Advancements in Humanoid Robots: A Comprehensive Review and Future Prospects

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current status, advancements, and future prospects of humanoid robots, highlighting their significance in driving the evolution of next-generation industries. By analyzing various research endeavors and key technologies, encompassing ontology structure,control and decision-making, and perception and interaction, a holistic overview of the current state of humanoid robot research is presented. Furthermore, emerging challenges in the field are identified, emphasizing the necessity for a deeper understanding of biological motion mechanisms, improved structural design,enhanced material applications, advanced drive and control methods, and efficient energy utilization. The integration of bionics, brain-inspired intelligence, mechanics, and control is underscored as a promising direction for the development of advanced humanoid robotic systems. This paper serves as an invaluable resource, offering insightful guidance to researchers in the field,while contributing to the ongoing evolution and potential of humanoid robots across diverse domains.

An Approach to Optimize the Path of Humanoids using Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization

In the emerging area of humanoid robotics, path planning and autonomous navigation have evolved as one of the most promising area of research. This paper deals with the design and development of a novel navigational controller to guide humanoids in cluttered envi- ronments. The basic parameters of the ant colony optimization technique have been modified to have enhanced control as Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization （AACO）. The controller that has been implemented in the humanoids receives sensory information about obstacle distances as inputs and provides required turning angle as output to reach the specified target position. The proposed controller has been tested in both simulated and experimental environments created trader laboratory conditions, and a good agreement has been observed between the simulation and experiment results. Here, both static and dynamic path planning have been attempted. Finally, the proposed controller has also been tested against other existing techniques to validate the efficiency of the AACO in path planning problems.

Development of an Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm and Hand for Interactive Humanoids

Humanoid robots are designed and built to mimic human form and movement. Ultimately, they are meant to resemble the size and physical abilities of a human in order to function in human-oriented environments and to work autonomously but to pose no physical threat to humans. Here, a humanoid robot that resembles a human in appearance and movement is built using powerful actuators paired with gear trains, joint mechanisms, and motor drivers that are all encased in a package no larger than that of the human physique. In this paper, we propose the construction of a humanoid-applicable anthropomorphic 7-DoF arm complete with an 8-DoF hand. The novel mechanical design of this humanoid ann makes it sufficiently compact to be compatible with currently available narrating-model humanoids, and to be sufficiently powerful and flexible to be functional; the number of degrees of freedom endowed in this robotic arm is sufficient for executing a wide range of tasks, including dexterous hand movements. The developed humanoid arm and hand are capable of sensing and interpreting incoming external force using the motor in each joint current without conventional torque sensors. The humanoid ann adopts an algorithm to avoid obstacles and the dexterous hand is capable of grasping objects. The developed robotic ann is suitable for use in an interactive humanoid robot.

An Adaptive Hand Exoskeleton for Teleoperation System

Teleoperation can assist people to complete various complex tasks in inaccessible or high-risk environments,in which a wearable hand exoskeleton is one of the key devices.Adequate adaptability would be available to enable the master hand exoskeleton to capture the motion of human fingers and reproduce the contact force between the slave hand and its object.This paper presents a novel finger exoskeleton based on the cascading four-link closed-loop kinematic chain.Each finger has an independent closed-loop kinematic chain,and the angle sensors are used to obtain the finger motion including the flexion/extension and the adduction/abduction.The cable tension is changed by the servo motor to transmit the contact force to the fingers in real time.Based on the finger exoskeleton,an adaptive hand exoskeleton is consequently developed.In addition,the hand exoskeleton is tested in a master-slave system.The experiment results show that the adaptive hand exoskeleton can be worn without any mechanical constraints,and the slave hand can follow the motions of each human finger.The accuracy and the real-time capability of the force reproduction are validated.The proposed adaptive hand exoskeleton can be employed as the master hand to remotely control the humanoid five-fingered dexterous slave hand,thus,enabling the teleoperation system to complete complex dexterous manipulation tasks.

