Humanoid robot

About: Humanoid robot is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14387 publications have been published within this topic receiving 243674 citations. The topic is also known as: 🤖.

Human-like compliant locomotion: state of the art of robotic implementations.

Abstract: This review paper provides a synthetic yet critical overview of the key biomechanical principles of human bipedal walking and their current implementation in robotic platforms. We describe the functional role of human joints, addressing in particular the relevance of the compliant properties of the different degrees of freedom throughout the gait cycle. We focused on three basic functional units involved in locomotion, i.e. the ankle-foot complex, the knee, and the hip-pelvis complex, and their relevance to whole-body performance. We present an extensive review of the current implementations of these mechanisms into robotic platforms, discussing their potentialities and limitations from the functional and energetic perspectives. We specifically targeted humanoid robots, but also revised evidence from the field of lower-limb prosthetics, which presents innovative solutions still unexploited in the current humanoids. Finally, we identified the main critical aspects of the process of translating human principles into actual machines, providing a number of relevant challenges that should be addressed in future research.

Balance control analysis of humanoid robot based on ZMP feedback control

Abstract: Balance control analysis of humanoid robot based on Zero Moment Point (ZMP) feedback control is presented. ZMP is mostly used as standard evaluation of stability of humanoid robot, and balance control is conducted by controlling ZMP position so that it is always in convex hull of the foot-support area. To simplify the design of controller, it is mainly used as one mass inverted pendulum model which represents lower body of humanoid robot model. However this model causes system to become non-minimum phase and performance limitation of the system occurrs, because of the presence of Waterbed effect in frequency domain and unavoidable undershoot in time domain. This paper proposes ZMP feedback control using two masses inverted pendulum model which represents lower and upper body of humanoid robot and creates minimum phase system. The design of the controller based on the proposed model using linear quadratic by considering output is described and confirmed using simulation.

Evaluation of human sense of security for coexisting robots using virtual reality. 1st report: evaluation of pick and place motion of humanoid robots

Abstract: When robots coexisting with humans are designed, it is important to evaluate the influence of the shape and size of the robots and their motions on human sense of security. For this purpose, an evaluation system of human sense of security for coexisting robots using virtual reality is discussed. Virtual robots are visually presented to a human subject through a head mounted display; the subject and the robots coexist in the virtual world. Some kinds of physiological indices of the subject are measured, he answers the questionnaire about his impression of the robots, and his sense of security is evaluated. Because of using virtual reality technique, the shape and size of the robots and their motions can be easily changed and tested. In the present report, pick and place motion of humanoid robots is evaluated. As a result of analyzing the questionnaire, it is found that turning the body coordinating with the arm gives good impression on humans.

Clinical Application of a Humanoid Robot in Pediatric Cancer Interventions

Abstract: This paper propounds a novel approach by exploring the effect of utilizing a social humanoid robot as a therapy-assistive tool in dealing with pediatric distress. The study aims to create a friendship bond between a humanoid robot and young oncology patients to alleviate their pain and distress. Eleven children, ages 7–12, diagnosed with cancer were randomly assigned into two groups: a social robot-assisted therapy (SRAT) group with 6 kids and a psychotherapy group with five kids at two specialized hospitals in Tehran. A NAO robot was programmed and employed as a robotic assistant to a psychologist in the SRAT group to perform various scenarios in eight intervention sessions. These sessions were aimed at instructing the children about their affliction and its symptoms, sympathizing with them, and providing a space for them to express their fears and worries. The same treatment was conducted by the psychologist alone on the control group. The children’s anxiety, anger, and depression were measured with three standard questionnaires obtained from the literature before and after the treatment (March et al., in J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36:554–565, 1997; Nelson and Finch, in Children’s inventory of anger, 2000; Kovacs, in Psychopharmacol Bull 21:995–1124, 1985). The results of descriptive statistics and MANOVA indicated that the children’s stress, depression, and anger were considerably alleviated during SRAT treatment and significant differences were observed between the two groups. Considering the positive reactions from the children to the robot assistant’s presence at the intervention sessions, and observing the numerical results, one can anticipate that utilizing a humanoid robot with different communication abilities can be beneficial, both in elevation of efficacy in interventions, and fomenting kids to be more interactive and cooperative in their treatment sessions. In addition, employing the humanoid robot was significantly useful in teaching children about their affliction and instructing them in techniques such as: relaxation or desensitization in order to help them confront and manage their distress themselves and take control of their situation.

Laser-Based Kinematic Calibration of Robot Manipulator Using Differential Kinematics

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel systematic technique to estimate entire kinematic parameter errors of robot manipulator. Small errors always exist in link length and link twist for physical manipulators, which affect the precision in kinematic equations leading to calculate wrong joint angle values in inverse kinematic equations. In order to solve these problems, the proposed technique employs a structured laser module (SLM), a stationary camera, the Jacobian matrices, and an extended Kalman filter (EKF). The SLM is attached to the end-effector of the manipulator arm and the stationary camera is used to determine an accurate position where the laser comes out. Variances between actual and measured positions of laser beams are represented by the Jacobian matrices formulated from differential kinematics. Then, the EKF is used to estimate kinematic parameters. Effectiveness of the proposed technique is verified with 7 DOF humanoid manipulator arm by computer simulation and 4 DOF manipulator by actual experiment.