Boston Dynamics Officially Introduces Handle, A New Robot That Combines Wheels With Legs

Boston Dynamics has officially introduced Handle, a robot that combines wheels with legs for impressive mobility that allows it to jump, quickly moved down stairs, and go off-road. The robot can reach speeds of nine miles-per-hour and, make a four-foot vertical leap, and is shown lifting a 100-pound crate.

Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4? ?feet vertically. ?It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ???Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles? found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere: by combining wheels and legs Handle can have the best of both worlds.

Earlier in 2017, Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert showed a video of Handle in action at an event attended by venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson who shared his own video of the presentation.