Analysis of Emotions Using Multimodal Data: A Case Study

In this case study, we hypothesized that sympathetic nerve activity would be higher during conversation with PALRO robot, and that conversation would result in an increase in cerebral blood flow near the Broca’s area. The facial expressions of a human subject were recorded, and cerebral blood flow and heart rate variability were measured during interactions with the humanoid robot. These multimodal data were time-synchronized to quantitatively verify the change from the resting baseline by testing facial expression analysis, cerebral blood flow, and heart rate variability. In conclusion, this subject indicated that sympathetic nervous activity was dominant, suggesting that the subject may have enjoyed and been excited while talking to the robot (normalized High Frequency < normalized Low Frequency: 0.22 ± 0.16 < 0.78 ± 0.16). Cerebral blood flow values were higher during conversation and in the resting state after the experiment than in the resting state before the experiment. Talking increased cerebral blood flow in the frontal region. As the subject was left-handed, it was confirmed that the right side of the brain, where the Broca’s area is located, was particularly activated (Left < right: 0.15 ± 0.21 < 1.25 ± 0.17). In the sections where a “happy” facial emotion was recognized, the examiner-judged “happy” faces and the MTCNN “happy” results were also generally consistent.

基于Simulink的仿人机器人步行运动仿真模型

在对仿人机器人完整步行运动分析的基础上,基于Simulink建立了仿人机器人步行运动仿真模型。首先,给出了仿真模型的整体结构框架;接着,建立了仿人机器人13质量块动力学模型,分析和讨论了仿人机器人行走过程中脚与地面的作用过程,基于关节驱动力矩二次型积分最小,规划得到了一组稳定的行走步态,并基于传感反射控制实现了仿人机器人复杂环境下的应用;最后,对仿真结果进行了分析和讨论。

Development of a Musical-based Interaction System for the Waseda Flutist Robot-Implementation of a Real-time Vision Interface Based on the Particle Filter Algorithm

The aim of this paper is to create an interface for humanrobot interaction. Specifically, musical performance parameters （i. e. vibrato expression） of the Waseda Flutist Robot No. 4 Refined IV （WF-4RIV） are to be manipulated. This research focused on enabling the WF-4RIV to interact with human players （musicians） in a natu- ral way. In this paper, as the first approach, a vision processing algorithm, which is able to track the 3Dorientation and position of a musical instrument, was developed. In particular, the robot acquires image data through two catneras attached to its head. Using color histogram matching and a particle filter, the position of the musician＇s hands on the inset are tracked. Analysis of this data determines orientation and location of the iustnment. These pa- rameters are mapped to manipulate the musical expression of the WF- 4RIV, more specifically sound vibrato and volume values. The authors present preliminary experiments to determine if the robot may dynamically change musical parameters while interacting with a human player （i.e. vibrato etc. ）. From the experirnental results, they may confirm the feasibility of the interaction during the performance, although further research must be carried out to consider the physical constraints of the flutist robot.

Design and Kinematic Analysis of a Novel Humanoid Robot Eye Using Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

This paper proposed a novel humanoid robot eye, which is driven by six Pneumatic Artificial Muscles （PAMs） and rotates with 3 Degree of Freedom （DOF）. The design of the mechanism and motion type of the robot eye are inspired by that of human eyes. The model of humanoid robot eye is established as a parallel mechanism, and the inverse-kinematic problem of this flexible tendons driving parallel system is solved by the analytical geometry method. As an extension, the simulation result for saccadic movement is presented under three conditions. The design and kinematic analysis of the prototype could be a sig- nificant step towards the goal of building an autonomous humanoid robot eye with the movement and especially the visual functions similar to that of human.

