Humanoid robot
Encyclopedia
A humanoid robot or an anthropomorphic robot is a robot
with its overall appearance, based on that of the human body
, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a 'face', with 'eyes' and 'mouth'. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble a human.
A humanoid robot is an autonomous robot
, because it can adapt to changes in its environment or itself and continue to reach its goal. This is the main difference between humanoid and other kinds of robots. In this context, some of the capacities of a humanoid robot may include, among others:
Like other mechanical robots, humanoid refer to the following basic components too: Sensing, Actuating and Planning and Control. Since they try to simulate the human structure and behavior and they are autonomous systems, generally humanoid robots are more complex than other kinds of robots.
This complexity affects all robotic scales (mechanical, spatial, time, power density, system and computational complexity), but it is more noticeable on power density and system complexity scales. In the first place, most current humanoids aren’t strong enough even to jump and this happens because the power/weight ratio is not as good as in the human body. The dynamically balancing Dexter can jump, but poorly so far. On the other hand, there are very good algorithms for the several areas of humanoid construction, but it is very difficult to merge all of them into one efficient system (the system complexity is very high). Nowadays, these are the main difficulties that humanoid robots development has to deal with.
Humanoid robots are created to imitate some of the same physical and mental tasks that humans undergo daily. Scientists and specialists from many different fields including engineering
, cognitive science
, and linguistics
combine their efforts to create a robot as human-like as possible. Their creators' goal for the robot is that one day it will be able to both understand human intelligence, reason and act like humans. If humanoids are able to do so, they could eventually work in cohesion with humans to create a more productive and higher quality future. Another important benefit of developing androids is to understand the human body's biological and mental processes, from the seemingly simple act of walking to the concepts of consciousness and spirituality.
There are currently two ways to model a humanoid robot. The first one models the robot like a set of rigid links, which are connected with joints. This kind of structure is similar to the one that can be found in industrial robots. Although this approach is used for most of the humanoid robots, a new one is emerging in some research works that use the knowledge acquired on biomechanics
. In this one, the humanoid robot's bottom line is a resemblance of the human skeleton.
Humanoid robots are used as a research tool in several scientific areas.
Researchers need to understand the human body structure and behavior (biomechanics) to build and study humanoid robots. On the other side, the attempt to simulate the human body leads to a better understanding of it.
Human cognition is a field of study which is focused on how humans learn from sensory information in order to acquire perceptual and motor skills. This knowledge is used to develop computational models of human behavior and it has been improving over time.
It has been suggested that very advanced robotics will facilitate the enhancement of ordinary humans. See transhumanism
.
Although the initial aim of humanoid research was to build better orthosis and prosthesis
for human beings, knowledge has been transferred between both disciplines. A few examples are: powered leg prosthesis for neuromuscularly impaired, ankle-foot orthosis, biological realistic leg prosthesis and forearm prosthesis.
Besides the research, humanoid robots are being developed to perform human tasks like personal assistance, where they should be able to assist the sick and elderly, and dirty or dangerous jobs. Regular jobs like being a receptionist or a worker of an automotive manufacturing line are also suitable for humanoids. In essence, since they can use tools and operate equipment and vehicles designed for the human form, humanoids could theoretically perform any task a human being can, so long as they have the proper software. However, the complexity of doing so is deceptively great.
They are becoming increasingly popular for providing entertainment too. For example, Ursula, a female robot, sings, dances, and speaks to her audiences at Universal Studios. Several Disney attractions employ the use of animatrons, robots that look, move, and speak much like human beings, in some of their theme park shows. These animatrons look so realistic that it can be hard to decipher from a distance whether or not they are actually human. Although they have a realistic look, they have no cognition or physical autonomy. Various humanoid robots and their possible applications in daily life are featured in an independent documentary film called Plug & Pray
, which was released in 2010.
Humanoid robots, especially with artificial intelligence
algorithm
s, could be useful for future dangerous and/or distant space exploration
missions
, without having the need to turn back around again and return to Earth
once the mission is completed.
is a device that measures some attribute of the world. Being one of the three primitives of robotics (besides planning and control), sensing plays an important role in robotic paradigms
.
Sensors can be classified according to the physical process with which they work or according to the type of measurement information that they give as output. In this case, the second approach was used.
In human beings inner ears are used to maintain balance and orientation. Humanoid robots use accelerometer
s to measure the acceleration, from which velocity can be calculated by integration; tilt sensors to measure inclination; force sensors placed in robot's hands and feet to measure contact force with environment; position sensors, that indicate the actual position of the robot (from which the velocity can be calculated by derivation) or even speed sensors.
Arrays of tactel
s can be used to provide data on what has been touched. The Shadow Hand
uses an array of 34 tactels arranged beneath its polyurethane
skin on each finger tip. Tactile sensors also provide information about forces and torques transferred between the robot and other objects.
Vision
refers to processing data from any modality which uses the electromagnetic spectrum to produce an image. In humanoid robots it is used to recognize objects and determine their properties. Vision sensors work most similarly to the eyes of human beings. Most humanoid robots use CCD
cameras as vision sensors.
Sound sensors allow humanoid robots to hear speech and environmental sounds, and perform as the ears of the human being. Microphone
s are usually used for this task.
s are the motors responsible for motion in the robot.
