Leonardo, the tightrope walker robot who knows how to ride a skateboard

By Alessandro Pellegrino

He can walk, fly and even know how to skateboard, thanks to his strong sense of balance. The robot is named Leonardo (LEgs ONboARD drOne), it was built by researchers from the California Institute of technology (Caletch). The robot is 70cm tall, Leo is the first robot to use multi-jointed legs and four shoulder-mounted propeller thrusters to control his balance.

Leo is also capable of performing unusual movement maneuvers, such as walking on a tightrope tape or riding a skateboard.

Leo is like a person, who changes the position and orientation of his legs to maintain balance. The propellers make it vertical, while the propellers make it work leg position to move the robot’s center of mass forward through synchronized flight and walking. When he flies, he uses the propellers on their own, like a drone.