An Anthropomorphic Robot Hand Developed Based on Underactuated Mechanism and Controlled by EMG Signals

When developing a humanoid myo-control hand,not only the mechanical structure should be considered to afford a high dexterity,but also the myoelectric (electromyography,EMG) control capability should be taken into account to fully accomplish the actuation tasks.This paper presents a novel humanoid robotic myocontrol hand (AR hand Ⅲ) which adopted an underac- tuated mechanism and a forearm myocontrol EMG method.The AR hand Ⅲ has five fingers and 15 joints,and actuated by three embedded motors.Underactuation can be found within each finger and between the rest three fingers (the middle finger,the ring finger and the little finger) when the hand is grasping objects.For the EMG control,two specific methods are proposed:the three-fingered hand gesture configuration of the AR hand Ⅲ and a pattern classification method of EMG signals based on a statistical learning algorithm-Support Vector Machine (SVM).Eighteen active hand gestures of a testee are recognized ef- fectively,which can be directly mapped into the motions of AR hand Ⅲ.An on-line EMG control scheme is established based on two different decision functions:one is for the discrimination between the idle and active modes,the other is for the recog- nition of the active modes.As a result,the AR hand Ⅲ can swiftly follow the gesture instructions of the testee with a time delay less than 100 ms.

Analysis and use of fuzzy intelligent technique for navigation of humanoid robot in obstacle prone zone

With the increasing use of humanoid robots in several sectors of industrial automation and manufacturing, navigation and path planning of humanoids has emerged as one of the most promising area of research. In this paper, a navigational controller has been developed for a humanoid by using fuzzy logic as an intelligent algorithm for avoiding the obstacles present in the environment and reach the desired target position safely. Here, the controller has been designed by careful consideration of the navigational parameters by the help of fuzzy rules. The sensory information regarding obstacle distances and bearing angle towards the target are considered as inputs to the controller and necessary velocities for avoiding the obstacles are obtained as outputs. The working of the controller has been tested on a NAO humanoid robot in V-REP simulation platform. To validate the simulation results, an experimental platform has been designed under laboratory conditions, and experimental analysis has been performed.Finally, the results obtained from both the environments are compared against each other with a good agreement between them.

Dynamics Modeling and Robust Trajectory Tracking Control for a Class of Hybrid Humanoid Arm Based on Neural Network

In order to solve the problem of trajectory tracking for a class of novel serial-parallel hybrid humanoid arm（HHA）, which has parameters uncertainty, frictions, disturbance, abrasion and pulse forces derived from motors, a multistep dynamics modeling strategy is proposed and a robust controller based on neural network（NN）-adaptive algorithm is designed. At the first step of dynamics modeling, the dynamics model of the reduced HHA is established by Lagrange method. At the second step of dynamics modeling, the parameter uncertain part resulting mainly from the idealization of the HHA is learned by adaptive algorithm. In the trajectory tracking controller, the radial basis function（RBF） NN, whose optimal weights are learned online by adaptive algorithm, is used to learn the upper limit function of the total uncertainties including frictions, disturbances, abrasion and pulse forces. To a great extent, the conservatism of this robust trajectory tracking controller is reduced, and by this controller the HHA can impersonate mostly human actions. The proof and simulation results testify the validity of the adaptive strategy for parameter learning and the neural network-adaptive strategy for the trajectory tracking control.

Classification of Sitting States for the Humanoid Robot SJTU-HR1

The classification of sitting issues is investigated since detailed state classification for humanoid robots plays a key role in the practical application of humanoid robots, particularly for the humanoid robots doing complicated tasks. This paper presents the concept, the characteristics tree, and the prototype of the humanoid robot SJTU-HR1. The basic states lbr humanoid robots are proposed, including lying, sitting, standing, and handstanding. Moreover, the sitting states are classified into several states from the viewpoint of topology. The Gy （generalized function） set theory is applied to achieve the kinematic characteristics of the interested end-effectors of the humanoid robot SJTU-HR1. Finally, the results indicate that a large number of the sitting states can be represented by the meaningful notations systematically. Furthermore, the one-to-one correspondence between the state and kinematic characteristics of the interested end-effectors of the SJTU-HR 1 leads to deeper insight into the capabilities of the humanoid robot SJTU-HR1.

