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: 🤖.

Three additions to passive dynamic walking; actuation, an upper body, and 3D stability

Abstract: One of the main challenges in the design of human-like walking robots (useful for service or entertainment applications as well as the study of human locomotion) is to obtain dynamic locomotion, as opposed to the static form of locomotion demonstrated by most of the current prototypes A promising concept is the idea of passive dynamic walking; even completely unactuated and uncontrolled mechanisms can perform a stable gait when walking down a shallow slope This concept enables the construction of dynamically walking prototypes that are simpler yet more natural in their motions than the static bipeds This paper presents three additions to the concept of passive dynamic walking First, hip actuation is added to increase the fore-aft stability and to provide power to the system, removing the need for a downhill floor Second, a reciprocating hip mechanism is introduced to allow the addition of a passive upper body without compromising the simplicity, efficiency and naturalness of the concept of passive dynamic walking Third, skate board-like ankle joints are implemented to provide 3D stability These ankles couple the unstable sideways lean motion to yaw (steering), a kinematic coupling which provides sideways stability when walking with sufficient forward velocity The three additions are investigated both with elementary simulation models and with prototype experiments All three prototypes demonstrate an uncannily natural and stable gait while requiring only two foot switches and three on/off actuators

Humanoid robot which can lift a 30kg box by whole body contact and tactile feedback

Abstract: We present realization of a humanoid which can lift a heavy object by whole body contact. Most humanoid motions are limited to the posture of the end-effectors only landing. In principle these humanoids can not do natural motion. If a humanoid robot is allowed arbitrary contact with the surrounding objects, it can improve the performance and operate a heavier object. We propose a "whole body contact motion" of a humanoid robot. It is defined as a control of contact state of a humanoid robot which has the distributed tactile sensors. We develop conformable and scalable tactile skin and an adult-size humanoid with a smooth surfaces for arbitrary contact. We install the skin on the entire surfaces of the humanoid. Finally we describe the humanoid lifting a 30kg box by tactile feedback.

Analysis of Human-robot Interaction at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials

Abstract: In December 2013, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA Robotics Challenge DRC Trials were held in Homestead, Florida. The DRC Trials were designed to test the capabilities of humanoid robots in disaster response scenarios with degraded communications. Each team created their own interaction method to control their robot, either the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot or a robot built by the team itself. Of the 15 competing teams, eight participated in our study of human-robot interaction. We observed the participating teams from the field with the robot and in the control room with the operators, noting many performance metrics, such as critical incidents and utterances, and categorizing their interaction methods according to the number of operators, control methods, and amount of interaction. We decomposed each task into a series of subtasks, different from the DRC Trials official subtasks for points, to gain a better understanding of each team's performance in varying complexities of mobility and manipulation. Each team's interaction methods have been compared to their performance, and correlations have been analyzed to understand why some teams ranked higher than others. We discuss lessons learned from this study, and we have found in general that the guidelines for human-robot interaction for unmanned ground vehicles still hold true: more sensor fusion, fewer operators, and more automation lead to better performance.

A Small Biped Entertainment Robot

Abstract: We propose a small biped entertainment robot proto-type, Sony Dream Robot (SDR) that realizes the Motion Entertainment and the Communication Entertainment. SDR-4X is the latest proto-type model which remains a small humanoid type robot and is expanding its capabilities of adaptability in home environment. New technologies are as follows. The first is newly developed small robot actuators named ISA-4, the second is Real-time Integrated Adaptive Motion Control. The third is a motion creating software system which enables to create SDR's attractive motion performance. Speech synthesis and singing voice production are also developed for communication entertainment applications. Biography: Mr. Ishida graduated from the graduate school of Waseda University in 1974 and joined the Sony Corporation after the graduation. From 1976 to 1977 he was a visiting researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University. In 1973, he developed the world-first humanoid robot Wabot-1 at the Waseda Universtiy and from 1997 he started to develop the Sony small humanoid robot at the Digital Creatures Laboratory, Sony Corporation. Since 2001, he has been the general manager of the Entertainment Robots Company, Sony Corporation. Mr. Ishida is members of The Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ), The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and. The Society of Instrument and Control Engineers

Development of the Humanoid Disaster Response Platform DRC-HUBO+

Abstract: This paper describes a humanoid robotics platform (DRC-HUBO+) developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. This paper also describes the design criteria, hardware, software framework, and experimental testing of the DRC-HUBO+ platform. The purpose of DRC-HUBO+ is to perform tasks by teleoperation in hazardous environments that are unsafe for humans, such as disaster zones. We identified specific design concepts for DRC-HUBO+ to achieve this goal. For a robot to be capable of performing human tasks, a human-like shape and size, autonomy, mobility, manipulability, and power are required, among other features. Furthermore, modularized joints and a user-friendly software framework were emphasized as design concepts to facilitate research on the robot tasks. The DRC-HUBO+ platform is based on DRC-HUBO-1 and HUBO-2. The torque of each joint is increased compared to that in DRC-HUBO-1 owing to its high reduction ratio and air-cooling system. DRC-HUBO+ is designed with an exoskeletal structure to provide it with sufficient stiffness relative to its mass. All wires are enclosed within the robot body using a hollow shaft and covers to protect the wires from external shock. Regarding the vision system, active cognition of the environment can be realized using a light-detection and ranging sensor and vision cameras on the head. To achieve stable mobility, the robot can transition from the bipedal walking mode to the wheel mode using wheels located on both knees. DRC-HUBO+ has 32 degrees of freedom (DOFs), including seven DOFs for each arm and six DOFs for each leg, and a solid and light body with a height of 170 cm and a mass of 80 kg. A software framework referred to as PODO, with a Linux kernel and the Xenomai patch, is used in DRC-HUBO+.