Yutaro Fukase

Cooperative works by a human and a humanoid robot

We have developed a humanoid robot HRP-2P with a biped locomotion controller, stereo vision software and aural human interface to realize cooperative works by a human and a humanoid robot. The robot can find a target object by the vision, and carry it cooperatively with a human by biped locomotion according to the voice commands by the human. A cooperative control is applied to the arms of the robot while it carries the object, and the walking direction of the robot is controlled by the interactive force and torque through the force/torque sensor on the wrists. The experimental results are presented in the paper.

Humanoid robotics platforms developed in HRP

Abstract This paper presents humanoid robotics platform that consists of a humanoid robot and an open architecture software platform developed in METI’s Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP). The final version of the robot, called HRP-2, has 1540 mm height, 58 kg weight and 30 degrees of the freedom. The software platform includes a dynamics simulator and motion controllers of the robot for biped locomotion, falling and getting up motions. The platform has been used to develop various applications and is expected to initiate more humanoid robotics research.

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.

Development of Vision System on Humanoid Robot HRP-2

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan had run an R&D project on humanoid robotics since 1998 for five years. In the first two years, platforms for humanoid robotics research were developed. In the next three years, researches were carried on for five different applications. We joined a group of the cooperative works by a human and a humanoid robot and took charge of a robot vision system. We designed a stereo camera module on a humanoid robot, developed some calibration methods and incorporated 3D image processing algorithm into the robot. Through this R&D, we showed a possibility to apply a humanoid robot for field of construction.

Self-Localization System for Robots Using Random Dot Floor Patterns

Various types of service robots have recently been d veloped for guarding facilities, caring for the elderly, carrying objects, and cleaning buildings. As barrier-free facilities improve and their use e xpands, these robots have more space within which to move i nside buildings. Yet robots that move autonomously rely on position-detection systems. Though improvi ng rapidly, these systems are far from perfect in determining positions in certain situations, especi ally when robots navigate large areas or cross vari ous locations. Our group is working to solve this prob lem by developing a position-detection system using random-dot patterns on a floor. First, we construc t a floor with a random-dot pattern and register th e positions of all of the dots into a database. As t he robot moves across the floor, a camera on the ro bot captures an image of the floor beneath it and crops the dot pattern in the image. The cropped dot pat tern is matched to the dot patterns in the database to dete rmin the position of the robot and the direction in whic h the robot is facing or moving. In this paper we pr opose a self-localization system and matching algor ithms derived from a space technology and present the res ults of several experiments.

Demonstration of Robotic Wheelchair in Fukuoka Island-City

We have been performing studies on the intelligent space to support various operations of mobile robots. This space will provide several functions, such as recognizing position of robots and objects in the area, searching proper route for robot to proceed, and controlling robots and other equipments. In order to conduct a practical study, we have developed a wheelchair-type mobile robot which has minimum functions for autonomous operations in the intelligent space, and conducted field experiments in public roads in Fukuoka Island-City residential area, where has been authorized as a ‘Special Zones for Robot Development and Testing’. This paper will describe the experiments and results obtained..