Humanoid robots are constructed in such a way that they mimic the human body, so they use actuators that perform like muscle
s and joint
s, though with a different structure. To achieve the same effect as human motion, humanoid robots use mainly rotary actuators. They can be either electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, piezoelectric or ultrasonic
.
Hydraulic and electric actuators have a very rigid behavior and can only be made to act in a compliant manner through the use of relatively complex feedback control strategies . While electric coreless motor actuators are better suited for high speed and low load applications, hydraulic ones operate well at low speed and high load applications.
Piezoelectric actuators generate a small movement with a high force capability when voltage is applied. They can be used for ultra-precise positioning and for generating and handling high forces or pressures in static or dynamic situations.
Ultrasonic actuators are designed to produce movements in a micrometer order at ultrasonic frequencies (over 20 kHz). They are useful for controlling vibration, positioning applications and quick switching.
Pneumatic actuators operate on the basis of gas
compressibility. As they are inflated, they expand along the axis, and as they deflate, they contract. If one end is fixed, the other will move in a linear trajectory
. These actuators are intended for low speed and low/medium load applications. Between pneumatic actuators there are: cylinders
, bellows
, pneumatic engines, pneumatic stepper motors and pneumatic artificial muscles
.
ones) is that the movement of the robot has to be human-like, using legged locomotion, especially biped gait
. The ideal planning for humanoid movements during normal walking should result in minimum energy consumption, like it does in the human body. For this reason, studies on dynamics
and control
of these kinds of structures become more and more important.
To maintain dynamic balance during the walk
, a robot needs information about contact force and its current and desired motion. The solution to this problem relies on a major concept, the Zero Moment Point
(ZMP).
Another characteristic of humanoid robots is that they move, gather information (using sensors) on the "real world" and interact with it. They don’t stay still like factory manipulators and other robots that work in highly structured environments. To allow humanoids to move in complex environments, planning and control must focus on self-collision detection, path planning and obstacle avoidance.
Humanoids don't yet have some features of the human body. They include structures with variable flexibility, which provide safety (to the robot itself and to the people), and redundancy of movements, i.e. more degrees of freedom
and therefore wide task availability. Although these characteristics are desirable to humanoid robots, they will bring more complexity and new problems to planning and control.
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
with its overall appearance, based on that of the human body
Human body
The human body is the entire structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 100 trillion cells, the basic unit of life...
, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a 'face', with 'eyes' and 'mouth'. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble a human.
Introduction
Autonomous robot
Autonomous robots are robots that can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. Many kinds of robots have some degree of autonomy. Different robots can be autonomous in different ways...
, because it can adapt to changes in its environment or itself and continue to reach its goal. This is the main difference between humanoid and other kinds of robots. In this context, some of the capacities of a humanoid robot may include, among others:
- self-maintenance (i.e. recharging itself)
- autonomous learning (learn or gain new capabilities without outside assistance, adjust strategies based on the surroundings and adapt to new situations)
- avoiding harmful situations to people, property, and itself
- safe interacting with human beings and the environment
Like other mechanical robots, humanoid refer to the following basic components too: Sensing, Actuating and Planning and Control. Since they try to simulate the human structure and behavior and they are autonomous systems, generally humanoid robots are more complex than other kinds of robots.
This complexity affects all robotic scales (mechanical, spatial, time, power density, system and computational complexity), but it is more noticeable on power density and system complexity scales. In the first place, most current humanoids aren’t strong enough even to jump and this happens because the power/weight ratio is not as good as in the human body. The dynamically balancing Dexter can jump, but poorly so far. On the other hand, there are very good algorithms for the several areas of humanoid construction, but it is very difficult to merge all of them into one efficient system (the system complexity is very high). Nowadays, these are the main difficulties that humanoid robots development has to deal with.
Humanoid robots are created to imitate some of the same physical and mental tasks that humans undergo daily. Scientists and specialists from many different fields including engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
, and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
combine their efforts to create a robot as human-like as possible. Their creators' goal for the robot is that one day it will be able to both understand human intelligence, reason and act like humans. If humanoids are able to do so, they could eventually work in cohesion with humans to create a more productive and higher quality future. Another important benefit of developing androids is to understand the human body's biological and mental processes, from the seemingly simple act of walking to the concepts of consciousness and spirituality.
There are currently two ways to model a humanoid robot. The first one models the robot like a set of rigid links, which are connected with joints. This kind of structure is similar to the one that can be found in industrial robots. Although this approach is used for most of the humanoid robots, a new one is emerging in some research works that use the knowledge acquired on biomechanics
Biomechanics
Biomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems, such as humans, animals, plants, organs, and cells. Perhaps one of the best definitions was provided by Herbert Hatze in 1974: "Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems by means of...
. In this one, the humanoid robot's bottom line is a resemblance of the human skeleton.
Purpose
Researchers need to understand the human body structure and behavior (biomechanics) to build and study humanoid robots. On the other side, the attempt to simulate the human body leads to a better understanding of it.
Human cognition is a field of study which is focused on how humans learn from sensory information in order to acquire perceptual and motor skills. This knowledge is used to develop computational models of human behavior and it has been improving over time.
It has been suggested that very advanced robotics will facilitate the enhancement of ordinary humans. See transhumanism
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
.
