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Johnny-0, a compliant, force-controlled and interactive humanoid autonomous robot

Published: 05 March 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Johnny-0, shown in Figure 1, is our new humanoid robot which integrates an expressive face on an orientable head, two arms with 4 degrees of freedom (DOF) each and grippers, mounted on an omnidirectional, non-holonomic mobile platform. Our underlying goal with Johnny-0 is to design a platform capable of natural reciprocal interaction (motion, language, touch, affect) with humans, to address integration issues associated with advanced motion, interaction and cognition capabilities on the same platform, and their use in unconstrained real world conditions. To do so, compliance is a necessity to provide natural and safe interactions.
One distinctive element of Johnny-0 is that it uses force-controlled actuators (called Differential Elastic Actuators, or DEA) for active steering of its mobile platform, and for interactive control of its 4-DOF arms. Compliance at the mobile platform level allows a person to physically guide the robot without having to push it from a specific location on the platform [1]. Motion can also be constrained to avoid obstacles and collisions, providing natural physical interaction with the robot. Impedance control of each joint enables infinite combination of arm behaviors, from zero impedance for free movement with gravity compensation, to high stiffness constraining the arms to precise positions or ranges of movement. Stiffness can be configured to create virtual constraints in cartesian space, providing force feedback to the user about movement's limitations of the arms. For instance, stiffening the arms in certain poses could indicate to the user that the arms are restrained to move into a specific volume. Beyond these limits, any pushing or pulling force can be perceived by the mobile base, and can be interpreted as an intention to move the robot around.
Combining compliance to other sensors (e.g., Kinect motion sensor) and a robot head capable of facial expression allows Johnny-0 to detect incoming people and adjust the impedance of its actuators accordingly (e.g., extend its gripper to greet them), and express its state based on how people physically interact with it (e.g., displaying surprise when the user move the arms beyond specific limits).

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References

[1]
J. Frémy, F. Ferland, L. Clavien, D. Létourneau, F. Michaud, and M. Lauria. Force-controlled motion of a mobile platform. In IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Robots and Systems, pages 2517--2518, 2010.
[2]
F. Michaud, F. Ferland, D. Létourneau, M. Legault, and M. Lauria. Toward autonomous, compliant, omnidirectional humanoid robots for natural interaction in real-life settings. Paladyn Behavioral Robotic Journal, 1(1):57--65, 2010.

Cited By

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  • (2024)Advancements in Humanoid Robots: A Comprehensive Review and Future ProspectsIEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica10.1109/JAS.2023.12414011:2(301-328)Online publication date: Feb-2024
  • (2018)Instantaneous centre of rotation based motion control for omnidirectional mobile robots with sidewards off-centred wheelsRobotics and Autonomous Systems10.1016/j.robot.2018.03.014106:C(58-68)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2018
  • (2018)Assistive Humanoid Robots for the Elderly with Mild Cognitive ImpairmentHumanoid Robotics: A Reference10.1007/978-94-007-6046-2_134(2377-2396)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2018
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  1. Johnny-0, a compliant, force-controlled and interactive humanoid autonomous robot

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    HRI '12: Proceedings of the seventh annual ACM/IEEE international conference on Human-Robot Interaction
    March 2012
    518 pages
    ISBN:9781450310635
    DOI:10.1145/2157689

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    New York, NY, United States

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    Published: 05 March 2012

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    Author Tags

    1. force-control
    2. humanoid robot

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    HRI'12: International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
    March 5 - 8, 2012
    Massachusetts, Boston, USA

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    Overall Acceptance Rate 268 of 1,124 submissions, 24%

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    View all
    • (2024)Advancements in Humanoid Robots: A Comprehensive Review and Future ProspectsIEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica10.1109/JAS.2023.12414011:2(301-328)Online publication date: Feb-2024
    • (2018)Instantaneous centre of rotation based motion control for omnidirectional mobile robots with sidewards off-centred wheelsRobotics and Autonomous Systems10.1016/j.robot.2018.03.014106:C(58-68)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2018
    • (2018)Assistive Humanoid Robots for the Elderly with Mild Cognitive ImpairmentHumanoid Robotics: A Reference10.1007/978-94-007-6046-2_134(2377-2396)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2018
    • (2017)Assistive Humanoid Robots for the Elderly with Mild Cognitive ImpairmentHumanoid Robotics: A Reference10.1007/978-94-007-7194-9_134-1(1-20)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2017

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