22 accepted papers
The humanoid robot that can transform itself into a form according to its purpose requires whole-body motions with complex contact state transitions such as recovery from a fall and transition to the target form. To make the robot behavior in simulations closer to that in the real world for planning…
We developed a method to enable a humanoid robot to carry stacked boxes. In order to transport objects efficiently, it is necessary to carry multiple objects at the same time, but in previous studies, humanoid robots have only been able to carry a single object. When a humanoid robot carries stacked…
Fall recovery after falling over is a critical feature for biped robots that work in the real world. We propose a method by considering robot joint angle trajectory as a multivariable function of time and orientation of robot root links. Compared with the conventional method, our method required les
This paper describes basic implementation of an embedded controller board based on a hybrid architecture equipped with an Intel FPGA SoC and an NVIDIA GPU SoC. Embedded distributed network involving motor-drivers or other embedded boards is constructed with low-latency optical transmission link. The…
We describe a system design approach for the bilateral teleoperation of a humanoid robot. We have focused on bipedal stability and 2D/3D locomotion space problems. Our proposed system has two robot hardware and two control software. The master side hardware is newly developed seat-type whole-body ex
For mitigating joint impact torques, researchers have reduced joint stiffness by series elastic actuators, reflected inertia by low gear ratios, and friction torque from drive-trains. However, these impact mitigation methods may impair the control performance of contact forces or may increase motor…
In this work, we propose a system for humanoid robot fast motions. When a humanoid robot performs a motion such as a tennis forehand stroke motion, a whole-body fast motion in reaction to visual information is required. There are three problems to tackle. (1) Motion is desired to be quick. (2) Real-…
Maintaining dynamic balance is an important requirement for bipedal robots. To deal with large disturbances, the footsteps need to be modified depending on the disturbance. Currently, there are few methods that determine footsteps by considering foothold constraints and the balance of the robot. In
Humanoid robots are expected to conduct tasks on behalf of humans in places such as a disaster scattered environment. Although humanoid robots have potentials to walk on uneven ground unlike wheeled robots, it is difficult to reach a given destination without falling down based on only visual inform…
In order to achieve tasks in the real world environment, humanoid robots have motors and reduction drives optimized in relation to weight and size for providing the necessary torque and angle speed. Therefore, having torque or angle speed outside of the predicted range will usually cause the task to…
In this letter, we propose a three-dimensional (3-D) walking and skating motion generation method to achieve sequential walking and skating motion with skateboard and roller skate. For generating the sequential stable skating motion using a passive wheel, we must deal with non-coplanar contacts with
We present a torque controller for humanoid robot's arm and a method to execute heavy-load tasks under that controller. Torque control of arms can reduce the joint load when an impulsive force is applied to the robot's hand. This feature is important for robots that will work among many humans or ob…
In this paper, we propose walking balance control based on Caputurability. The proposed method consists of five strategies: (i) moving Zero Moment Point (ZMP) in the support polygon (ii) landing position modification (iii) landing timing modification (iv) angular momentum control (v) falling detecti…
Currently, most of commercially available ankle foot prosthesis are passive, which don't exhibit appropriate biomechanics during walking and could not adapt to dynamic property of able-bodied walking. In this paper, we present a novel robotic ankle foot prosthesis with variable transmission series e…
In this paper, we propose novel methods suitable for online real time whole body master-slave control with real life-sized humanoid robot. We conducted some dynamic whole body master-slave experiment with life-sized humanoid robot, and we achieved speedier and flexible master-slave operation compare…
Comparing to IK (Inverse Kinematics) based motion control, joint-space motion control is more advantageous in terms of not being restricted by kinematics singularity problem. In this paper, we start with SIMBICON (Simple Biped Locomotion Control) based controller, a joint-space motion control method…
In this paper, we introduce a novel robotic prosthetic knee as shown in Fig. 1 (named as SuKnee) with variable transmission mechanism that could vary transmission ratio while knee angle varies during ambulation activities. A slider crank mechanism is utilized to transform linear motion of series ela…
In this study, we propose a novel method to operate whole body of a humanoid robot, which also includes both feet, dynamically and safely with the master-slave approach. The conventional whole body master-slave approaches need static balancing assumption or a certain time length of planning after op…
Recent studies have explored humanoid robots in contact with the environment in various ways. However, many of them assumed static rather than sliding contacts. Studies on humanoid shuffle motion planning have realized sliding motions, such as turning, but relied on quasi-static balance control. In
To achieve tasks in unknown environments with high reliability, highly accurate localization during task execution is necessary for humanoid robots. In this paper, we discuss a localization system which can be applied to a humanoid robot when executing tasks in the real world. During such tasks, hum…
To enable robotic sensing for tasks with requirements on weight, size, and cost, we develop an ultra-tiny line laser range sensor based on the Time-of-Flight (TOF) principle. With delicate circuit design and optical attachments, we create a sensor as small as 35[mm] × 27[mm] × 30[mm] and as light as…
In this paper, we develop a waterproof suit for humanoid robots and propose an underwater walking control method. Although very few life-sized humanoid robots are completely waterproof, we can easily make these humanoid robots watertight by putting a waterproof suit on them. In water, humanoid robot…