Although the initial aim of humanoid research was to build better orthosis and prosthesis
Prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...
for human beings, knowledge has been transferred between both disciplines. A few examples are: powered leg prosthesis for neuromuscularly impaired, ankle-foot orthosis, biological realistic leg prosthesis and forearm prosthesis.
Besides the research, humanoid robots are being developed to perform human tasks like personal assistance, where they should be able to assist the sick and elderly, and dirty or dangerous jobs. Regular jobs like being a receptionist or a worker of an automotive manufacturing line are also suitable for humanoids. In essence, since they can use tools and operate equipment and vehicles designed for the human form, humanoids could theoretically perform any task a human being can, so long as they have the proper software. However, the complexity of doing so is deceptively great.
They are becoming increasingly popular for providing entertainment too. For example, Ursula, a female robot, sings, dances, and speaks to her audiences at Universal Studios. Several Disney attractions employ the use of animatrons, robots that look, move, and speak much like human beings, in some of their theme park shows. These animatrons look so realistic that it can be hard to decipher from a distance whether or not they are actually human. Although they have a realistic look, they have no cognition or physical autonomy. Various humanoid robots and their possible applications in daily life are featured in an independent documentary film called Plug & Pray
Plug & Pray
Plug & Pray is a 2010 documentary film about the promise, problems and ethics of artificial intelligence and robotics. The main protagonists are the former MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum and the futurist Raymond Kurzweil.- Synopsis :...
, which was released in 2010.
Humanoid robots, especially with artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s, could be useful for future dangerous and/or distant space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
missions
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
, without having the need to turn back around again and return to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
once the mission is completed.
Sensors
A sensorSensor
A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument. For example, a mercury-in-glass thermometer converts the measured temperature into expansion and contraction of a liquid which can be read on a calibrated...
is a device that measures some attribute of the world. Being one of the three primitives of robotics (besides planning and control), sensing plays an important role in robotic paradigms
Robotic paradigms
A robotic paradigm can be described by the relationship between the three primitives of robotics: Sense, Plan, and Act. It can also be described by how sensory data is processed and distributed through the system, and where decisions are made....
.
Sensors can be classified according to the physical process with which they work or according to the type of measurement information that they give as output. In this case, the second approach was used.
Proprioceptive Sensors
Proprioceptive sensors sense the position, the orientation and the speed of the humanoid's body and joints.In human beings inner ears are used to maintain balance and orientation. Humanoid robots use accelerometer
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, also called the four-acceleration. This is not necessarily the same as the coordinate acceleration , but is rather the type of acceleration associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a test mass that resides in the frame...
s to measure the acceleration, from which velocity can be calculated by integration; tilt sensors to measure inclination; force sensors placed in robot's hands and feet to measure contact force with environment; position sensors, that indicate the actual position of the robot (from which the velocity can be calculated by derivation) or even speed sensors.
Exteroceptive Sensors
Tactel
Tactel can mean:*Tactel - a single sensing point on a tactile sensor array. A tactel is equivalent to a pixel, in that an array of tactels represents an image of the surface being touched....
s can be used to provide data on what has been touched. The Shadow Hand
Shadow Hand
The Shadow Dexterous Hand is a humaniform robot hand system developed by The Shadow Robot Company in London. The hand is comparable to a human hand in size and shape, and reproduces all of its degrees of freedom...
uses an array of 34 tactels arranged beneath its polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
skin on each finger tip. Tactile sensors also provide information about forces and torques transferred between the robot and other objects.
Vision
Computer vision
Computer vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analysing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions...
refers to processing data from any modality which uses the electromagnetic spectrum to produce an image. In humanoid robots it is used to recognize objects and determine their properties. Vision sensors work most similarly to the eyes of human beings. Most humanoid robots use CCD
Charge-coupled device
A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...
cameras as vision sensors.
Sound sensors allow humanoid robots to hear speech and environmental sounds, and perform as the ears of the human being. Microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
s are usually used for this task.
Actuators
ActuatorActuator
An actuator is a type of motor for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. It is operated by a source of energy, usually in the form of an electric current, hydraulic fluid pressure or pneumatic pressure, and converts that energy into some kind of motion. An actuator is the mechanism by which...
s are the motors responsible for motion in the robot.
Humanoid robots are constructed in such a way that they mimic the human body, so they use actuators that perform like muscle
Muscle
Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
s and joint
Joint
A joint is the location at which two or more bones make contact. They are constructed to allow movement and provide mechanical support, and are classified structurally and functionally.-Classification:...
s, though with a different structure. To achieve the same effect as human motion, humanoid robots use mainly rotary actuators. They can be either electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, piezoelectric or ultrasonic
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
.
Hydraulic and electric actuators have a very rigid behavior and can only be made to act in a compliant manner through the use of relatively complex feedback control strategies . While electric coreless motor actuators are better suited for high speed and low load applications, hydraulic ones operate well at low speed and high load applications.
Piezoelectric actuators generate a small movement with a high force capability when voltage is applied. They can be used for ultra-precise positioning and for generating and handling high forces or pressures in static or dynamic situations.
Ultrasonic actuators are designed to produce movements in a micrometer order at ultrasonic frequencies (over 20 kHz). They are useful for controlling vibration, positioning applications and quick switching.