Optimal sagittal gait with ZMP stability during complete walking cycle for humanoid robots

A parametric method to generate low energy gait for both single and double support phases with zero moment point（ZMP） stability is presented. The ZMP stability condition is expressed as a limit to the actuating torque of the support ankle, and the inverse dynamics of both walking phases is investigated. A parametric optimization method is implemented which approximates joint trajectories by cubic spline functions connected at uniformly distributed time knots and makes optimization parameters only involve finite discrete states describing key postures. Thus, the gait optimization is transformed into an ordinary constrained nonlinear programming problem. The effectiveness of the method is verified through numerical simulations conducted on the humanoid robot THBIP-I model.

Cyber-Physical-Social System Between a Humanoid Robot and a Virtual Human Through a Shared Platform for Adaptive Agent Ecology

Two artificial agents(a humanoid robot and a virtual human) are enriched with various similar intelligence,autonomy, functionalities and interaction modalities. The agents are integrated in the form of a cyber-physical-social system(CPSS) through a shared communication platform to create a social ecology. In the ecology, the agents collaborate(assist each other) to perform a real-world task(search for a hidden object)for the benefits of humans. A robot-virtual human bilateral trust model is derived and a real-time trust measurement method is developed. The role of taking initiative in the collaboration is switched between the agents following a finite state machine model triggered by bilateral trust, which results in a mixedinitiative collaboration. A scheme is developed to evaluate the performance of the agents in the ecology through the CPSS.The results show that the robot and the virtual human perform satisfactorily in the collaboration through the CPSS. The results thus prove the effectiveness of the real-world ecology between artificial agents of heterogeneous realities through a shared platform based on trust-triggered mixed-initiatives. The results can help develop adaptive social ecology comprising intelligent agents of heterogeneous realities to assist humans in various tasks through collaboration between the agents in the form of a CPSS.

Dynamically Adapt to Uneven Terrain Walking Control for Humanoid Robot

Dynamically adapt to uneven ground locomotion is a crucial ability for humanoid robots utilized in human environments.However,because of the effect of current pattern generation method,adapting to unknown rough ground is limited.Moreover,to maintain large support region by four-point contact during the landing phase is usually a key problem.In order to solve these problems,a landing phase control and online pattern generation in three dimensional environments is proposed.On the basis of robot-environment non-planar interactive modes,a method of landing control based on optimal support region is put forward to realize stable four-point contact by flexible foot,and a controller is employed to adapt to the changes of ground without using prior knowledge.Furthermore,an adaptable foothold planning is put forward to the online pattern generation considering walking speed,uneven terrain,and the effect of lateral movement to the locomotion stability.Finally,the effectiveness of landing control and online pattern generation is demonstrated by dynamic simulations and real robot walking experiments on outdoor uneven ground.The results indicate that the robot kept its balance even though the ground is unknown and irregular.The proposed methods lay a foundation for studies of humanoid robots performing tasks in complex environments.

Generalized Kinematics Analysis of Hybrid Mechanisms Based on Screw Theory and Lie Groups Lie Algebras

Advanced mathematical tools are used to conduct research on the kinematics analysis of hybrid mechanisms,and the generalized analysis method and concise kinematics transfer matrix are obtained.In this study,first,according to the kinematics analysis of serial mechanisms,the basic principles of Lie groups and Lie algebras are briefly explained in dealing with the spatial switching and differential operations of screw vectors.Then,based on the standard ideas of Lie operations,the method for kinematics analysis of parallel mechanisms is derived,and Jacobian matrix and Hessian matrix are formulated recursively and in a closed form.Then,according to the mapping relationship between the parallel joints and corresponding equivalent series joints,a forward kinematics analysis method and two inverse kinematics analysis methods of hybrid mechanisms are examined.A case study is performed to verify the calculated matrices wherein a humanoid hybrid robotic arm with a parallel-series-parallel configuration is considered as an example.The results of a simulation experiment indicate that the obtained formulas are exact and the proposed method for kinematics analysis of hybrid mechanisms is practically feasible.

