Medal
Olympic
swimmers have to train for years to get into the kind of peak physical
condition that allows them to push the limits of the human body can do. When it comes to robots with amazing
physical capabilities it is the developers who work hard to create the almost
super human like capabilities of the machine.
In the case
of Swumanoid it was both an Olympic athlete and a research team that has worked
long and hard to make the root happen. The three foot tall robot was based on
the model of a Japanese Olympic swimmer. The team put an Olympic swimmer into
the water and then used a special 3D scanner to mimic the motions of the robot
and how the muscles moved beneath the skin. For the time being his best stroke
in the free stroke, but in time he will perfect other strokes and who knows you
may just see him swimming soon.
Source: Pop Sci
Image: Morgue File
