PROSTHESIS:
THE ANTI-ROBOT Optimizing Controls for a Sports Machine BY JONATHAN TIPPETT
ave you ever dreamed of having a two-story tall, 200hp, 4-legged, hydraulic mech suit to run around in? I have, so we’re building one. It's called Prosthesis: The Anti-Robot. This is not a new idea. Many sci-fi movies have depicted machines like this over the years; the legendary Power Loader in Aliens, the menacing Ampsuit in Avatar, and most recently, the absurdly colossal, monster-busting, dual-piloted Jagers in Pacific Rim. While these machines were remarkable and exciting, Prosthesis differs from them in two very crucial ways: 1) it's real, and 2) it's built for racing. These two criteria introduce unique challenges in the design of the hydraulic system. In order to understand the hydraulics, however, we must first understand the application. Prosthesis: The Anti-Robot is a 100% human-controlled, two-story tall, 3,500-kg, 4-legged running machine designed for
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competitive sport. It is an ongoing educational research project intended to inspire future engineers, designers, and creators while in the pursuit of an entirely new human experience. It is being built by a team of volunteers with the support of industry sponsors, academic partners, and a Vancouver-based educational non-profit called The eatART Foundation that supports the creation of large-scale, technically sophisticated art projects to educate people about alternative energy technology. A CAD rendering is show in Fig. 1. First and foremost, Prosthesis is built for the pilot. Its four massive legs are controlled via a full-body, exo-skeletal interface worn by the pilot (Fig. 1), who is strapped into the center of the machine. Hydraulic power to operate the legs is supplied by electric pumps, driven by a light-weight, 150-kW lithium-ion battery pack. The movement of the legs, including all balancing, running, or (given enough courage) jump-