Pneumatic actuators operate on the basis of gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
compressibility. As they are inflated, they expand along the axis, and as they deflate, they contract. If one end is fixed, the other will move in a linear trajectory
Trajectory
A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...
. These actuators are intended for low speed and low/medium load applications. Between pneumatic actuators there are: cylinders
Cylinder (engine)
A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...
, bellows
Bellows
A bellows is a device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location.Basically, a bellows is a deformable container which has an outlet nozzle. When the volume of the bellows is decreased, the air escapes through the outlet...
, pneumatic engines, pneumatic stepper motors and pneumatic artificial muscles
Pneumatic artificial muscles
Pneumatic artificial muscles are contractile or extensional devices operated by pressurized air filling a pneumatic bladder. In a vague approximation of human muscles, PAMs are usually grouped in pairs: one agonist and one antagonist....
.
Planning and Control
In planning and control, the essential difference between humanoids and other kinds of robots (like industrialIndustrial robot
An industrial robot is defined by ISO as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes...
ones) is that the movement of the robot has to be human-like, using legged locomotion, especially biped gait
Gait
Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on speed, terrain, the need to maneuver, and energetic efficiency...
. The ideal planning for humanoid movements during normal walking should result in minimum energy consumption, like it does in the human body. For this reason, studies on dynamics
Dynamics (mechanics)
In the field of physics, the study of the causes of motion and changes in motion is dynamics. In other words the study of forces and why objects are in motion. Dynamics includes the study of the effect of torques on motion...
and control
Control theory
Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
of these kinds of structures become more and more important.
To maintain dynamic balance during the walk
WALK
WALK may refer to:*WALK , a radio station licensed to East Patchogue, New York, United States*WALK-FM, a radio station licensed to Patchogue, New York, United States...
, a robot needs information about contact force and its current and desired motion. The solution to this problem relies on a major concept, the Zero Moment Point
Zero Moment Point
Zero Moment Point is a concept related with dynamics and control of legged locomotion, e.g., for humanoid robots. It specifies the point with respect to which dynamic reaction force at the contact of the foot with the ground does not produce any moment in the horizontal direction, i.e. the point...
(ZMP).
Another characteristic of humanoid robots is that they move, gather information (using sensors) on the "real world" and interact with it. They don’t stay still like factory manipulators and other robots that work in highly structured environments. To allow humanoids to move in complex environments, planning and control must focus on self-collision detection, path planning and obstacle avoidance.
Humanoids don't yet have some features of the human body. They include structures with variable flexibility, which provide safety (to the robot itself and to the people), and redundancy of movements, i.e. more degrees of freedom
Degrees of freedom (engineering)
In mechanics, degrees of freedom are the set of independent displacements and/or rotations that specify completely the displaced or deformed position and orientation of the body or system...
and therefore wide task availability. Although these characteristics are desirable to humanoid robots, they will bring more complexity and new problems to planning and control.
Timeline of developments
| Year | Development |
|---|---|
| c. 250 BC | The Lie Zi Liezi The Liezi is a Daoist text attributed to Lie Yukou, a circa 5th century BCE Hundred Schools of Thought philosopher, but Chinese and Western scholars believe it was compiled around the 4th century CE.-Textual history:... described an automaton Automaton An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:... . |
| c. 50 AD | Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineerEnc. Britannica 2007, "Heron of Alexandria" who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt... described a machine to automatically pour wine for party guests. |
| 1206 | Al-Jazari Al-Jazari Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who lived during the Islamic Golden Age... described a band made up of humanoid automata which, according to Charles B. Fowler, performed "more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection." Al-Jazari also created hand washing Hand washing Hand washing for hand hygiene is the act of cleaning the hands with or without the use of water or another liquid, or with the use of soap, for the purpose of removing soil, dirt, and/or microorganisms.... automata Automaton An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:... with automatic humanoid servants, and an elephant clock Elephant clock The elephant clock was a medieval islamic invention by al-Jazari , consisting of a weight powered water clock in the form of an elephant. The various elements of the clock are in the housing on top of the elephant... incorporating an automatic humanoid mahout Mahout A mahout is a person who drives an elephant. The word mahout comes from the Hindi words mahaut and mahavat. Usually, a mahout starts as a boy in the 'family business' when he is assigned an elephant early in its life and they would be attached to each other throughout the elephant's life.The most... striking a cymbal on the half-hour. His programmable "castle clock" also featured five musician automata which automatically played music when moved by levers operated by a hidden camshaft Camshaft A camshaft is a shaft to which a cam is fastened or of which a cam forms an integral part.-History:An early cam was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206. He employed it as part of his automata,... attached to a water wheel Water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface... . |
| 1495 | Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance... designs a humanoid automaton Automaton An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:... that looks like an armored knight, known as Leonardo's robot Leonardo's robot Leonardo's robot refers to a humanoid automaton designed by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1464, when Leonardo was 12 years old.The design notes for the robot appear in sketchbooks that were rediscovered in the 1950s. Leonardo displayed his "robot" at a celebration hosted by Duke Sforza at the... . |
