Disney Research (USA) Disney Research One-Legged Hopper (LEAP) (1)

Not soldResearch robot presented at ICRA 2016 and ISER 2016.

Not for sale (research)Not programmableResearchUntethered pogoVoice-coil leg

Not soldShipping: N/A. Not available. An internal Disney Research prototype.

Remote control: Not possible. An internal research prototype.

Disney Research (ISER 2016) ↗Disney Research (ICRA 2016) ↗

Overview

Billed by Disney as the first untethered, energetically autonomous one-legged hopping robot, a pogo-stick descendant of Marc Raibert's 1980s hoppers without the hydraulic or air tether. Its leg uses a low-inertia voice coil to pump energy directly into parallel springs, and it balanced with an adapted Raibert controller for about 19 hops. A short-lived experiment, it points toward the compact dynamic characters Disney later built.

Specifications

Category	Jumpers & hoppers · Jumping & hopping robots
Released	2016
Availability	Not for sale (research)
Programmability	No programmability
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	No vision sensors
Actuators	Mixed
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Arduino / ESP32 / microcontroller
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	Four-link open chain, torso link 1.41 kg, thigh/hip link 0.31 kg (total mass not stated)
Locomotion	Single prismatic leg: voice coil actuator in parallel with two compression springs (LEAP), on a two-servo gimbal hip
Compute	Texas Instruments LAUNCHXL-F28377S microcontroller
Camera	None
Sensors	Xsens MTi-3 IMU (orientation and velocity increments at 100 Hz), two Dynamixel MX-64T servos forming a gimbal hip
Runtime	Seven 11.1 V 1300 mAh LiPo packs on board, balanced for up to ~7 s (19 hops) in published tests
Speed	Hops roughly in place, 3.5 cm steady-state ground clearance in the ICRA 2016 test rig
SDK	None