadvantage when doing battle with robotic tyrannosauruses. Inspiration for FROG came from small triceratops statue given to Dr. Wang by a Chinese film director working on a CGI animated dinosaur movie. The doctor hopes that the 'bot will show up in museums or other dinosaur exhibits when it's a bit more complete. Dr. Wang balks at comparisons to our beloved BigDog, however, since FROG has DC Motors and isn't hydraulic, so don't expect this herbivorous reptile to carry your luggage over rocky terrain any time soon.

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Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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