Since the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals in June of 2015, roboticists at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have been working to improve the capabilities of their custom made humanoid disaster robot, WALK-MAN. WALK-MAN is part of a much larger European Commission-funded project, which involves a variety of research institutes and universities all contributing to the development of different aspects of the robot, from simulation to perception to locomotion to manipulation.

After a solid five years of work, the WALK-MAN project is now at its final validation phase, and it’s gotten one last major upgrade to help it prepare to be helpful in the disasters we’re certain to have in the future.

For background on WALK-MAN, make sure and check out this in-depth article that we posted in 2015, just before the DRC. The version that IIT is announcing today has a number of hardware improvements, starting with a redesigned frame made of aluminum, magnesium alloys, and titanium. These lightweight materials shaved 31 kilograms off of WALK-MAN, bringing its down from 133 kg to just 102 kg.

With less mass to haul around, especially upper body mass, the robot is now faster, more dynamic, and better able to balance itself, all very important things for moving around the sorts of disaster areas it’s intended for. The upper body actuators are new as well, and even with a smaller battery, improved efficiency means that WALK-MAN can operate for about 2 hours on a 1 kWh battery.