Building Legs / Maintaining balance?

To Le:

First off, I am amazed with your dedication to such a huge project and that you are devoting all your time into it. I really hope that one day you will suceed in creating your bot.

Second is just a question I have wondered all my life and I hope you could somehow enlighten me and give me some hope that you could really pull this off.

- I am really curious how you are going to make the legs work and have aiko actually be able to walk.

I have thought this over all these years myself and it just doesnt seem to be possible. How would you solve the problem of a robot being able to balance itself, especially with the same form as a human. I just cant seem to get a realistic image in my head of a robot that can actually have the reflex to save itself from falling, tripping, slipping. Right now aiko's body movement is slow and she is as fragile as an old lady so I am really worried about her being able to balance.

I really want to know what you are planning. Are you making muscles for her? Is the whole leg gonna be sensored up? I am really looking forward to see you pull this off. Please let us know more!

It's pretty simple to do really, if you use treads like a tank for rough terrain (see http://www.tlb.org/).
Making legs look realistic doing this is beyond me though (hips must swivel and be able to gyrate which affects upper body weight).

Take a look at this video:
Dexter 3.3 Walking Robot