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When future disaster strikes, the helpful hand swooping your way may be more machine than man. Honda R&D researchers detailed their latest disaster relief prototype robot, the E2-DR, in a paper entitled, “Development of Experimental Legged Robot for Inspection and Disaster Response in Plants.”
The robot stands a little over 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighs just over 187 pounds. Adding to its weight is a 1000-Wh lithium-ion battery with 90-minute operational stamina. E2-DR displays 33 degrees of freedom, and can rotate its body 180 degrees. Honda swapped out conventional communication cables for optical fiber alternatives, in an effort to keep size to...