China is seeing a boom in its humanoid robot industry, with one of the latest models capable of performing continuous backflips.
The success of N2, a 1.3-meter-tall robot developed by a Beijing-based team, marks another major advancement in humanoid robot development.
Jiang Zheyuan, technical leader of the development team, explained the difficulties of performing backflips.
"A backflip is harder for the robot than a frontflip because the robot. Humans have longer front feet and shorter back feet, so in a backflip, the inertia makes it easier to fall on the back, whereas in a frontflip, the long front feet make it harder to fall forward. Therefore, doing a backflip is slightly harder than doing a frontflip," said Jiang.
Some innovative hardware designs by the team ensured the stability of the robot during backflips. For example, the heavy joints of the robot's limbs are placed closer to its crotch to make it easier for it to rotate in the air.
"This joint is not connected to its thigh, but to its knee by a connecting rod. By moving the joint upward, we minimized the inertia of its legs," Jiang explained.
More powerful rotors and lighter materials are also used to build the robot to give it stronger power.
Chinese engineers unveil new humanoid robot able to backflip
