Most humanoid robots developed over the past few decades have had stiff joints, and that’s a problem if they’re ever going to interact with people.
Their unyielding arms and legs could injury a person if they accidentally whack someone, or if they lose balance and fall down. Lately there’s been a growing interest in developing robotic joints with variable stiffness, which would improve their safety, but so far few groups have built a complete robot. Now a team from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is approaching that goal with their robot COMAN (COmpliant huMANoid).
Modeled on a four-year-old child, COMAN is 94.5 cm tall (from foot to neck) and weighs 31.2 kg. It features 25 degrees of freedom (DOF), and a combination of stiff and compliant joints (see diagram below). The compliant joints (14 DOF) rely on series elastic actuators. These actuators—a custom design created by the IIT team—are applied to the the flexion/extension of the arms and legs, and are both small and modular, which makes them ideal for multi-DOF robots like humanoids. The researchers have also built custom torque sensors for each of the elastic joints, including a 6-axis force/torque sensor for the ankle joints. Development of the robot is funded, in part, by the European AMARSI project.
So what exactly does this compliance get you? The elastic actuators literally add a spring to COMAN’s step: in walking experiments the robot’s hardware naturally absorbed the ground reaction forces of each footstep “without additional control enforcement, which is difficult to be realized by the stiff actuated humanoids if no particular foot mechanism or active control is applied.” And when they implemented a stabilization control method, the robot steadied itself on a moving platform and when it was knocked around.
COMAN’s internal structure is made of titanium alloy, stainless steel, and aluminum alloy, covered by an ABS plastic exoskeleton. The images below show the location and structure of the series elastic actuators (SEA) on the robot’s hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, and elbows.
In the course of developing their own compliant humanoid, the team also devised a method for determining the optimal joint elasticity, which until now has largely been a time-consuming trial and error process with scant documentation. Their method provides a framework for other researchers exploring compliant robots and is based on resonance analysis and energy storage maximization criteria.
The Latest Bing News on:
Humanoid Robot
- First look at Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens as a handsome robot in new movieon March 4, 2021 at 4:08 pm
A robotic Dan Stevens appears in the first-look images from new sci-fi movie I'm Your Man. Premiering at this month's Berlin International Film Festival, the German story was directed by Primetime ...
- Humanoid robots knocking at the dooron March 4, 2021 at 1:48 pm
International research networks are working on robots that move, behave and even think more and more like humans. Still, it will be a while before artificial intelligence catches up to us.
- This start-up is building tiny injectable robots to attack tumorson March 4, 2021 at 9:10 am
Doctors take a microscopic craft loaded with cancer-killing chemicals, inject it into the human body, and drive it to a malignant tumor to deliver its payload before making a quick exit.
- Crime-fighting robot patrols Las Vegas apartment complexon March 4, 2021 at 4:16 am
Westy” has been patrolling the grounds at the Liberty Village apartment complex, just outside the southwest corner of Nellis Air Force Base, since October.
- Researchers build a swimming robot that works in the Mariana Trenchon March 3, 2021 at 3:38 pm
In it, a team of Chinese researchers describe adapting hardware so that it could operate a soft-bodied robot in the deep ocean. The researchers then gave the robot a ride 10 kilometers down in the ...
- Researchers’ Robots Designed To Avoid Environmental Dangers, Deliver Data Quicklyon March 3, 2021 at 3:10 pm
Dr. David Lary and his group’s autonomous devices may be ideally suited for hazardous environmental situations and holistic environmental surveys of ecosystems.
- Security robot keeps watch at Las Vegas apartment complexon March 3, 2021 at 1:11 pm
Westy” has been patrolling the grounds at the Liberty Village apartment complex, just outside the southwest corner of Nellis Air Force Base, since October.
- Berlin Review: Dan Stevens’ Robot Lover is More Human than Human in I’m Your Manon March 3, 2021 at 11:47 am
Falling in love with a robot isn’t good news, as Her and Blade Runner (both 2019 and 2049) tell us. In I’m Your Man, unspooling in competition at Berlin, a forty-something museum director (Maren ...
- Cables could help soft robots transform into harder structureson March 3, 2021 at 9:06 am
The sub-category of soft robotics has transformed the way many think about the field. Oft-influenced by natural phenomenon, the technology offers a dramatically different approach than the sort of ...
- Helping soft robots turn rigid on demandon March 3, 2021 at 6:41 am
MIT researchers have simulated a soft-bodied robot that turns rigid on demand. The advance may help broaden robots' range of tasks and allow for safe interactions with people, including in patient ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Humanoid Robot
[/vc_column_text]
The Latest Bing News on:
Human-like robots
- Robot capable of detecting COVID-19 symptoms tested at Gwinnett schoolon March 4, 2021 at 6:13 pm
A new tool being tested in Gwinnett County could make classrooms safer for teachers and students as full, in-person learning returns.
- “Evolution doesn’t care whether we’re happy”.on March 4, 2021 at 1:49 pm
Are we allowed to use violence against humanoid robots? When the first of them demands civil rights, it will be too late, says neuroethicist Thomas Metzinger. Why humanoid robots create “social ...
- Humanoid robots knocking at the dooron March 4, 2021 at 1:48 pm
International research networks are working on robots that move, behave and even think more and more like humans. Still, it will be a while before artificial intelligence catches up to us.
- Cafe staffed by robots piloted by people with disabilities to open in Tokyoon March 4, 2021 at 1:35 pm
OriHime is a charming Japanese robot. Like most robots made in Japan, it’s full of circuitry, programming chips, and has an exterior human-like shell. Though in OriHime’s case, it’s more Wall-E than ...
- A new foundation toward achieving the next generation of artificial intelligenceon March 4, 2021 at 6:42 am
This book lays a new foundation toward achieving artificial self-intelligence by future machines such as intelligent vehicles. Its chapters provide broad coverage of the three key modules behind the ...
- Free People from Monotonous Work: OMRON Releases FH-SMD Series 3D Vision Sensor for Robot Armson March 2, 2021 at 11:00 pm
OMRON Corporation based in Kyoto, Japan, announced the release in March of its new FH-SMD Series 3D Vision Sensor. The FH-SMD Series can ...
- QAnon believers apparently think Joe Biden is a robot with a malfunctioning mouthon March 1, 2021 at 8:46 am
QAnon adherents apparently believe that Joe Biden is actually a malfunctioning robot wearing human-like skin. The strange beliefs were revealed during an interview on CNN. A panel of former QAnon ...
- Human-like Android Robots Turn Pets for Japanese Folks Feeling Lonely in Pandemic Isolationon February 26, 2021 at 9:04 pm
Smart home assistants such as Amazon's Alexa have found success worldwide, but tech firms in Japan are reporting huge demand for more humanlike alternatives, as people seek solace during coronavirus ...
- Hi, Robot: Japan's android pets ease virus isolationon February 26, 2021 at 3:44 am
one of a new generation of cute and clever Japanese robots whose sales are booming in the pandemic. Smart home assistants such as Amazon's Alexa have found success worldwide, but tech firms in Japan ...
- Paramount Group and Sarcos Robotics Sign MoU to Bring Highly Dexterous Mobile Robots for Defense Applications to the Middle East and Africaon February 25, 2021 at 2:31 pm
Paramount Group and Sarcos Robotics Sign MoU to Bring Highly Dexterous Mobile Robots for Defense Applications to the Middle East and Africa ...