| 1738 | Jacques de Vaucanson Jacques de Vaucanson Jacques de Vaucanson was a French inventor and artist who was responsible for the creation of impressive and innovative automata and machines such as the first completely automated loom.-Early life:... builds The Flute Player, a life-size figure of a shepherd that could play twelve songs on the flute and The Tambourine Player that played a flute and a drum or tambourine. |
| 1774 | Pierre Jacquet-Droz and his son Henri-Louis created the Draughtsman, the Musicienne and the Writer, a figure of a boy that could write messages up to 40 characters long. |
| 1837 | The story of the Golem Golem In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing.... of Prague, an humanoid artificial intelligence activated by inscribing Hebrew letters Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two... on its forehead, based on Jewish folklore, was created by Jewish German writer Berthold Auerbach Berthold Auerbach Berthold Auerbach was a German-Jewish poet and author. He was the founder of the German “tendency novel,” in which fiction is used as a means of influencing public opinion on social, political, moral, and religious questions.-Biography:Moses Baruch Auerbach was born in Nordstetten in the Kingdom... for his novel Spinoza. |
| 1921 | Czech writer Karel Čapek Karel Capek Karel Čapek was Czech writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Born in 1890 in the Bohemian mountain village of Malé Svatoňovice to an overbearing, emotional mother and a distant yet adored father, Čapek was the youngest of three siblings... introduced the word "robot" in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) R.U.R. is a 1920 science fiction play in the Czech language by Karel Čapek. R.U.R. stands for Rossum's Universal Robots, an English phrase used as the subtitle in the Czech original. It premiered in 1921 and introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction as a whole.The... . The word "robot" comes from the word "robota", meaning, in Czech, "forced labour, drudgery". |
| 1927 | The Maschinenmensch Maschinenmensch The Maschinenmensch from Metropolis, is a gynoid played by German actress Brigitte Helm in both her robotic and human incarnations... (“machine-human”), a gynoid Gynoid A gynoid is anything which resembles or pertains to the female human form. It is also used in American English medical terminology as a shortening of the term Gynecoid .... humanoid robot, also called "Parody", "Futura", "Robotrix", or the "Maria impersonator" (played by German actress Brigitte Helm Brigitte Helm Brigitte Helm was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double, the Maschinenmensch, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis.-Career:... ), perhaps the most memorable humanoid robot ever to appear on film, is depicted in Fritz Lang Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute... 's film Film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects... Metropolis Metropolis (film) Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and... . |
| 1941-42 | Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000... formulates the Three Laws of Robotics Three Laws of Robotics The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov and later added to. The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories... , and in the process of doing so, coins the word "robotics". |
| 1948 | Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a... formulates the principles of cybernetics Cybernetics Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form... , the basis of practical robotics Robotics Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots... . |
| 1961 | The first digitally operated and programmable non-humanoid robot, the Unimate Unimate Unimate was the first industrial robot,which worked on a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961.It was created by George Devol in the 1950s using his original patents... , is installed on a General Motors General Motors General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010... assembly line Assembly line An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods... to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. It was created by George Devol George Devol George Charles Devol, Jr. was an American inventor who was awarded the patent for Unimate, the first industrial robot. Devol's patent for the first digitally operated programmable robotic arm represented the foundation of the modern robotics industry.As an inventor he had over 40 patents and was... and constructed by Unimation, the first robot manufacturing company. |
| 1969 | D.E. Whitney publishes his article "Resolved motion rate control of manipulators and human prosthesis". |
| 1970 | Miomir Vukobratović Miomir Vukobratovic Miomir Vukobratović is a Serbian mechanical engineer and pioneer in humanoid robots. His major interest is in the development of efficient modeling and control of robot dynamics.-Education:He received the B.Sc. and Ph.D... has proposed Zero Moment Point Zero Moment Point Zero Moment Point is a concept related with dynamics and control of legged locomotion, e.g., for humanoid robots. It specifies the point with respect to which dynamic reaction force at the contact of the foot with the ground does not produce any moment in the horizontal direction, i.e. the point... , a theoretical model to explain biped locomotion. |
| 1972 | Miomir Vukobratović Miomir Vukobratovic Miomir Vukobratović is a Serbian mechanical engineer and pioneer in humanoid robots. His major interest is in the development of efficient modeling and control of robot dynamics.-Education:He received the B.Sc. and Ph.D... and his associates at Mihajlo Pupin Institute Mihajlo Pupin Institute Mihajlo Pupin Institute is an institute based in Belgrade, Serbia notable for manufacturing numerous computer systems used in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - especially early CER and later TIM line of computers. It is named after Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin.The Institute is well known in... build the first active anthropomorphic exoskeleton. |
| 1973 | In Waseda University Waseda University , abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate... , in Tokyo, Wabot-1 is built. It was able to communicate with a person in Japanese and to measure distances and directions to the objects using external receptors, artificial ears and eyes, and an artificial mouth. |
| 1980 | Marc Raibert established the MIT Leg Lab, which is dedicated to studying legged locomotion and building dynamic legged robots. |
| 1983 | Using MB Associates arms, "Greenman" was developed by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego. It had an exoskeletal master controller with kinematic equivalency and spatial correspondence of the torso, arms, and head. Its vision system consisted of two 525-line video cameras each having a 35-degree field of view and video camera eyepiece monitors mounted in an aviator's helmet. |
