Genoa, 23 May 2019 – Researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) presented at ICRA 2019 – the International Conference on Robotics and Automation held in Montreal (Canada), the most recent results about the newest version of the hydraulic quadruped robot, HyQReal. They completed the design, assembly and testing of the HyQReal, which has demonstrated that it is capable of pulling an airplane for more than 10 meters. The HyQReal is developed to support humans in emergency scenarios.
HyQReal is 1,33 m long and 90 cm tall, and its weight is 130kg. The robot is protected by an aluminum roll cage and a skin made of Kevlar, glass fiber and plastic. The quadruped has custom-made feet made in special rubber for high traction on the ground and is equipped with a 48 Volt battery which powers four electric motors connected to four hydraulic pumps. The robot has two onboard computers: one dedicated to vision and one to control.
The new features have been tested at Genoa Airport, in Genoa (Italy), with the support of Piaggio Aerospace, demonstrating the power of HyQReal by pulling a small passenger airplane (Piaggio P180 Avanti).