UCLA unveils new ARTEMIS robot for its football tournament

UCLA has released a new video showing the latest version of its ARTEMIS robot project, which will compete in the RoboCup Soccer League.

A renewed sense of enthusiasm has surrounded the robotics industry ever since Tesla entered space with the Optimus robot, especially when combined with Elon Musk’s strong support for the technology and its potential use in manufacturing. Now, one of the most promising robotics projects in the US from the University of California, Los Angeles, has been shown on video in its latest iteration.

The video of the ARTEMIS robot’s new capabilities was posted to the UCLA Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) YouTube channel this morning.

Just like Boston Dynamics’ popular robotics training videos, UCLA puts ARTEMIS to some incredibly tough tests. The robot is forced to walk long distances without support, walk on uneven surfaces, kick and punch while staying upright, and more.

While the video shows some of the new robot’s amazing accomplishments, the claims made by ARTEMIS engineers about their latest project are perhaps even more impressive.

The robot’s engineers claim it’s the fastest humanoid robot on the planet walking at 2.1 meters per second, can run “in flight with two feet on the ground,” the third robot ever to do so, and operates completely unfettered thanks to a built-in battery and calculation system.

The list of technical improvements to the platform to allow this massive amount of movement is extensive as well, including a new system of “sensory stimulation actuators” to move the robot, “unconventional hip routing to improve torque distribution between yaw and roll actuators,” “inertia Optimized for Dynamic Motion,” and “a new type of single-axis foot force sensor front and rear.”

The RoboCup, which ARTEMIS is designed to compete in, is such an important robots vs. bots competition in football games that it has led UCLA engineers to paraphrase the ARTEMIS acronym as “Robot Exceeds Messi in Soccer.” The competition has several sub-sections, including Standard Platform, Mini Size, and Humans, in which ARTEMIS will compete.

This is far from the first robot that RoMeLa has built, nor is it the first to compete in a RoboCup soccer tournament. However, compared to previous robots such as THOR, SAFFiR, and CHARLI, ARTEMIS has much greater movement capabilities and is noticeably more compact.

With robotics becoming increasingly important in industrial applications, there is no doubt that more and more companies will join the likes of Tesla in investing in robotics. And with videos like this, that future may be just around the corner.

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