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First Dynamically Balancing Biped Robot
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Feb 27, 2007 09:49 PM
from the mister-rossum-on-line-1 dept.
from the mister-rossum-on-line-1 dept.
damg writes "Anybots, which is three guys led by Trevor Blackwell, has developed the first robot that walks like we do, by dynamically balancing itself rather than being pre-programmed for walking like Asimo. The video shows the robot walking and being pushed by another 'bully' robot to demonstrate that it can't easily be pushed over."
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Oblig (Score:5, Funny)
But... (Score:3, Funny)
</ObFarkism>
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, and I'm still waiting for the dynamically balancing Natalie Portman lookalike robot to emerge (petrified and complete with hot grits).
He can walk the walk (Score:5, Funny)
Re:He can walk the walk (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I thought Segway http://www.segway.com/ [segway.com] was the first.
Walks like we do? (Score:5, Funny)
Gets out of bed, goes to the fridge, pulls out a soda and pours a coffee, then sits at the computer for 12-20 hours stopping only to walk to the door to receive food deliveries, go to the fridge to get another soda, and to the bathroom to remedy the situation that the previous two types of activities has caused?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Well, it doesn't walk like I do, but it walks a hell of a lot like my dad does!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I sold short, you insensitive clod!
Re: (Score:2)
-jcr
It's like falling and missing the ground (Score:4, Informative)
This is ways more impressive than you'd guess from the video, which doesn't look much different from all the other walking biped robot video (it's less shiny than most). Since this always pops up [slashdot.org] and always has to be explained [slashdot.org]:
Re:It's like falling and missing the ground (Score:5, Informative)
ASIMO _absolutely_ dynamically balances. I have one in my lab at CMU and have worked with walking humanoids [kuffner.org] for years.
First of all, static stability means the center of gravity (CoG) is inside the base of support (the convex hull of the ground contact points).
Dynamic stability is much more difficult to analyze because it involves stability over time. The velocities of any moving parts of an articulated body induce linear and angular momentum that can result in a dynamic stability over time _without_ having any of the intermediate poses being statically stable.
The center of gravity absolutely _does not_ always stay above the support leg for ASIMO. If you try to freeze his pose during the middle of a step it will fall over.
Instead, ASIMO is controlled to keep the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) always inside the convex hull of the contact points. The ZMP (related to the Center of Pressure) is the point on the contact surface where the sum of all torques (moments) is zero. For a given walking trajectory, if the ZMP always stays inside the base if support, then the walk is dynamically stable.
There have been numerous humanoids that use the ZMP formulation to control and maintain dynamic balance while walking (e.g. Honda P2, P3, ASIMO, U. Tokyo H6, H7, AIST HRP2, Waseda Wabian 1, 2, KAIST Hubo, Toyota Partner Robots, Sony QRIO and many more). ALL of these robots are dynamically balancing and are definitely NOT statically stable.
Parent
Yes, not the first dynamically stable walker. (Score:5, Informative)
Kuffner (above) is right, of course. Dynamically stabilized walking has been around for years. It's not easy to do, but it's been done. Raibert first did it in the 1980s. See his book, "Legged Robots that Balance".
Most of the self-balancing walkers, as Kuffner points out, use a ZMP-based approach. This works for walking, although it's not quite enough for effective running.
Many of the dynamically balanced robots can rebalance after a shove. BDI's Big Dog can. [bdi.com] So can some Japanese hobbyist robots.
If you're not up to date on how far along Japanese hobbyist robotics has progressed, see these videos of this month's humanoid robot soccer match [robots-dreams.com]. These robots are mostly manually controlled, but have computers managing some functions. Many have rate gyros to assist with balance. Gradually, the computers and sensors are taking over more of the control. The hobby robotics manufacturers in Japan now have about 70% of the functionality of Asimo at 2% of the price. There are hobbyist robots with WiFi links and cameras on board. A few more improvements and you'll be able to do all the Asimo stuff with a $1500 robot. But it will only be about 60cm high.
Parent
Re: (Score:3)
-jcr
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It's like falling and missing the ground (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:It's like falling and missing the ground (Score:5, Insightful)
You also may have noticed a mobile frame on casters that surround the robot. Most of the time, I'm sure they connect this robot to a harness so it doesn't fall down. We're not talking about pride here. When your robot falls and breaks something, that shit gets expensive!
