A walking robot using the Vortex physics library

Here are links to two short movies and a VRML animation of a four-legged walking robot.

1. The robot walks over a low obstacle.
   • 17 MB, AVI format, about 640 by 480.
   • 4.7 MB, QuickTime format.
   • 0.3 MB, QuickTime format.
2. The robot walks into a low obstacle.
   • 12 MB, AVI format, about 640 by 480.
   • 1.7 MB, QuickTime format.
   • 0.7 MB, QuickTime format.
3. The robot hunts for food. Three of the small blocks are "food", which it senses by smell; the other three blocks it ignores.
   • 7 MB, VRML file. (This needs to be viewed with a VRML viewer such as the Cortona browser plug-in.)

This robot is a successor to an earlier version written as a Java applet. The earlier one contained a primitive model of the physics, which did not attempt to model the dynamics of the legs, only the body of the robot, and allowed unlimited friction between the feet and the ground. This version of the robot uses the Vortex physics simulation library produced by CM Labs, to accurately model the complete dynamics, including collisions and friction.