Anymal seems a little reluctant though: the latest development to come out of the workshop at ETH’s Robotic Systems Lab moves like a real creature. Thirty-year-old Assistant Professor Hutter gives the robotic dog trotting in front of him a sharp shove; the machine slightly evades to the side before promptly finding its balance again.

Like Anymal, Hutter also seems to have both feet firmly on the ground. He gives the impression of being exactly where he wants to be: at an internationally renown research institute and in a position of some responsibility. His demonstration with Anymal seems almost like a dance between man and machine. And that’s exactly where the innovation lies: the walking robots developed by Hutter and his team at the Robotic Systems Lab have joints that react as flexibly as those of their human or animal counterparts. Anymal can climb stairs, jump and cushion a landing.

Industrial inspections and rescue missions

“We want a robot that can overcome obstacles, move about swiftly and still be tough and energy-efficient,” stresses Hutter, who is in charge of a 12-person research team. StarlETH, the previous star among walking robots, met most of these criteria, but Anymal is much more robust, making it suitable for use in impassable terrain and rough climates. With a total weight of just 30 kg, Anymal can be easily carried and deployed by a single operator, despite its imposing size. Thanks to its incorporated sensors, Anymal maps its surroundings continuously, allowing it to plan and implement its actions completely autonomously.

Hutter is convinced that walking robots could be used in a number of different fields within a few years, specifically at industrial facilities, on search and rescue operations in alpine areas, and in mining; for example, for mine inspections. “The robots will go anywhere that is dangerous for people, or where working conditions are very bad,” explains the mechanical engineering graduate.

Welcome support

Anymal owes its existence in part to the Society in Science funding programme. Hutter was awarded one of the sought-after internationally advertised fellowships in 2014. He will receive CHF 100,000 annually until 2019 for the advancement of his research. “For me, this fellowship was a unique opportunity to develop something that couldn’t be achieved with the ordinary resources,” explains the researcher, originally from eastern Switzerland. It is something in which he invests a lot of enthusiasm – as is made clear by his participation in the ARGOS Challenge, an international competition run by energy company Total to promote the development of autonomous robots for use in inspections of offshore oil and gas sites. Hutter’s research group has just tested Anymal’s practical applicability at the ARGOS Challenge in France.

“Everyone was up and ready to go at six o’clock every morning,” says Hutter. “Even after we got back to our accommodation, we would still carry on working until two o’clock in the morning.” When someone works this much voluntarily, it seems that they may be living out a childhood dream – a more sophisticated version of building with Lego. So, is this the case for Hutter? Childhood photos in a Swiss National Science Foundation publication suggest that he loved assembling, sawing and excavating things even at a young age.