| 1984 | At Waseda University Waseda University , abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate... , the Wabot-2 is created, a musician humanoid robot able to communicate with a person, read a normal musical score with his eyes and play tunes of average difficulty on an electronic organ. |
| 1985 | Developed by Hitachi Ltd, WHL-11 is a biped robot capable of static walking on a flat surface at 13 seconds per step and it can also turn. |
| 1985 | WASUBOT is another musician robot from Waseda University. It performed a concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony of the International Science and Technology Exposition. |
| 1986 | Honda Honda is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than... developed seven biped robots which were designated E0 (Experimental Model 0) through E6. E0 was in 1986, E1 – E3 were done between 1987 and 1991, and E4 - E6 were done between 1991 and 1993. |
| 1989 | Manny was a full-scale anthropomorphic robot with 42 degrees of freedom Degrees of freedom (engineering) In mechanics, degrees of freedom are the set of independent displacements and/or rotations that specify completely the displaced or deformed position and orientation of the body or system... developed at Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Richland, Washington, for the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It could not walk on its own but it could crawl, and had an artificial respiratory system to simulate breathing and sweating. |
| 1990 | Tad McGeer showed that a biped mechanical structure with knees could walk passively down a sloping surface. |
| 1993 | Honda Honda is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than... developed P1 (Prototype Model 1) through P3, an evolution from E series, with upper limbs. Developed until 1997. |
| 1995 | Hadaly was developed in Waseda University Waseda University , abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate... to study human-robot communication and has three subsystems: a head-eye subsystem, a voice control system for listening and speaking in Japanese, and a motion-control subsystem to use the arms to point toward campus destinations. |
| 1995 | Wabian is a human-size biped walking robot from Waseda University. |
| 1996 | Saika, a light-weight, human-size and low-cost humanoid robot, was developed at Tokyo University. Saika has a two-DOF neck, dual five-DOF upper arms, a torso and a head. Several types of hands and forearms are under development also. Developed until 1998. |
| 1997 | Hadaly-2, developed at Waseda University Waseda University , abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate... , is a humanoid robot which realizes interactive communication with humans. It communicates not only informationally, but also physically. |
| 2000 | Honda Honda is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than... creates its 11th bipedal humanoid robot, ASIMO ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda. Introduced in 2000, ASIMO, which is an acronym for "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility", was created to be a helper to people. With aspirations of helping people who lack full mobility, ASIMO is used to encourage young people to study science and mathematics... . |
| 2001 | Sony Sony , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues.... unveils small humanoid entertainment robots, dubbed Sony Dream Robot (SDR). Renamed Qrio QRIO QRIO was to be a bipedal humanoid entertainment robot developed and marketed by Sony to follow up on the success of its AIBO toy. QRIO stood approximately 0.6 m tall and weighed 7.3 kg... in 2003. |
| 2001 | Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... realized its first commercial humanoid robot named HOAP-1. Its successors HOAP-2 and HOAP-3 were announced in 2003 and 2005, respectively. HOAP HOAP The HOAP series robots are an advanced humanoid robot platform manufactured by Fujitsu Automation in Japan. HOAP is an abbreviation for "Humanoid for Open Architecture Platform".... is designed for a broad range of applications for R&D of robot technologies. |
| 2003 | JOHNNIE, an autonomous biped walking robot built at the Technical University of Munich Technical University of Munich The Technische Universität München is a research university with campuses in Munich, Garching, and Weihenstephan... . The main objective was to realize an anthropomorphic walking machine with a human-like, dynamically stable gait |
| 2003 | Actroid, a robot with realistic silicone "skin" developed by Osaka University Osaka University , or , is a major national university located in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan... in conjunction with Kokoro Company Ltd. |
| 2004 | Persia, Iran's first humanoid robot, was developed using realistic simulation by researchers of Isfahan University of Technology Isfahan University of Technology Isfahan University of Technology is one of the most prestigious engineering universities in Iran. It is located 15 Kilometers north west of Isfahan and is one of the major universities and research poles in Iran in the fields of science, engineering and agriculture... in conjunction with ISTT. |
| 2004 | KHR-1 KHR-1 The KHR-1 is a programmable, bipedal humanoid robot introduced in June 2004 by a Japanese company Kondo Kagaku. At the time of its introduction it was one of the least expensive programmable bipedal robots . The robot is 34 cm high and has 17 degrees of freedom... , a programmable bipedal humanoid robot introduced in June 2004 by a Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... ese company Kondo Kagaku. |
| 2005 | The PKD Android, a conversational humanoid robot made in the likeness of science fiction novelist Philip K Dick, was developed as a collaboration between Hanson Robotics, the FedEx Institute of Technology FedEx Institute of Technology The FedEx Institute of Technology is at the University of Memphis. Founded November 19, 2003, under the leadership of James M. Phillips the Institute was designed to bridge the gap between industry and academic research. The Institute is wholly a part of the University of Memphis operating within... , and the University of Memphis University of Memphis The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system.... . |
| 2005 | Wakamaru Wakamaru Wakamaru is a Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, primarily intended to provide companionship to elderly and disabled people. The robot is yellow, 1m tall, and weighs 30 kilograms. It has two arms and its flat, circular base has a diameter of 45 cm... , a Japanese domestic robot made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, primarily intended to provide companionship to elderly and disabled people. |
