Yohei Kakiuchi

Development of life-sized high-power humanoid robot JAXON for real-world use

This paper presents the development of life-sized high-power humanoid robot JAXON. Humanoid robots for disaster relief assistance need the same degree of physical performance as humans. We have developed STARO as the high-power humanoid robot with a high degree of physical performance. However this is not enough for practical use of the humanoid robot in a disaster site. We consider the following as additional conditions to operate humanoid robots for disaster relief assistance outside of the lab in outdoor environments. 1) Robots have humanlike body proportion to work in infrastructure matched to human body structure. 2) Robots have energy sources such as batteries and act without tethers. 3) Robots walk with two legs or four limbs and continue to work without fatal damage in unexpected rollover. JAXON satisfied these conditions. We demonstrates the performance of JAXON through the experiment of getting out of a vehicle, stepping over walls, and operating on batteries. Further more, we assesses the performance of the strong armor and the shock absorbing structure through a backward over-turning accident.

Manipulation strategy decision and execution based on strategy proving operation for carrying large and heavy objects

In case that a robot carries large and heavy objects with unknown physical parameters such as mass automatically, the autonomous decision and execution of the manipulation strategy are necessary. The method to decide the proper strategy from the various candidates depending on the object is a difficult problem and not researched widely. We consider the operation as the mapping from the physical parameter space to the object motion space. Based on the concept of mapping, we define the strategy proving operation (SPO) for determination of strategy feasibility. We introduce two examples of SPO and construct the system for deciding strategy from lifting, pushing, and pivoting. Executing the strategy in the situation that physical parameters are not known is also necessary. We construct the generator and controller for the full-body manipulation, which can be employed regardless of strategy. The controller enables the robot to exert adequate force while keeping balance. We clarify the applicable scope of the proposed method and show that a life-sized humanoid decides the strategy and carries various large and heavy objects autonomously through the experiment.

Robust vertical ladder climbing and transitioning between ladder and catwalk for humanoid robots

This paper presents a novel control method to stabilize the whole-body motion of humanoid robots when climbing vertical ladders and transitioning between ladders and catwalks. In such environments, the body of the robot tends to incline and rotate because of the slippery surfaces. The inclination and rotation may cause the robot to fail to grasp and thus collide with the rungs. The proposed method modifies the subsequent contact position in real time based on the error of the current robot posture estimated with inertial measurement units (IMUs) and actual joint angles. This paper also presents a method of generating motion by minimizing the contact wrench. This method satisfies hardware limitations, such as collision avoidance, joint torque limits, and joint limits. Applying these methods to a humanoid robot, we realize the robust climbing and descending of multiple rungs of a vertical ladder and bidirectional transitioning from ladders to catwalks.

Whole-body pushing manipulation with contact posture planning of large and heavy object for humanoid robot

Humanoid robot is able to execute various behavior to manipulate objects because of high degree-of-freedom around the whole-body. Although hands contact with objects and exert force in ordinary pushing motion by robot, pushing motion contacting with the object at various regions of whole-body has potential for extending the scope of feasible manipulation. We derive the fundamental formulas of humanoid robot in the situation that the external force is applied to the arbitrary region of whole-body, and then propose the method to generate and execute the pushing motion based on the formulas. The proposed method is generalized for enabling to select a contact point with an object from whole-body regions and control the pushing force applied to the sensorless region. In order to verify the effectiveness, we show the experimental result that a lifesized humanoid carries large and heavy objects by pushing with various regions of whole-body.

Development of humanoid robot system for disaster response through team NEDO-JSK's approach to DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals

This paper presents Team NEDO-JSKs approach to the development of novel humanoid platform for disaster response through participation to DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals. This development is a part of the project organized by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. Technology for this robot is based on the recent research of high-speed and high-torque motor driver with water-cooling system, RTM-ROS inter-operation for intelligent robotics, and generation of full-body fast dancing motion, due to the generic 10 years research of HRP-2 as a platform humanoid robot. Development target is the robot support in a variety of unsafe human tasks teleoperated by humans in case of a disaster response, equipped with body structure capability for use of human devices and tools in human environment, performance for dynamic full-body actions covering human-sized speed and power, and basic function for intelligent and integrated robot platform system for performing various tasks independently. we also describes NEDO-JSK teams approach to design methodology for robot hardware and architecture of software system and user interface for DRC Finals as a test case of disaster response.

Multi-layered real-time controllers for humanoid's manipulation and locomotion tasks with emergency stop

This paper describes a practical method to construct real-time controllers to achieve locomotion and manipulation tasks with a humanoid robot. We propose a method to insert emergency stop functionality to each layer to avoid robots falling down and joint overloads even if recognition and planning error exist. We explain implementation of multi-layered real-time controllers on HRP2 robot and application to several manipulation and locomotion tasks. Finally, we evaluate emergency stop functionality in several manipulation tasks.

Configurable autonomy applicable to humanoid manipulation in unstructured and communication-limited environment

In recent years, humanoids have been expected to play an important part in disaster response due to safety concerns. For disaster response, humanoids should do tasks in unknown and unstructured environments possibly with limited communications. Firstly this paper presents a robot operating system in which complementary integration of autonomous and manual functions is achieved. In our system operator can change the level of automation depending on the situation: operator can modify the result of recognition in 3D Viewer, and can transfer from auto motion generating mode to manual control mode at any time with inheriting some motion parameters. Secondly for the purpose of overcoming communication-limit in disaster site, we propose the method of generating robot motion with little communication between operator and robot. Even when communication is limited, our System can convey necessary information to user by processing past data, always transferring small important data, and showing future motion plans.

Determining proper grasp configurations for handovers through observation of object movement patterns and inter-object interactions during usage

We present a method for enabling robots to determine appropriate grasp configurations for handovers - i.e., where to grasp, and how to orient an object when handing it over. In our method, a robot first builds a knowledge base by observing demonstrations of how certain objects are used and their proper handover grasp configurations. Objects in the knowledge base are then organized based on their movements and inter-object interaction features. The key point in this process is that similarity in affordances should be recognized. When subsequently asked to handover an object, the robot then computes an appropriate grasp configuration based on the objects recognized affordances. Experimental results show that our method was able to differentiate and group together objects according to their affordances. Furthermore, when given a new object, our method was able to generalize data in the knowledge base and determine an appropriate grasp configuration.

Anytime error recovery by integrating local and global feedback with monitoring task states

One of the important points for realizing a plan-based robotic system is to recover from errors while the system executes its plans. In this paper, we discuss a system architecture that is able to perform fault detection and error recovery in any time. The key features of the proposed system are: 1) background refreshing of task-level description, 2) constant updating of geometric representation, 3) anytime monitoring of task states. These features enable it to update a world model description without the task controller and motion executor attending to object perception. Background updating of the world description makes it possible to detect errors as soon as they happen in a portable way. We show two experimental results on the HRP-2 humanoid robot while pouring tea with human interruption. One is an experiment for global error recovery and another is for local error recovery.

Skeletal structure with artificial perspiration for cooling by latent heat for musculoskeletal humanoid Kengoro

In this paper we propose a novel method to utilize the skeletal structure not only for supporting force but for releasing heat by latent heat.