Teppei Tsujita

Navigation Planning with Human-Like Approach

Moving about in everyday human environments such as homes and offices would require a robot to cope with terrains not ordinarily traversable by robots on wheels. These may include stairs and stepping stones etc. This is because our homes and offices are custom designed for biped walkers i.e. humans. The usage of legs rather than wheels for mobility was thus an inevitable evolution in the history of mobile robotics. Giving legs to a robot instead of wheels gives it a lot more than just resemblance to a human being. Unlike ordinary mobile robots, humanoids have the ability to cross obstacles by stepping over or upon them. This ability is left unexploited if the algorithms used for ordinary mobile robot navigation among obstacles are employed for humanoids too.

2P1-F11 Evaluation of Nailing Motion for a Humanoid Robot

In order to exert a large force on the environment beyond the limitation of actuators, it is effective to apply impulsive force. We describe the motions that perform tasks by applying impulsive force as “impact motion.” In this research, a nailing task is taken as an example of impact motion. To drive a nail skillfully, it is imperative to exert large force to a target point with precision. This paper presents evaluation of optimized motion based on virtual mass dynamics model. In order to evaluate the motion, experiments are carried out using a life-sized humanoid robot HRP-2. The position accuracy of the top head, validity of the contact dynamics model and effect of impulsive force on stability are discussed.