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If robots are to go where people go, they need to be able to move in the way that people move.
如果機器人要去人類去到的地方，它們需要能夠像人類一樣移動。
Wheels are useless for navigating much of the world—just ask anyone who uses a wheelchair,
輪子在世界上大部分地方都是無用的——問問使用輪椅的人就知道，
says Aaron Ames, a robotics expert at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
加州理工學院（Caltech）的機器人專家Aaron Ames說到。
"We can make robots walk really well now," he says. Such robots can, though, look a little odd.
“我們現在可以讓機器人很好地行走，”他說。不過，這樣的機器人看起來可能有些怪異。
When a torso with two legs attached strolls out of Dr Ames's laboratory it causes a bit of a sensation on Caltech's campus.
當配有兩條腿的軀干從Ames博士的實驗室溜出來的時候，它在Caltech校園中引起了小小的轟動。
But this is something people are going to have to get used to, because many more are coming.
但人們將需要習慣，因為會有越來越多這樣的機器人問世。
Problems remain, and improvements are needed.
問題仍然存在，并且需要改進。
"But once we get there, we are going to have millions of walking robots in human environments,"
“但一旦我們成功，我們的人類環境中將擁有數百萬個行走的機器人，”
says Jonathan Hurst, co-founder of Agility Robotics, a firm based in Albany, Oregon.
Agility Robotics公司（該公司位于俄勒岡州奧爾巴尼）的聯合創始人表示。
It has just launched Digit, a bipedal, two-armed robot which has the look of an ostrich about it.
該公司剛剛推出一款雙腿雙臂機器人Digit，外形酷似鴕鳥。
At present, Digit costs $250,000. But it is early days.
目前，Digit造價25萬美元。但還在初期階段。
As more walking robots are put to work their development will accelerate and their production volumes increase,
隨著越來越多的行走機器人被投入使用，它們的開發將加速，它們的產量將增加，
bringing the cost of a machine like Digit down to the tens of thousands of dollars.
因此像Digit這類機器的造價將降至數萬美元。
This process is similar to the emergence of flying drones.
這個過程類似于無人機的出現。
They once cost millions, and had limited uses, until researchers worked out how to make small aircraft hover using multiple co-ordinated rotors.
曾經它們的成本為是百萬，且使用有限，直到研究人員研究出了如何使用多協調轉子使小型飛機懸停。
These devices could fly easily and autonomously. Prices fell to $500 or less,
這些裝置可以輕松自主地飛行。價格降至五百美元以下，
and multi-rotor drones are now employed for all manner of jobs, from cinematography to aerial surveying to delivering packages.
并且多轉子無人機現在被應用于各種工作，如電影攝影、航空測量以及運輸包裹。
Some in the field of robotics think walking robots have started down a similar path.
機器人學領域的一些人認為，行走機器人已經走上了類似的道路。
What changed? "We now understand the mathematics of locomotion to a much greater degree," explains Dr Ames.
什么改變了？“我們現在對移動的數學原理有了更深入了解，”Ames博士解釋道。
Old-school walking robots, such as Asimo, a famously cheesy android unveiled in 2000 by Honda, a Japanese carmaker, have stilted gaits.
老式的行走機器人，如2000年由日本汽車制造商本田公司發布的以廉價著稱的機器人Asimo，步態呆板。
They shuffle along, placing one foot forward, checking their balance, moving the other foot, rechecking their balance, and so on.
它們步履蹣跚，每走一步都要檢查平衡。
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