Skiing Robot

In 2013, researchers at the University of Manitoba demonstrated the world’s first ice-skating, hockey-playing robot. Known as Jennifer, it represented a major breakthrough in gait analysis and the dynamics of balance. In an extension of this research, they recently released a YouTube video of Jennifer’s latest skills – cross-country and alpine skiing.

For cross-country skiing, the ability to adapt to different types of conditions offered significant challenges, since hard, dry snow is much easier to maneuver than deep, wet snow. For alpine skiing, the rapid response required to maintain control was a major consideration. And in all cases, the ability to dynamically switch from one mode to another, as well as operating in cold weather, added even more levels of complexity.

The development of autonomous robots with capabilities like these will someday enable them to be deployed in an ever-widening variety of circumstances where human intervention may not be practical or safe, such as search and rescue.