Humanoid Robot KHR-1 SDK Released 98
ls129 writes "KHR-1, the Japanese Robo-One humanoid robot kit from Kondo (previously mentioned here), is finally open for creative software development. The first unofficial implementation of the PC-controller API has just been posted. Using the SDK, the 17 servos that give the robot its mobility can be remote controlled by the PC via WiFi or bluetooth, and their current position can be retrieved several times per second. This unique feature will allow robot fans to go beyond simple performance of motion sequences or low-level gyro-based motion correction and develop algorithms that involve feedback control and AI." Update: 04/05 16:59 GMT by T : As originally posted, I erroneously changed the robot's nationality from Japanese to Korean; that was a boo-boo; the linked site with an English translation is Korean, but the robot itself is Japanese. Apologies to the submitter, who had it right.
Available for sale to the US? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hang on, AI? (Score:2, Interesting)
The AI-enabling feature is the position feedback that you can get from the servos. In order to create AI you need a feedback loop involving getting sensor data and updating servo positions repeatedly.
Normal RC-servos were designed to be embedded in a RC-car or RC-plane and controled by a human. In this case the feedback loop is acheived by the human seeing what the car is doing and updating the direction with his joystick.
For an autonomous robot to work, the cpu needs to be fed with lots of sensor data at high refresh rates. Hence this humanoid has the potential of becoming autonomous.
Re:Amazing (Score:3, Interesting)
try to google : feedback control robot
for example:3 .htm [mundobot.com]
m [u-tokyo.ac.jp]
http://mundobot.com/projects/melanie/v3/enmelanie
http://www.ynl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~fabio/bipedloc.ht
Sony Quorio, Honda Asimo etc.
Re:17 Servos: Too Many? (Score:4, Interesting)
When I saw this I'd just finished reading an article [sciencemag.org] in Science (18 Feb 05) entitled
Efficient Bipedal Robots Based on Passive-Dynamic Walkers (subscription required). Contrary to the "mainstream" approach of actuating every joint with a complex control system, the authors describe three robots that achieve very natural human-like gaits using far fewer actuators and much simpler control principles (one of them using adaptive learning). Not only are these robots far simpler to control, but they typically require only about a tenth of the energy of designs that attempt to actuate every joint (e.g., knees). I'll speculate that this passive/dynamic approach is going to dominate in the future.