With the advancement of technology, numerous full-sized humanoid robots came into the limelight. Hubo, Honda, HRP-series, LOLA, TORO, ARMAR-4 are some of them. Roboticists are still experimenting to develop more anthropometrically correct humanoid robot design that is more akin to the physical proportions of human beings and can achieve comparable or better human performances.
Herbert is a robot developed at the Institute of Cognitive Systems (ICS) based on anthropometry. Anthropometry refers to the study of proportions and sizes of the human body. This means Herbert is anthropometrically correct with the weight and size of a 1 percentile adult male. Also, the limbs of the robot have almost similar joint position and length as a real human.
Three Anthropometrically Correct Humanoid Robots
- HRP-4C - This is based on the average young Japanese female. This robot was designed to showcase as a fashion model in the entertainment industry.
- WABIAN-2 - This humanoid robot was designed in order to help researchers study rehabilitation and welfare instruments. One of the reasons that the researchers used the humanoid robot was to identify any defect in human forms from an engineering perspective.
- PETMAN - This humanoid robot was developed in order to test chemical protective clothing. This required PETMAN to exhibit human-like speed, motion, and strength while wearing human clothing and footwear.
Though they have distinct functionality and work environment; all these humanoid robot designs suffer from a common issue: their high costs.
And here lies the significance of Herbert. The motivation and aim behind designing Herbert are to make an anthropometrically correct humanoid robot in a cost-effective way.
Key Design Requirements of Herbert
Herbert is designed to perform a wide array of human tasks, hence it has to be anthropometrically correct. Developing a robot with the same proportions and weight as a real human being simplifies the process of directly mapping the human tasks onto the robot.
On successful completion, this humanoid robot can be used to accomplish various tasks including teaching, testing prosthesis and devices for specially-abled people, etc. Such a varied work scope wants the humanoid robot to fulfill the following requirements:
- Human weight
- Affordability
- Compliant and back drivable joints
- Anthropometrically correct
Basic Overview of Herbert’s Design
This full-sized humanoid robot weighs 35.5 kg and has 33 degrees of freedom (DOF). 29 of these are active DOFs (3 in the head, 4 in the waist, 2 x 7 in the arms, and 2 x 4 in the legs) and 4 are passive DOFs (involving 2 x 2 in the ankles).
Two types of core mechanical modules form the main structural elements of the robot: compliant mechanical drive modules and compact mechanical drive modules.
Instead of active ankles, human prosthetics have been used to design the feet. Thus, the mass of the leg is reduced to 5 kg, ensuring a dynamic walking.
Conclusion
The significance of Herbert lies in the fact that this anthropometrically correct humanoid robot has been made in a cost-effective way. The entire expenditure of this humanoid robot is €35,000. This is indeed a huge progression in the field of robotics and we hope it will influence the future generation of roboticists to continue this tradition. Developing a cost-effective humanoid robot will not only save resources but will also encourage the use of humanoid robots in ordinary life.
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