The journalist Enrico Guizzo interviewed Claudio Semini, post-doc researcher at the IIT Advanced Robotics (ADVR) department, about the hydraulical quadruped robot HyQ. Semini is developing the robot within a research group headed by the ADVR Department Director, Prof. Darwin Caldwell.

The interview, published on IEEE Spectrum on-line magazine, focuses on HyQ versatility: the robot can walk, trot, rear like a horse, squat jump, and kick.

"One of HyQ's key design features, Semini said, is that its legs are actively compliant, and the robot can change the stiffness of each limb by rapidly adjusting the hydraulic flow on its leg actuators".

HyQ is designed to move over rough terrain and, in the future, help humans in emergency circumstances or substitute them for search and rescue actions in dangerous areas.

The entire article is available here.