Scientists develop humanoid robot platform for research
Commercial humanoid robots are often not suitable for research facilities and are too expensive. Researchers have therefore developed their own robot platform.
The Berkeley Humanoid in field tests.
(Image: UC Berkeley)
A research team at the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) has developed a platform for humanoid robots that is inexpensive and suitable for research. The two-legged robot is designed in such a way that it can be used to easily train and test robot control algorithms. It is also designed to be particularly durable.
"After conducting several experiments with commercially available robots, we became aware of some of their weaknesses," says Qiayuan Liao, co-author of the study "Berkeley Humanoid: A Research Platform for Learning-based Control", which has been published as a preprint on Arxiv. "For example, some robot hardware is very expensive, while other hardware is not specifically designed for learning-based control or research, which often means that it is 'fragile', easily broken, and difficult to maintain and repair."
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Accordingly, the researchers addressed these disadvantages when developing the Berkeley Humanoid. The robot had to be inexpensive, easy to manufacture and scalable. Furthermore, it should be easy to transfer and test algorithms for robot control. The platform must also be easy to transport, require little maintenance and be robust – if something should go wrong during testing. It is also important that the robot can only be operated by one operator in order to minimize personnel costs during tests.
When developing the humanoid robot platform, the researchers paid particular attention to ensuring that the robot is compact, lightweight and cost-effective so that it can be used in a research laboratory without any problems. To this end, the scientists relied on in-house developments for components such as the mechanical components, body parts, gears and actuators. They also developed a suitable motor driver and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for motion control.
Practical tests
The scientists tested the Berkeley Humanoid in laboratory environments and field tests. The robot was able to demonstrate dynamic locomotion with different gaits on different terrain. It can also hop on one or two legs and cover long distances. It was possible to easily transfer learning-based algorithms for control, thus accelerating algorithm development and its experimental validation.
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The scientists at UC Berkeley are now planning to use the robot platform for their own research and hope that it will also be used in other robotics research laboratories.
However, the humanoid robot research platform is not yet finished. The researchers next want to equip the Berkeley Humanoid with movable arms so that it can also be used for manipulation-related research. Its perceptual abilities are also to be expanded.
(olb)
