Dexter
Dexter was a pneumatically actuated, dynamically balancing bipedal robot built by Anybots, a Silicon Valley startup founded by Trevor Blackwell. Its 2007 videos of a robot balancing and jumping without static walking were an early demonstration of learning based balance. Anybots later pivoted to telepresence robots.
We have not sat down with this one. The score below is computed from the data we hold, and the facts on this page are sourced. It is not on sale, so there is nothing to recommend.
How the score is built
Capability is what the machine physically does. Value compares it with others at a similar price, not with the whole market. Buyability asks whether you can really order one. Ecosystem is the software and community around it. Proof is what it has done in the field, which is where most humanoids score badly and should.
What people buy instead.
- Status
- Retired
- Category
- research
- First revealed
- 2007
- Form
- bipedal
- Height
- n/a
- Weight
- n/a
- Payload
- n/a
- Degrees of freedom
- n/a
- Battery
- n/a
- Runtime
- n/a
- Walking speed
- n/a
- Actuation
- pneumatic actuators with a compressed air tether
- Units deployed (est.)
- not disclosed
- Teleoperation
- partial
Where it stands
Development stopped around 2008 when Anybots shifted to the QB telepresence robot.
What stands out
- Dynamic balancing biped, not ZMP based
- Pneumatic actuation with air tether
- Predecessor of Anybots' Monty and QB robots
Autonomy, observed
Videos in 2007 show dynamic balancing, walking and jumping; described as one of the first dynamically balancing bipeds that did not rely on zero moment point walking
Balance was autonomous; commands were sent by an operator
Hands, sensors, brain
- Hands: simple hands
- Sensors: joint sensors, gyroscopes
- Compute: off board PC
- AI stack: learned balance controller
Price and volume
never for sale
Sources
- 01AnybotsWikipedia
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