Placeholder Content Image

A robot dog with a virtual spinal cord can learn to walk in just one hour

<p>We’ve all seen those adorable clips of newborn giraffes or foals first learning to walk on their shaky legs, stumbling around until they finally master the movements.</p> <p>Researchers wanted to know how animals learn to walk and learn from their stumbling, so they built a four-legged, dog-sized robot to simulate it, according to a new study <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-022-00505-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> in <em>Nature Machine Intelligence</em>.</p> <p>They found that it took their robot and its virtual spinal cord just an hour to get its walking under control.</p> <p>Getting up and going quickly is essential in the animal kingdom to avoid predators, but learning how to co-ordinate leg muscles and tendons takes time.</p> <p>Initially, baby animals rely heavily on hard-wired spinal cord reflexes to co-ordinate muscle and tendon control, while motor control reflexes help them to avoid falling and hurting themselves during their first attempts.</p> <p>More precise muscle control must be practised until the nervous system adapts to the muscles and tendons, and the young are then able to keep up with the adults.</p> <p>“As engineers and roboticists, we sought the answer by building a robot that features reflexes just like an animal and learns from mistakes,” says first author Dr Felix Ruppert, a former doctoral student in the Dynamic Locomotion research group at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), Germany.</p> <p>“If an animal stumbles, is that a mistake? Not if it happens once. But if it stumbles frequently, it gives us a measure of how well the robot walks.”</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <div class="entry-content-asset"> <div class="embed-wrapper"> <div class="inner"><iframe title="Learning Plastic Matching of Robot Dynamics in Closed-loop Central Pattern Generators" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPL6nvs_GEc?feature=oembed" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> </div> </div> </div> </figure> <p><strong>Building a virtual spinal cord to learn how to walk</strong></p> <p>The researchers designed a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/machine-learning-tool-brain-injury/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">learning algorithm</a> to function as the robot’s spinal cord and work as what’s known as a Central Pattern Generator (CPG). In humans and animals, the CPGs are networks of neurons in the spinal cord that, without any input from the brain, produce periodic muscle contractions.</p> <p>These are important for rhythmic tasks like breathing, blinking, digestion and walking.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p198628-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/technology/robot-machine-learning-to-walk/#wpcf7-f6-p198628-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <p style="display: none !important;"><span class="wpcf7-form-control-wrap referer-page"><input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page spai-bg-prepared" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /></span></p> <p><!-- Chimpmail extension by Renzo Johnson --></form> </div> </div> <p>The CPG was simulated on a small and lightweight computer that controlled the motion of the robot’s legs and it was positioned on the robot where the head would be on a dog.</p> <p>The robot – which the researchers named Morti – was designed with sensors on its feet to measure information about its movement.</p> <p>Morti learnt to walk while having no prior explicit “knowledge” of its leg design, motors, or springs by continuously comparing the expected data (modelled from the virtual spinal cord) against the sensor data as it attempted to walk.</p> <p> “Our robot is practically ‘born’ knowing nothing about its leg anatomy or how they work,” Ruppert explains. “The CPG resembles a built-in automatic walking intelligence that nature provides and that we have transferred to the robot. The computer produces signals that control the legs’ motors and the robot initially walks and stumbles.</p> <p>“Data flows back from the sensors to the virtual spinal cord where sensor and CPG data are compared. If the sensor data does not match the expected data, the learning algorithm changes the walking behaviour until the robot walks well and without stumbling.”</p> <p>Sensor data from the robot’s feet are continuously compared with the expected touch-down data predicted by the robot’s CPG. If the robot stumbles, the learning algorithm changes how far the legs swing back and forth, how fast the legs swing, and how long a leg is on the ground.</p> <p>“Changing the CPG output while keeping reflexes active and monitoring the robot stumbling is a core part of the learning process,” Ruppert says.</p> <p>Within one hour, Morti can go from stumbling around like a newborn animal to walking, optimising its movement patterns faster than an animal and increasing its energy efficiency by 40%.</p> <p>“We can’t easily research the spinal cord of a living animal. But we can model one in the robot,” says co-author Dr Alexander Badri-Spröwitz, head of the Dynamic Locomotion research group.</p> <p>“We know that these CPGs exist in many animals. We know that reflexes are embedded; but how can we combine both so that animals learn movements with reflexes and CPGs?</p> <p>“This is fundamental research at the intersection between robotics and biology. The robotic model gives us answers to questions that biology alone can’t answer.”</p> <p><!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --></p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=198628&amp;title=A+robot+dog+with+a+virtual+spinal+cord+can+learn+to+walk+in+just+one+hour" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><!-- End of tracking content syndication --></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robot-machine-learning-to-walk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/imma-perfetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Imma Perfetto</a>. Imma Perfetto is a science writer at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Science Communication from the University of Adelaide.</em></p> <p><em>Dynamic Locomotion Group (YouTube)</em></p> </div>

