Yoshitaka Yanagihara

A tele-operated humanoid robot drives a lift truck

We have been developing new abilities of humanoid robots to realize proxy driving of a lift truck. Construction machines such as a lift truck play an important role in many tasks, but sometimes the environments are too hazardous for human operators. If a tele-operated humanoid robot can drive a construction machine, it can work at a dangerous place. This humanoid robot operator has two advantages over an automated construction machine. It is much easier to carry the robot to a disaster site than moving the special construction machine. Besides, the robot may be less expensive than developing the special automated machine whose required number is relatively small. We have been developing new abilities of the tele-operated humanoid robot HRP-1 to realize the application. The paper describes results of investigations and experiments for proxy driving of a lift truck by HRP-1.

A tele-operated humanoid robot drives a backhoe

In this paper, we will describe our attempt for a tele-operated humanoid robot to drive a backhoe. It will be possible for a humanoid robot to drive an industrial vehicle instead of a human operator. If a humanoid robot can be operated by a human operator from a remote site, it enables to use a general type of vehicle safely in a dangerous field. We introduced a backhoe as the target vehicle to show the possibility of driving a vehicle in a sitting posture. The robot sits down with balancing on a cockpit of the backhoe and manipulates control levers for driving. We developed a portable remote control device and remote control methods to operate the humanoid robot. For the evaluation, it is tested to sit down and manipulate the levers on the driving cockpit of the real backhoe. To compare it with a humans work, the efficiency is close to practical use.

A Tele-operated Humanoid Operator

This is the first successful trial of remotely controlling a humanoid robot to drive an industrial vehicle in lieu of a human operator. These results were achieved through the development of three technologies: 1) remote-control technology to instruct the humanoid to perform total-body movements under remote control 2) a remote-control system to execute tasks, and protection technology to protect the humanoid against the shock and vibrations of its operating seat and against influences of the natural environment, such as rain and dust, and 3) full-body operation-control technology to autonomously control the humanoid’s total-body movements to prevent the robot from falling over. The humanoid has promising application potential for restoration work in environments impacted by catastrophes and in civil-engineering and construction-project sites where it can work safely and efficiently.

HUMANOID ROBOT APPLICATIONS IN HRP

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan ran an R&D project on humanoid robotics, called HRP. In the project, a humanoid robotics platform was developed in the first phase, and contributors of the project followed up with research on the applications of humanoid robots to various industries. In this paper, we describe the five applications that we think are suitable for humanoid robots and expect to open a new industry.

Shape Control of Variable Guide Frame for Tunnel Wall Inspection

To progress the automated inspection and maintenance of inner wall of tunnel, the advanced inspection system with restricting the traffic regulation was developed. In this inspection system , the guide frame along tunnel wall was installed on the protection unit stepped over the road like gant ry crane. The inspection device moved with stability b y adopting the guide frame, and the inspection accuracy could be improved. However, when this unit moved along the tunnel, this guide frame shoul d avoid the convex obstacles such as duct fan, lamp and several road traffic sign in the tunnel. Therefore, by composing the entire frame of VGT (Variable geometry Truss), the shape of guide frame was changed flexibly and it could be passed in the tunn el. As a shape control of the guide frame, the inverse analysis method was applied such as robot manipulator combining two fixed-length members in series. The angle of each frame was reversely analysed according to the shape of the obstacle measured with the laser sensor, and the actuator of the frame was controlled simultaneously. Applying such control method, the shape was transported smoothly to keep a steady structure of guide frame. In this paper, the outline of tunnel wall inspection applied variable guide frame, the structure principle of the guide frame, basic method of shape analysis and control technology, the findi ng of convex obstacles by laser sensor and the whole inspection system are explained in detail.

Development of the Waste Management System with the use of Next-Generation Manipulator

Authors propose “Development of the Waste Management System with the use of Next-Generation Manipulator” as “Development of Construction System Processing Industrial Waste Disposal RT System” in “ Project for Strategic Development of Advanced Robotics Elemental Technologies” for which NEDO advertised, and have been researching for three years.