DARPA Robotics Grand Challenge Participation and Ski-Type Gait for Rough-Terrain Walking

In this paper, we briefly introduce the history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) Grand Challenge programs with particular focus on the 2012 Robotics Challenge. As members of team DRC-HUBO, we propose different approaches for the Rough-Terrain task, such as enlarged foot pedals and a transformation into quadruped walking. We also introduce a new gait for humanoid robot locomotion to improve stability performance, called the Ski-Type gait. We analyze the stability performance of this gait and use the stability margin to choose between two candidate step sequences, Crawl-1 and Crawl-2. Next, we perform a force/torque analysis for the redundant closedchain system in the Ski-Type gait, and determine the joint torques by minimizing the total energy consumption. Based on the stability and force/torque analysis, we design a cane length to support a feasible and stable Crawl-2 gait on the HUBO2 humanoid robot platform. Finally, we compare our experimental results with biped walking to validate the SkiType gait. We also present our team performance in the trials of the Robotics Challenge.

Experimental Characterization of Operation of a Waist-Trunk System with Parallel Manipulators

An extensive research activity has been focused on the upper and lower limbs of humanoid robots. However, due to mechanical design difficulties and complex control of multi-body system, the torso of humanoid robot is somehow a neglected or simplified design part. In this paper, operation performance of a new waist-trunk system as torso for humanoid robots is presented through results of lab experimental tests. The proposed waist-trunk system is composed of two 3 DOFs （degrees of freedom） parallel manipulators, which are connected in a serial chain architecture. A prototype is built by using two prototypes of CaPaMan （Cassino Parallel Manipulator）, which are convenient stiff architectures with easy-operation characteristics. Experimental tests are carried out with the aims to imitate lateral-bending and transverse-rotation movements of human torso. Operation performances like displacements, accelerations, and actuation torque are measured for a performance evaluation and design characterization of the used manipulator solution imitating human torso. Experimental test results are illustrated and discussed to show the practical operation feasibility of the proposed architecture and the operation characteristics of the built prototype.

Clock-turning gait synthesis for humanoid robots

Turning gait is a basic motion for humanoid robots. This paper presents a method for humanoid tuming, i.e. clock-turning. The objective of clock-turning is to change robot direction at a stationary spot. The clock-turning planning consists of four steps： ankle trajectory generation, hip trajectory generation, knee trajectory generation, and inverse kinematics calculation. Our proposed method is based on a typical humanoid structure with 12 DOFs （degrees of freedom）. The final output of clock-turning planning is 12 reference trajectories, which are used to control a humanoid robot with 12 DOFs. ZMP （zero moment point） is used as stability criterion for the planning. Simulation experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of our proposed clock-turuing method.

Mechanics Unloading Analysis and Experimentation of a New Type of Parallel Biomimetic Shoulder Complex

The structure design for high ratio of carrying capacity to deadweight is one of the challenges for the bionic mechanism,while the problem concerning high carrying capacity has not yet be solved for the existing shoulder complex.A new type biomimetic shoulder complex,which adopts 3-PSS/S（P for prismatic pair,S for spherical pair） spherical parallel mechanism（SPM）,is proposed.The static equilibrium equations of each component are established by using the vector method and the equations for constrain forces with certain load are solved.Then the constrain force on the middle limb and that on the side limbs are compared in order to verify the unloading performance of the mechanism.In addition,the prototype mechanism of the shoulder complex is developed,and the force feedback experiment is conducted to verify the static analysis,which indicates that the middle limb suffers most of the external force and the effect of mechanics unloading is achieved.The 3-PSS/S spherical parallel mechanism is presented for the shoulder complex,and the realization of mechanics unloading is benefit for the improvement of the carrying capacity of the shoulder complex.