Technology

Placeholder Content Image

Kerri-Anne Kennerley's appeal for ground-breaking research

<p dir="ltr">Aussie TV star Kerrie-Anne Kennerley has revealed how her late husband inspired her to push for the government to fund “ground-breaking” research into a new treatment for Aussies living with spinal cord injuries.</p> <p dir="ltr">Appearing on <em>Sunrise</em>, Kerrie-Anne said watching the love of her life physically decline prior to his death in 2019, three years after falling off a balcony, was “shocking and horrible”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Anybody who has been in that position of watching a person they love almost disintegrate, not being able to push a button, work a remote, feed themselves, dress themselves, knows that it’s 24/7 care,” she <a href="https://7news.com.au/sunrise/entertainment/kerri-anne-kennerley-pushes-for-spinal-cord-research-funding-after-husbands-tragic-accident-c-5788232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on Tuesday’s show.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s shocking, it’s terrible, but people live through it.”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQvk0tgMo9E/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQvk0tgMo9E/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Kak 💁🏼‍♀️ (@kerriannekennerley)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Kerrie-Anne is pushing for people to sign a petition calling for the government to fund a new therapy called neurostimulation.</p> <p dir="ltr">The treatment involves sending electrical impulses through pads that sit on the skin over the spinal cord, and is coupled with physical training to rewire impaired neural pathways.</p> <p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.spinalcure.org.au/campaigns/projectspark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpinalCureAustralia</a>, the organisation behind the petition, are seeking $46 million in federal funding over the next five years to establish a research and treatment program for affected Aussies.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This research is ground-breaking and we’re really hoping that within five years people who suffer paraplegia or quadriplegia will actually get the ability to be able to walk,” Kerri-Anne said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s how far this could go. It’s just such incredibly important research.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The star said she has become “passionate” about the cause due to her own “deep personal experience” with spinal cord injuries.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Imagine somebody who has never walked or hasn’t walked in ten or eleven years taking a step,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“All we need people to do is sign the petition, we need to let the pollies know that this is important!”</p> <p dir="ltr">To sign the petition, click <a href="https://www.change.org/p/the-hon-greg-hunt-please-help-we-re-so-close-to-changing-my-life-for-good" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Body

Placeholder Content Image

Dan Andrews cleared by medical team

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced his return to work at the end of June following his injury at a holiday home in Mornington Peninsula in March.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Premier posted a minute-long video message to Instagram on Saturday night, with the caption: “I’ve got some news to share.”</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CQBDZ8LFmZ3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CQBDZ8LFmZ3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Dan Andrews (@danielandrewsmp)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“My vertebra has almost fully healed and my ribs are well on track. The team taking care of me has given me the all clear to get back to work soon,” he wrote.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The 48-year-old broke several ribs and suffered an acute compression fracture of the T7 vertebra after slipping on stairs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After being released from the hospital on March 15, Andrews has continued recovering at home.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a written statement shared on Twitter, Andrews wrote: “This week I had another round of scans and a meeting with my care team at the Alfred and got some good news.”</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">This week I had another round of scans and a meeting with my care team at the Alfred and got some good news.<br /><br />I've been given the all clear to return to work soon. <br /><br />On Monday 28 June I'll be back to work – and back to getting things done. I can't wait. <a href="https://t.co/6hDeGqvii2">pic.twitter.com/6hDeGqvii2</a></p> — Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1403656531959181312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2021</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The broken vertebra has almost fully healed and they’re letting me take off the back brace that I’ve had to wear for the last three months,” he continued.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The six broken ribs will take a while longer to finish healing and doctors tell me that between the ribs and getting used to not having the brace on, the next couple of weeks will be a painful adjustment.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He went on to thank his wife and children in the Instagram post, as well as the medical staff who have taken care of him.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Andrews also thanked Acting Premier James Merlino for “stepping in to lead the Government and the state” and said “he’s done an amazing job”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“On Monday 28 June I’ll be back to work - and back to getting things done. I can’t wait,” he concluded.</span></p>

