Showing papers by "Shuuji Kajita published in 2015"

Humanoid robot HRP-2Kai — Improvement of HRP-2 towards disaster response tasks

Abstract: This paper presents a humanoid robot HRP-2Kai, which is the improvement version of HRP-2 towards disaster response tasks. HRP-2 stands for a humanoid robotics platform-2, which was developed in phase two of the Japanese national project HRP (Humanoid Robotics Project, from 1998FY to 2002FY), while Kai means improvement in Japanese. In a year of the ninth year from releasing HRP-2, the Great East Japan Earthquake shook Japan on March 11, 2011. Since we reflected on that we were not able to deploy our robots for emergency response at that time, we started a study of the disaster response humanoid robots by improving HRP-2. Improvements are presented with its basic specification in this paper.

Task-level teleoperated manipulation for the HRP-2Kai humanoid robot

Abstract: This paper presents the strategy used by the team AIST-NEDO at the DARPA Robotics Challenge to deal with the designated manipulation tasks by means of a task-level teleoperation of the HRP-2Kai humanoid robot, considering a disaster-hit scenario that is inherently non-structured and a limited communication between the user and the robot. The strategy, based on the information provided by a laser rangefinder and a set of cameras installed at the head and at both hands, consisted in the alignment of 3D models representing the desired manipulation targets with a measured point cloud, in order to provide a reference frame to describe the manipulation motion required for each task. Each motion was carefully planned in advance by assuming minimum information of the object representing the manipulation target. In order to exemplify the before mentioned approach, two representative tasks of the DARPA Robotics Challenge are described, as well as the corresponding results obtained during the competition.

Task sequencer integrated into a teleoperation interface for biped humanoid robots

Abstract: This study describes our teleoperation interface, through which an operator can dictate various tasks to a biped humanoid robot. In this interface, the robot model and the environmental data are presented in three-dimensional computer graphics, and the robot actions are specified by several operational markers. The interface also provides a task sequencer function, enabling the operator to perform a task merely by proceeding a task sequence, which structures the procedure of a particular task. The task sequencer provides a much more efficient operation than the direct use of operational markers. We verified the interface by participation in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. Our humanoid robot HRP-2kai operated through our teleoperation interface completed most of the DRC tasks.