INTRODUCTION:
The field of humanoids
robotics, widely recognized as the current challenge for robotics research, is
attracting the interest of many research groups worldwide. Important efforts
have been devoted to the objective of developing humanoids and impressive results
have been produced, from the technological point of view, especially for the
problem of biped walking.In Japan, important humanoid
projects, started in the last decade, have been carried on by the Waseda
University and by Honda Motor Co.
The Humanoid Project of the
Waseda University, started in 1992, is a joint project of industry, government
and academia, aiming at developing robots which support humans in the field of
health care and industry during their life and that share with human information
and behavioral space, so that particular attention have been posed to the
problem of human-computer interaction.Within the Humanoid Project, the Waseda
University developed three humanoid robots, as research platforms, namely
Hadaly 2,Wabian and Wendy.
Impressive results have been also obtained by Honda
Motor Co.Ltd with P2 and P3, self-contained humanoid robots with two arms and
two legs, able to walk, to turn while walking, to climb up and down stairs.These laboratories on their humanoid robots carry on studies on human-robot
interaction, on human-like movements and behavior and on brain mechanics of
human cognition and sensory-motor learning.Developing humanoids poses
fascinating problems in the realization of manipulation capability, which is
still one of most complex problem in robotics. For its scientific content and
for its utility in the most robotics applications, the problem of manipulation
has been deeply investigated and many results are already available, both as
hands and sensors and as control schemes.
The Hitachi Ltd. Hand has proposed an approach in
designing robotics hands with its radial space memory alloy (SMA) metal
actuation technology. The hand is characterized by a high power-to-weight ratio
and a high compactness. The Hitachi Hand uses a large number of thin SMA wires;
each finger has 0.02mm diameter SMA wires that are set around the tube housing
of the spring actuators. The SMA wire, when heated by passing electric current
through it, reacts by contracting against the force of the spring.
The development of a robotic hand for space operations
is currently ongoing also in the Robotic Systems Technology Branch at the NASA
Johnson Space Center. The Robonaut Hand has a total of fourteen degrees of
freedom and consists of a forearm, which houses the motors and drive
electronics a two-degree of freedom wrist, and five-fingers, twelve degrees of
freedom, hand. The hand itself is divided into sections: a dextrous work set
which is used for manipulation and grasping set which allows the hand to
maintain stable grasp while manipulating or actuating a given object.
The main goal is to manufacture
human-like hands, whose main requirements are cosmetics, noiselessness and low
weight and size. Myoelectrically controlled prostheses are at present the best
way to partially restore the functionality of an amputated limb. Finally hybrid
prostheses combine a body-powered with a myoelectric prosthesis in case of
shoulder disarticulation level amputations.
The proposed approach to the design and development
of humanoid robots relies on the integration of humanoid components intended
both as anthropomorphic hardware systems, and as software modules implementing
anthropomorphic control and behavioral schemes.
