(E) Real-time controller cRIO 9082 from National Instruments to close the BFI control loop.
SONG BAR KIM MIT ROBOTICS SERIES
(D) A series of linkages with passive joints connected to the operator’s feet and track their spatial translation. (C) Each actuation module has three DoFs, one of which is a push/pull rod actuated by a DC brushless motor. (B) Two underactuated modules to track the position and orientation of the torso and apply forces to the operator.
The main modules of the BFI include: (A) Custom interface attachments for torso and feet designed to capture human motion data at high speed (1 kHz). The researchers call it the balance-feedback interface, or BFI. The human-machine interface built by the MIT researchers for controlling Little HERMES is different from conventional ones in that it relies on the operator’s reflexes to improve the robot’s stability. You could say we’re putting a human brain inside the machine. Through this human-robot link, the robot can harness the operator’s innate motor skills and split-second reflexes to keep its footing. We then capture that physical response and send it back to the robot, which helps it avoid falling, too. So if the robot steps on debris and starts to lose its balance, the operator feels the same instability and instinctively reacts to avoid falling. We are building a telerobotic system that has two parts: a humanoid capable of nimble, dynamic behaviors, and a new kind of two-way human-machine interface that sends your motions to the robot and the robot’s motions to you. Image: Science RoboticsĮarly this year, the MIT researchers wrote an in-depth article for IEEE Spectrum about the project, which includes Little HERMES and also its big brother, HERMES (for Highly Efficient Robotic Mechanisms and Electromechanical System). In that article, they describe the two main components of the system: (G) Rigid and lightweight frame to minimize the robot mass. (F) Two three-cell lithium-polymer batteries in series. (E) Real-time computer sbRIO 9606 from National Instruments for robot control. (D) Ruggedized IMU to estimates the robot’s torso posture, angular rate, and linear acceleration. (C) Impact-robust and lightweight foot sensors with three-axis contact force sensor. (B) Lightweight limbs with low inertia and fast leg swing. The main components of MIT’s bipedal robot Little HERMES: (A) Custom actuators designed to withstand impact and capable of producing high torque. Their new approach addresses these two limitations, and to see how it would work in practice, they built Little HERMES. In addition, conventional systems provide no physical feedback to the human teleoperator about what the robot is doing. In the paper, they argue that existing teleoperation systems often can’t effectively match the operator’s motions to that of a robot. The researchers, João Ramos, now an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Sangbae Kim, director of MIT’s Biomimetic Robotics Lab, describe the project in this week’s issue of Science Robotics. That’s where a more advanced teleoperation system could help.
They explain that, despite recent advances, building fully autonomous robots with motor and decision-making skills comparable to those of humans remains a challenge. While that in itself is not very impressive, the researchers say their approach could help bring capable disaster robots closer to reality. It can step and jump in place or walk a short distance while supported by a gantry. The robot is called Little HERMES, and it’s currently just a pair of little legs, about a third the size of an average adult.
SONG BAR KIM MIT ROBOTICS MOVIE
The system works a bit like those haptic suits from the Spielberg movie “Ready Player One.” But while the suits in the film were used to connect humans to their VR avatars, the MIT suit connects the operator to a real robot. MIT researchers have demonstrated a new kind of teleoperation system that allows a two-legged robot to “borrow” a human operator’s physical skills to move with greater agility.
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