Meet Cassie, the Usain Bolt of robots
Some experts say the record for the 100-meter dash recently broken by a bipedal robot opens the door to more lifelike robots. Making them capable of robust movement on two legs is a big step in the ability for humanoid robots to work effectively and productively to benefit people, the workplace and businesses, say researchers. Still, the truly big advance would be developing robots that could interact with humans in a natural way, says Nancy Cooke, a Fulton Schools professor of humans systems engineering. From her perspective, the truly evolutionary step forward would be robots with complex cognitive abilities to actually understand humans and our world as we experience it.