| 2007 | TOPIO TOPIO TOPIO is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. It has been developed since 2005 by TOSY, a robotics firm in Vietnam. It was publicly demonstrated at the Tokyo International Robot Exhibition on November 28, 2007... , a ping pong playing robot developed by TOSY Robotics JSC. |
| 2008 | Justin, a humanoid robot developed by the German Space Agency (DLR). |
| 2008 | KT-X, the first international humanoid robot developed as a collaboration between the five-time consecutive RoboCup champions, Team Osaka, and KumoTek Robotics. |
| 2008 | Nexi, the first mobile, dexterous and social robot, makes its public debut as one of TIME magazine's top inventions of the year. The robot was built through a collaboration between the MIT Media Lab Personal Robots Group, Xitome Design UMass Amherst and Meka robotics. |
| 2009 | HRP-4C HRP-4C The HRP-4C is a female humanoid robot, created by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology - a Japanese research facility. An in-public demonstration was put on March 16, 2009. It measures 158 centimetres tall, and weighs 43 kilos - including a battery pack... , a Japanese domestic robot made by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology The , or AIST, is a Japanese research facility headquartered in Tokyo, and most of the workforce is located in Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, and in several cities throughout Japan. The institute is managed to integrate scientific and engineering knowledge to address socio-economic needs... , shows human characteristics in addition to bipedal walking. |
| 2009 | Turkey's first dynamically walking humanoid robot, SURALP, is developed by Sabanci University Sabanci University Sabancı University is a private research institution located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 1996. SU is a small and highly focused university with 2861 undergraduates and 624 graduates, maintaining a strong emphasis on social and natural sciences... in conjunction with Tubitak. |
| 2010 | NASA NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research... and General Motors revealed Robonaut 2, a very advanced humanoid robot. It was part of the payload of Shuttle Discovery on the successful launch February 24, 2010. It is intended to do spacewalks for NASA. |
| 2010 | Students at the University of Tehran University of Tehran The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian... , Iran Iran Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia... unveil the Surena II. It was unveiled by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. |
| 2010 | Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology The , or AIST, is a Japanese research facility headquartered in Tokyo, and most of the workforce is located in Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, and in several cities throughout Japan. The institute is managed to integrate scientific and engineering knowledge to address socio-economic needs... demonstrate their humanoid robot HRP-4C HRP-4C The HRP-4C is a female humanoid robot, created by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology - a Japanese research facility. An in-public demonstration was put on March 16, 2009. It measures 158 centimetres tall, and weighs 43 kilos - including a battery pack... singing and dancing along with human dancers. |
| 2010 | In September the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology also demonstrates the humanoid robot HRP-4. The HRP-4 resembles the HRP-4C in some regards but is called "athletic" and is not a gynoid. |
| 2011 | In November Honda unveiled its second generation Honda Asimo Robot. The all new Asimo is the first truly autonomous humanoid robot with the ability to make decisions on its own. |
See also
- Actroid
- AIBOAIBOAIBO was one of several types of robotic pets designed and manufactured by Sony...
- Android
- Archie Humanoid RobotArchie Humanoid RobotArchie is a humanoid robot, developed in Vienna University of Technology in Austria and University of Manitoba in Canada. The development of Archie started in 2004 at theInstitute of Handling Robots and Devices under supervision of Professor Peter Kopacek. Archie is in class a Teen size Humanoid...
- ASIMOASIMOis a humanoid robot created by Honda. Introduced in 2000, ASIMO, which is an acronym for "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility", was created to be a helper to people. With aspirations of helping people who lack full mobility, ASIMO is used to encourage young people to study science and mathematics...
first humanoid robot to walk on its own - ChorometChorometHRP-2M Choromet is a 35 cm tall, 1½ pound humanoid robot which is, in a sense, the younger brother of HRP-2. It runs on ART-Linux which is a hard realtime linux developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan...
- CogCog (project)Cog was a project at the Humanoid Robotics Group of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was based on the hypothesis that human-level intelligence requires gaining experience from interacting with humans, like human infants do. This in turn requires many interactions with humans over a...
- EveR-1EveR-1EveR-1 is a female android, developed by a team of South Korean scientists from the in Korea University of Science and Technology. The project is headed by Baeg Moon-hong and was unveiled to the public at in Seoul on May 4, 2003...
- GuRooGuRooGuRoo is a humanoid robot developed at the Mobile Robotics Laboratory in the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Queensland. The design of the GuRoo is based on the human form and it is kept as anthropomorphic as possible. GuRoo is completely autonomous...
- GynoidGynoidA gynoid is anything which resembles or pertains to the female human form. It is also used in American English medical terminology as a shortening of the term Gynecoid ....
- HOAPHOAPThe HOAP series robots are an advanced humanoid robot platform manufactured by Fujitsu Automation in Japan. HOAP is an abbreviation for "Humanoid for Open Architecture Platform"....
- HRP-4CHRP-4CThe HRP-4C is a female humanoid robot, created by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology - a Japanese research facility. An in-public demonstration was put on March 16, 2009. It measures 158 centimetres tall, and weighs 43 kilos - including a battery pack...
- HUBOHUBOHUBO is a walking humanoid robot, head mounted on a life-size walking bipedal frame, developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and released on January 6, 2005...
- Ibn Sina RobotIbn Sina RobotThe Ibn Sina Robot is the world's first android robot with Arabic language conversational abilities. Ibn Sina was named after the famous polymath of the 11th century and was created at the Interactive Robots and Media Lab of the United Arab Emirates University...