News

Placeholder Content Image

Mum taken over by paralysis on drive home

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p>Queensland mother of two Roisin Clark, 35, has been left heartbroken and in shock after an accident left her paralysed for life.</p> <p>She had just undergone her first surfing lesson in December 2019 where she felt some pain in her back.</p> <p>Brushing it off, her best friend made the five-minute drive home back to Roisin's house where she had lost all feeling from her ribs down.</p> <p>“I thought I was struggling to walk (to the car) because of the pain but in actual fact I was going paralysed,” Roisin (pronounced Roshine) told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/qld-mum-of-two-paralysed-from-ribs-down-in-freak-accident-during-first-surfing-lesson-c-2649456" target="_blank">7NEWS.com.au.</a></p> <p>She's replayed that day over and over again in her mind, but was surprised to remember that there were no big waves that she thought could have caused the injury.</p> <p>“About halfway through, I started to get lower back pain,” she said.</p> <p>“I mentioned it to the instructor. He said it was quite normal and asked if I wanted to continue.</p> <p>“I said yes, (because I) didn’t think it was serious.”</p> <p>Roisin continued to brush off the pain, despite not being able to get out of the car when she arrived home.</p> <p>“I went to get out of the car and I couldn’t get out. It was just crazy,” she said.</p> <p>“I lifted my legs to the side of the car and went to stand up and couldn’t.</p> <p>“I fell onto the driveway (and) lay on the driveway.’</p> <p>“I still at this point didn’t think it was serious.”</p> <p>It was only after she was rushed to the hospital and had doctors questioned her that she started to believe it was serious.</p> <p>“I kept getting asked ‘so there wasn’t a big wave?’” Roisin recalled. “Once they saw there was no broken bones, they got the neurologist because they knew it was a spinal cord issue," she explained.</p> <p>“The night after (being admitted to the ER), doctors told me there was nothing more they could do. With the spinal cord, it’s fairly instant. Once there’s damage to it, it’s difficult to recover.”</p> <p>Despite spending five months in hospital recovering, she's not out of the woods yet.</p> <p>“There is so much more to having a spinal cord injury than not being able to walk.</p> <p>“Being in a wheelchair for me, means not only being unable to move or feel touch in my legs but also from my ribs down. It means the loss of bladder and bowel function, body temperature regulation and secondary complications like pressure sores,” Roisin said.</p> <p>“One of the hardest parts is constant and debilitating nerve pain. I spent five months in spinal rehab learning a whole new way of life - the simplest things like rolling over in bed, sitting up, showering, toileting, dressing and transferring into a car.”</p> <p>The family are now appealing for help via<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/helproisindriveagain" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a><span> </span>to buy a new car so that it can be modified and Roisin can help out at home, with the Clark family hoping to raise $45,000.</p> <p>“I’m not sure what the future looks like but if I could have some independence back and get out of the house ...(it) will make such a difference to our lives,” she said.</p> <p><em>Photo credits: 7NEWS</em></p> </div> </div> </div>

Body

Placeholder Content Image

Golf club owner Kerri-Anne Kennerley is suing over husband's fall is a long-time "friend"

<p>On the evening of March 6, 2016, Australian TV personality Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s life changed forever after her husband John fell from a verandah at the Bonville International Golf Resort which caused him to fracture his C3 and C4 vertebrae.</p> <p>He was paralysed from the neck down following the incident and sadly passed away three years later in March 2019 at the age of 73.</p> <p>Now, news has emerged that the golf course is being sued for negligence due to the accident, but the place is owned by a friend of Kerri-Anne’s as well as being a former Australian Olympian.</p> <p>Peter Montgomery, 69, represented Australia in four Olympic campaigns from 1972 to 1984 before serving as chairman of the Australian Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission and vice-president of the AOC from 2001 to 2016, according to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/olympian-peter-montgomery-owns-golf-course-kerrianne-kennerley-is-suing-over-husbands-fall/news-story/f828ef5503ab6baeaf7fb55fe7e5b2ce" target="_blank"><em>The Daily Telegraph</em>.</a></p> <p>The real estate portfolio owned by Montgomery includes the Bonville International Golf Resort, which is now being sued for unspecified damages, interests and costs filed by John Kennerley five months before his death.</p> <p>Montgomery’s company Ironhill Services has denied that the fall was its fault and that the accident occurred due to John not looking where he was walking.</p> <p>"The defendant says if the plaintiff suffered injury, loss and damage as alleged, such injury, loss and damage was caused or contributed to by the plaintiff's own negligence," read the court document in an NSW Supreme Court filing.</p> <p>Ironhill claim that John “failed to look where he was walking, stepping into a garden bed (and) failing to take care not to step onto an object, prize, on the floor”.</p> <p>However, John’s lawyers are arguing that a “reasonable person” from the golf resort’s perspective would have implemented measures to ensure patrons cannot get hurt at the golf course residence.</p> <p>Kerri-Anne spoke to <a rel="noopener" href="https://celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/golf-course-kerri-anne-kennerley-husband-died-being-sued-friend-former-olympian/9bb4599b-b4c2-460c-b4c9-ecc21bcdf0d5" target="_blank">News Corp</a> earlier this week about the incident.</p> <p>"John and I survived for three years but other people could not and that does actually make me angry,” she said.</p> <p>"Whatever the circumstances are, for an accident for any insurance company to drag something out for almost three-and-a-half years is despicable."</p> <p>The incident is said to have strained things between the former friends, but John Eales, an ambassador of Bonville Golf Resort, has said that Montgomery is “a man of the highest integrity”. </p>

Legal

Our Partners