Basically, this is like a child riding a bike with training wheels. Just because they are there doesn't mean they're being used all the time at that given moment.
Parent
Damn it.... (Score:5, Funny)
Just watched the video and it... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Japanese Fem-Bot [youtube.com]
So what? (Score:3, Funny)
Fine, so he wasn't pushed over (Score:5, Funny)
Cool (Score:5, Interesting)
I immediately noticed a striking resemblance between how this robot was learning to walk and how my grandson, now 10 months old, makes regular attempts to also solve this problem for himself.
Way cool.
Re: (Score:2)
This is cool... but the claim of "first" is untrue (Score:5, Informative)
What I think the story _should_ point out that is very impressive is:
1) The robot uses pneumatic actuators, which are notoriously difficult to model and control. Almost all of the current dynamically balancing and walking humanoids use electric motors (e.g. ASIMO).
2) Anybots claims to have some "learning" in their controller. Although they don't have any papers about what they are doing, perhaps they are using some clever statistical modeling and feedback to adaptively control and regulate the robot's stability.
BTW, I had a chance to meet Trevor Blackwell a few years ago when he visited my lab. He is definitely a talented engineer with a vision for the future. Several years ago he made Slashdot when he announced his homemade Segway:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/ 28/1756241 [slashdot.org]
From my point of view, any interest by hobbyists and industry in humanoid robotics in North America is great for the field of robotics research.
Walk before you run (Score:2)
In any case, this certainly looks like my friend getting over hip replacement surgery. I wonder if one application would be in working out better models of physical therepy. Give the robot the same change in leg length and muscle weakness, see how it compensates, then have the patient imitate. The recovery buddy?
Walk with Sun Dexter! http://mdsol [blogspot.com]
Dexter and Big Dog (Score:5, Interesting)
DARPA (the US military research folks who helped bring us the Internet) is currently funding Big Dog [wikipedia.org] which I think is has far more potential, because however you calculate it, a quadruped has to have more stability than a biped. Though, in no way do I wish to detract from the achievements of Dexter.
See Big Dog in action here [youtube.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Check this BigDog video out, it's quite amazing. It look
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Fascinating (Score:4, Insightful)
Regardless, this is excellent to see.
Re:Fascinating (Score:4, Informative)
Yes and no. You could probably walk or run perfectly well around your house if your arms were completely limp at your sides, or tied tight behind your back, or bound to your sides somehow.
Arms CAN improve balance by shifting your center of gravity quickly, but they're absolutely not involved in locomotion.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I just wrote off the missing arms as unnecessary to help balance the baby steps the robot was taking.
Looks like a precursor to the Terminator (Score:2)
What I'd like to see... (Score:2)
Competition (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
No word from Mr. Ballmer yet if he's going to sue for patent infringement or not...
Terrible Secret. (Score:3, Funny)
Bots getting dizzy (Score:2)
If the gyroscope and such balancing mechanisms are so incredibly sensitive, perhaps it's possible for the sensors to get overloaded from very fast movement and the robot would lose his balance. In essence, he would get dizzy.
At this stage, I doubt you could call the robot falling in the video getting dizzy...but still, it's food for thought.
Pusher Robot (Score:5, Funny)
Though I suppose it's necessary to protect these new inventions from the terrible secret of space.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
After dozens of "tests", the first robot declared war on the human race, and had to be burned!
It was determined that building a Pusher Robot, would save lives and money, and therefore built.
For those who don't know the reference (Score:3, Informative)
neato... (Score:2)
What, no arms? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd bet it would not be too difficult, certainly not easy but compared to their work to this point it'd be trivial, to add some arms and significantly improve the robot's ability to walk... perhaps even jump and/or run... they could even have it catch itself if it falls.
But What's the Deal... (Score:3, Funny)
Urgh (Score:2, Interesting)
you would think that.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Natural? Not in the least.
Asimo doesn't walk like we do. Dexter (this new one) looks like a 10-month-old trying to learn to walk. A robot built to walk in the same vein as Asimo will never be able to walk as easily as a human does. There's way too many variables that would have to be hard coded in (as Asimo's programming is).
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