- iCubICubAn iCub is a 1 metre high humanoid robot testbed for research into human cognition and artificial intelligence.It was designed by the RobotCub Consortium, of several European universities and is now supported by other projects such as ITALK. The robot is open-source, with the hardware design,...
- KHR-1KHR-1The KHR-1 is a programmable, bipedal humanoid robot introduced in June 2004 by a Japanese company Kondo Kagaku. At the time of its introduction it was one of the least expensive programmable bipedal robots . The robot is 34 cm high and has 17 degrees of freedom...
- KismetKismet (robot)Kismet is a robot made in the late 1990s at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal. The robot's auditory, visual and expressive systems were intended to allow it to participate in human social interaction and to demonstrate simulated human emotion and appearance...
- KT-X
- MechRC Shadowstalker
- MeinüMeinü robotA Meinü robot is a Chinese gynoid model which was reported on in Chinese news sources in 2006. In Mandarin, Měinǚ Jīqìrén 美女机器人 literally means "beautiful-woman robot" and is officially translated "beauty robot"...
- NaoNao (robot)Nao is an autonomous, programmable, medium-sized humanoid robot, developed by Aldebaran Robotics, a French startup company headquartered in Paris. Project Nao was launched in 2004. On August 15, 2007, Nao replaced Sony's robot dog Aibo as the robot used in the Robot Soccer World Cup Standard...
- PINOPINOThe Open PINO Platform is an open humanoid robot platform, with its mechanical and software design covered by the GNU Free Documentation License and GNU General Public License respectively....
- PlenPlenPlen is a small desktop toy humanoid robot that can replicate complex human movements. It is controlled remotely by use of a Bluetooth enabled phone. When programmed, it is able to use a skateboard, rollerskates, pick up, kick and throw small things, and stand up if he tumbles to the floor...
- QRIOQRIOQRIO was to be a bipedal humanoid entertainment robot developed and marketed by Sony to follow up on the success of its AIBO toy. QRIO stood approximately 0.6 m tall and weighed 7.3 kg...
- REEM
- RoboCupRoboCupRoboCup is an international robotics competition founded in 1997. The aim is to develop autonomous soccer robots with the intention of promoting research and education in the field of artificial intelligence...
- RobonautRobonautRobonaut is a humanoid robotic development project conducted by the Dextrous Robotics Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas...
- Robonova-1
- RoboSapienRoboSapienRoboSapien is a toy-like biomorphic robot designed by Mark Tilden and produced by WowWee toys. The RoboSapien is preprogrammed with moves, and also can be controlled by an infrared remote control included with the toy, or by either a personal computer equipped with an infrared transmitter, and an...
- RoxxxyRoxxxyRoxxxy, termed a 'sex robot' is a full-size interactive sex doll. The robot is built by the New Jersey-based company TrueCompanion.Its engineer is Douglas Hines, founder and president of the company, who worked as an artificial intelligence engineer at the Bell Labs before he founded...
- Shadow HandShadow HandThe Shadow Dexterous Hand is a humaniform robot hand system developed by The Shadow Robot Company in London. The hand is comparable to a human hand in size and shape, and reproduces all of its degrees of freedom...
- SIGMOSIGMOSIGMO is a humanoid robot designed to demonstrate the applications of passive dynamics technologies.SIGMO stands for Synthetic, IntelliGent, MObility, and was developed by a team of high school students to demonstrate the capabilities of passive-dynamic actuation techniques.The technology used to...
- SURALP
- TOPIOTOPIOTOPIO is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. It has been developed since 2005 by TOSY, a robotics firm in Vietnam. It was publicly demonstrated at the Tokyo International Robot Exhibition on November 28, 2007...
- Toyota Partner RobotToyota Partner RobotThe Toyota Partner Robots are a series of humanoid robots developed by Toyota. They debuted playing music on drums and trumpets at the 2005 World EXPO in Aichi, Japan.There are 5 robots in all, most of which have different movement systems...
- Uncanny valleyUncanny ValleyThe uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and 3D computer animation, which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers...
Further reading
- Carpenter, J., Davis, J., Erwin‐Stewart, N., Lee. T., Bransford, J. & Vye, N. (2009). Gender representation in humanoid robots for domestic use. International Journal of Social Robotics (special issue). 1 (3), 261‐265.The Netherlands: Springer.
- Carpenter, J., Davis, J., Erwin‐Stewart, N., Lee. T., Bransford, J. & Vye, N. (2008). Invisible machinery in function, not form: User expectations of a domestic humanoid robot. Proceedings of 6th conference on Design and Emotion. Hong Kong, China.
- Williams, Karl P. (2004). Build Your Own Human Robots: 6 Amazing and Affordable Projects. McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics. ISBN 0-07-142274-9. ISBN 978-0-07-142274-1.
External links
- MIT Media Lab Personal Robots Group
- Humanoid Robots' jobs in Japan
- MIT Lab Research Projects
- Ethics for the Robot Age
- Honda Humanoid Robots
- Service Robots
- Ethical Considerations for Humanoid Robots
- Android World (also contains a more complete timeline)
- Robotics Education Website
- Xitome Design Humanoid Robotics
- Ulrich Hottelet: Albert is not happy - How robots learn to live with people, African Times, June 2009