Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) College of STEM students and employees got to take the controls of three Unitree quadruped robots, commonly known as robotic dogs, on Wednesday, August 24th, 2022.
They guided the robots, which mimic the movements of dogs and cats, through several maneuvers – including walking, rolling, wagging, and even climbing stairs – through the Technology Building bay.
“People see this technology, and they say, ‘I saw that on YouTube, but I haven’t seen it in real life,’ and we want them to see what it’s going to be like so they get an idea about what they’re going to have in their homes,” said Robert Stokes of Stokes Educational Services. “It’s not just going to be in a university setting in a classroom environment. It’s going to be out there in all different areas of their lives.”
The college educators on hand also got to see how they might integrate the robots into their curricula.
On display Wednesday were two Unitree Go1 model robots – one equipped with a security package – and a larger Unitree Aliengo robot. The standard Go1 models can be used in engineering and programming classes, Stokes said, and then equipped to respond quickly to a security lockdown on college and high school campuses.
In addition to showing off the robots’ walking, rolling, and climbing capabilities, Stokes picked up one of the robots and dropped it, showing how the machine could land on all four feet like a cat.
