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: 🤖.

Do people hold a humanoid robot morally accountable for the harm it causes

Abstract: Robots will increasingly take on roles in our social lives where they can cause humans harm. When robots do so, will people hold robots morally accountable? To investigate this question, 40 undergraduate students individually engaged in a 15-minute interaction with ATR's humanoid robot, Robovie. The interaction culminated in a situation where Robovie incorrectly assessed the participant's performance in a game, and prevented the participant from winning a $20 prize. Each participant was then interviewed in a 50-minute session. Results showed that all of the participants engaged socially with Robovie, and many of them conceptualized Robovie as having mental/emotional and social attributes. Sixty-five percent of the participants attributed some level of moral accountability to Robovie. Statistically, participants held Robovie less accountable than they would a human, but more accountable than they would a vending machine. Results are discussed in terms of the New Ontological Category Hypothesis and robotic warfare.

TALOS: A new humanoid research platform targeted for industrial applications

Abstract: The upcoming generation of humanoid robots will have to be equipped with state-of-the-art technical features along with high industrial quality, but they should also offer the prospect of effective physical human interaction. In this paper we introduce a new humanoid robot capable of interacting with a human environment and targeting industrial applications. Limitations are outlined and used together with the feedback from the DARPA Robotics Challenge, and other teams leading the field in creating new humanoid robots. The resulting robot is able to handle weights of 6 kg with an out-stretched arm, and has powerful motors to carry out fast movements. Its kinematics have been specially designed for screwing and drilling motions. In order to make interaction with human operators possible, this robot is equipped with torque sensors to measure joint effort and high resolution encoders to measure both motor and joint positions. The humanoid robotics field has reached a stage where robustness and repeatability is the next watershed. We believe that this robot has the potential to become a powerful tool for the research community to successfully navigate this turning point, as the humanoid robot HRP-2 was in its own time.

Humanoid robots as a passive-social medium: a field experiment at a train station

Abstract: This paper reports a method that uses humanoid robots as a communication medium. There are many interactive robots under development, but due to their limited perception, their interactivity is still far poorer than that of humans. Our approach in this paper is to limit robots' purpose to a non-interactive medium and to look for a way to attract people's interest in the information that robots convey. We propose using robots as a passive-social medium, in which multiple robots converse with each other. We conducted a field experiment at a train station for eight days to investigate the effects of a passive-social medium.

Synthesis of complex humanoid whole-body behavior: A focus on sequencing and tasks transitions

Abstract: We present a novel approach to deal with transitions while performing a sequence of dynamic tasks with a humanoid robot. The simultaneous achievement of several tasks cannot be ensured, so we use a strategy based on weights to represent their relative importance. The robot interacts with a changing environment, and the input torques are different depending on whether the robot performs tasks in a constrained state (e.g. in contact) or not. We develop a solution with smooth weights variations and transitional tasks which avoids sharp torque evolutions. In order to validate this approach, simulations are carried out on a virtual iCub robot which is assigned the realization of a complex mission involving various changing tasks.

iCub Whole-Body Control through Force Regulation on Rigid Non-Coplanar Contacts

Abstract: This paper details the implementation on the humanoid robot iCub of state-of-the-art algorithms for whole-body control. We regulate the forces between the robot and its surrounding environment to stabilize a desired robot posture. We assume that the forces and torques are exerted on rigid contacts. The validity of this assumption is guaranteed by constraining the contact forces and torques, e.g. the contact forces must belong to the associated friction cones. The implementation of this control strategy requires to estimate the external forces acting on the robot, and the internal joint torques. We then detail algorithms to obtain these estimations when using a robot with an iCub-like sensor set, i.e. distributed six-axis force-torque sensors and whole-body tactile sensors. A general theory for identifying the robot inertial parameters is also presented. From an actuation standpoint, we show how to implement a joint torque control in the case of DC brushless motors. In addition, the coupling mechanism of the iCub torso is investigated. The soundness of the entire control architecture is validated in a real scenario involving the robot iCub balancing and making contacts at both arms.