34 posts categorized "Humanoids"

August 06, 2010

Humanoid HRP-2 Walks on Uneven Terrain

 Many people used to think that two-legged humanoid robots with motors in their joints would never be able to walk on uneven surfaces unless they knew exactly in advance what they were stepping on and when. Drop a small pebble in its path and you could topple the robot over. Unlike in the movies, bipedal walking for robots in real life is extremely difficult.
 
 Dr. Koichi Nishiwaki and his colleagues at the AIST Digital Human Research Center have been working hard to dispel this accepted myth. GetRobo got to see a demo of the humanoid robot HRP-2  walking on pebbles, planks and tiles, at the DHRC in Tokyo.
 
 In this video, Dr. Nishiwaki is telling the robot where to go using a joystick, but other than that, the HRP-2 is on it's own. The robot has what is called an "attitude measurement sensor" on it's waist which is used to measure and control the posture as well as to estimate the absolute motion. Depending on the feedback from this sensor, a computer inside the robot generates a dynamically stable motion pattern 50 times per second. The robot checks and adjusts to this desirable motion 1,000 times per second, enabling it to remain stable and maintain it's walk.
 
 To actually reproduce the desirable motion, instead of strictly trying to control where and how the robot's foot should be placed, Dr. Nishiwaki uses a method in which the force the foot receives from the floor is checked and managed.
 
 Dr. Nishiwaki was able to make the robot remain stable even when the robot stepped on the edge of a plank (as seen in the beginning of the video) - a feat that no one else had been able to accomplish before.
 
 Still there is more to overcome before robots can really walk around your house and neighborhood. (For example, this robot can't cross it's legs to maintain a balance in certain situations like a human would.)  So when is that going to happen? 
 
 " Combined with environment recognition and path planning technologies, in 3 to 5 years, I would like to realize a humanoid robot that can walk freely indoors and on paved roads," says Dr. Nishiwaki. Now THAT'S not too far away.
 
Photo1
(Photo: Dr. Nishiwaki = left = with HRP-2 and post-doctoral researcher Joel Chestnutt.
Next we would like to see HRP-2 walk on THOSE steps, don't we? Nishiwaki-san, yoroshiku onegai shimasu!)

March 03, 2010

[News] New baby robot M3-neony, cuter than older brother

 Remember baby robot CB2? Well, he has a new sibling. Meet M3-neony. Nothing on YouTube as of now, but you can see a video here.

M3-neony
 (Photo Top: M3-neony, Bottom: M3-synchy)

 The new baby robot was announced on March 3 in Japan by the ERATO project led by Prof. Minoru Asada at Osaka University.

 It is 50cm tall and weighs 3.5kg, just like a real baby, which is amazing considering how much tech it holds. It has 22 motors, 2 CMOS cameras, 90 tactile sensors and the computer that controls everything. It is autonomous and it can crawl, pull itself up holding a table, practice walking etc.

 The robot is designed so that even non-robotics researchers can use it as a platform for various research in human babies' cognitive development and motor learning.   

 The name is a little provocative. The M3 stands for "Man Made Man." Neony is for neonate.

 The M3-synchy is a platform for studying the communication between humans and multiple robots.

 Both platforms are meant to be widely available for the research community worldwide.

  

February 25, 2010

Humanoid robots hustle and shuffle

 You've noticed that humanoid robots built by hobbyists kinda shuffle when they walk. That's because many of them use "parallel linked legs" which use frames that look like 2 parallelograms, one on top of the other. The merits of this structure is that it allows the robot builders to make larger robots that are not as heavy and that are more stable.

 This structure doesn't fit robots that play soccer, but at least for competing in the ROBO-ONE battling competitions, it's become a must if you want to win. That's because the builders want longer arms on their robots which can only be proportionate to the length of the legs due to ROBO-ONE regulations. Now that the rule has been changed so that the distance between the tip of the left and right arms when open must not exceed 240% of the length of the legs (used to be 340%), the builders are eying to make taller robots without adding the weight.

  Recently the ROBO-ONE Light Class Competitionfor robots under 3kg (7 lbs) took place in Yokohama. The champion robot Fantom (photo below) gets to go to the 17th ROBO-ONE. Both Fantom and second place Gargoil-mini use the parallel link structure.

Fantom

 Check out the final match between the 2 robots.  (Written  by IKETOMU )

February 20, 2010

ROBO-ONE humanoid robots compete to become household helpers

 ROBO-ONE is holding it's second  Humanoid Helper Project this weekend. (For those that missed the first one in 2008, check out the articles here.)
 The finals are being held right this minute in Yokohama Japan, but GetRobo guest author IKETOMU has kindly sent us his report about yesterday's preliminary. 
 The purpose of the Humanoid Helper Project is to motivate individual robot builders to develop and show off their technologies that may eventually be used to commercialize household robots. Household robots meaning not the Roombas, but the Rosies.
 In this competition, robots are remotely controlled via WiFi by operators that are looking at the environment through a PC. This year, the preliminary consisted of the following 3 events.
 1) Pouring water from a plastic bottle into a cup
 2) Carrying a dish of ping-pong balls on a tray
 3) A 30 minutes endurance race
  Three robots entered the preliminary. Doka Harumi (Doka project), THKR-4 (CAP Project) and Musashi (MARU Family). All are HUGE. As of the end of yesterday, 1st place went to Musashi,  2nd place was THKR-4 and 3rd place was Doka Harumi.
 Enjoy the videos!
Pouring water with a bottle into a cup by Doka Harumi
Pouring water with a bottle into a cup by THKR-4
Pouring water with a bottle into a cup by Musashi
Carrying a dish of ping-pong ball on the tray by Doka Harumi
Carrying a dish of ping-pong ball on the tray by THKR-4
Carrying a dish of ping-pong ball on the tray by Musashi
Thirty minutes endurance race by Doka Harumi, ThKR-4 and Musashi

January 25, 2010

Humanoid NEXTAGE knows when humans are close-by

 Some new videos up on Kawada YouTube channel. Humanoid NEXTAGE  is meant to work side-by-side with humans and safety is key. So the following video shows how the robots slow down and stop working when a person comes from the back to check on their work.