Robotics Research

Applications: Humanoids

Humanoid robots are designed to mimic the physical and sensory structure of the human being. Such characteristics as bipedal locomotion, humanlike arms and hands and stereo vision and hearing are often integral parts of a humanoid robot’s design. Also critical to the success of a humanoid robot is the ability to interact effectively and safely with humans and human-centred environments. Humanoid robots generally require excellent perception abilities, as well as advanced skills in control and coordination, learning and adaptation and human-robot interaction.

The humanoid form has many innate advantages which have made humanoid robotics an area of particular research interest worldwide. Humanoid robots have the ability to:

• operate effectively in environments designed for humans and perform tasks in a physically similar manner to humans.
• interact with human beings using similar mechanisms as would be used in human-human interaction, for example language (both verbal and body) as well as facial expressions.
• learn skills and techniques directly from human operators.

These advantages give the humanoid robot a variety of potential applications in many different areas including health and aged care, industry and the home. However, despite the vast amount of research into humanoid robotics which has been carried out over the past three decades, the problem of developing a robust, versatile humanoid robot able to operate autonomously and safely in a dynamically changing environment is still largely open.

Humanoid Robotics Research in Australia

• Monash University has begun construction of the humanoid robots Metalman and Plasticman. Professor Ray Jarvis, Assoc. Professors Andy Russell and Lindsay Kleeman, and Dr. David Suter will be supervising work with a particular emphasis on human-robot interaction and learning. The goal of the project is for the robots to be able to communicate effectively using voice, movement and facial expression, and be able to learn basic tasks enabling them to be of use to elderly or handicapped people.
• The University of Queensland Robotics Laboratory has been developing a complete humanoid robot, GuRoo, since 2001. The goal of the project is to build a humanoid with sufficient robustness and dynamic ability to play a game of soccer. The GuRoo humanoid has competed in the Humanoid League of the RoboCup robot soccer world championships, demonstrating its ability to walk, balance and interact with humans. The robot has been used for extensive research into learning, control and humanoid walking gaits.

  

  The GuRoo humanoid at the University of Queensland is designed to play soccer against a humanoid opponent.

• The University of New South Wales Mechatronic Engineering department has built a full size industrial biped weighing 650kg. The robot can balance and walk, and is capable of carrying payloads of up to 50kg.

  

  The industrial biped at the University of New South Wales is able to walk and balance, and can carry a 50kg payload.

• Thomas Bräunl and the Mobile Robot Lab at the University of Western Australia have developed two small humanoids, Johnny Walker and Jack Daniels, both based around the commercially-available vision/controller package EyeBot. Both humanoids are designed to use vision as their primary sensor, and due to their small size are able to operate with a relatively small number of degrees of freedom.

  

  The Johnny Walker humanoid from the University of Western Australia is based around the EyeBot vision board.