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The emergence of communication in evolutionary robots.

Evolutionary robotics is a biologically inspired approach to robotics that is advantageous to studying the evolution of communication. A new model for the emergence of communication is developed and tested through various simulation experiments. In the first simulation, the emergence of simple signalling behaviour is studied. This is used to investigate the inter-relationships between communication abilities, namely linguistic production and comprehension, and other behavioural skills. The model supports the hypothesis that the ability to form categories from direct interaction with an environment constitutes the grounds for subsequent evolution of communication and language. In the second simulation, evolutionary robots are used to study the emergence of simple syntactic categories, e.g. action names (verbs). Comparisons between the two simulations indicate that the signalling lexicon emerged in the first simulation follows the evolutionary pattern of nouns, as observed in related models on the evolution of syntactic categories. Results also support the language-origin hypothesis on the fact that nouns precede verbs in both phylogenesis and ontogenesis. Further extensions of this new evolutionary robotic model for testing hypotheses on language origins are also discussed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Exploration and high adventure: the legacy of Grey Walter.

Although many people feel themselves to be familiar with Grey Walter's ideas, and with the design principles of his tortoises, most of the published sources are lacking in detail. This paper gathers together images and written material from a variety of published and unpublished sources to set both the man and his work in a richer context than has been possible for many decades. Grey Walter emerges as a fascinating and far-seeing figure whose work has not dated, perhaps because it was explicitly based on similar principles to those used today in biologically inspired robotics.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Oscillators and crank turning: exploiting natural dynamics with a humanoid robot arm.

This paper presents an approach to robot-arm control that exploits the natural dynamics of the arm. This is in contrast to traditional approaches, which either ignore or cancel out arm dynamics. While the traditional approaches are more general, they often result in systems and robot designs that are not robust. The alternative approach gives systems that are computationally simple, robust to variation in system parameters, robust to changes in the dynamics themselves, and versatile. The approach is examined using the example of a compliant robot arm, controlled by independent neural oscillators, in a crank-turning task. A model is constructed, and the robot behaviour compared with the model. These data show that the arm-oscillator system is exploiting the natural dynamics by finding and exciting the resonant mode of the underlying mechanical system. Since this is a natural behaviour of the system, the robot behaviour is robust. The paper concludes by discussing the opportunities and limitations of this approach.

Arm↗

Mechanical design of walking machines.

The performance of existing actuators, such as electric motors, is very limited, be it power-weight ratio or energy efficiency. In this paper, we discuss the method to design a practical walking machine under this severe constraint with focus on two concepts, the gravitationally decoupled actuation (GDA) and the coupled drive. The GDA decouples the driving system against the gravitational field to suppress generation of negative power and improve energy efficiency. On the other hand, the coupled drive couples the driving system to distribute the output power equally among actuators and maximize the utilization of installed actuator power. First, we depict the GDA and coupled drive in detail. Then, we present actual machines, TITAN-III and VIII, quadruped walking machines designed on the basis of the GDA, and NINJA-I and II, quadruped wall walking machines designed on the basis of the coupled drive. Finally, we discuss walking machines that travel on three-dimensional terrain (3D terrain), which includes the ground, walls and ceiling. Then, we demonstrate with computer simulation that we can selectively leverage GDA and coupled drive by walking posture control.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Biomimetic approaches to the control of underwater walking machines.

We have developed a biomimetic robot based on the American lobster. The robot is designed to achieve the performance advantages of the animal model by adopting biomechanical features and neurobiological control principles. Three types of controllers are described. The first is a state machine based on the connectivity and dynamics of the lobster central pattern generator (CPG). The state machine controls myomorphic actuators based on shape memory alloys (SMAs) and responds to environmental perturbation through sensors that employ a labelled-line code. The controller supports a library of action patterns and exteroceptive reflexes to mediate tactile navigation, obstacle negotiation and adaptation to surge. We are extending this controller to neuronal network-based models. A second type of leg CPG is based on synaptic networks of electronic neurons and has been adapted to control the SMA actuated leg. A brain is being developed using layered reflexes based on discrete time map-based neurons.

Animals↗

Intelligence by mechanics.

Research on the biomechanics of animal and human locomotion provides insight into basic principles of locomotion and respective implications for construction and control. Nearly elastic operation of the leg is necessary to reproduce the basic dynamics in walking and running. Elastic leg operation can be modelled with a spring-mass model. This model can be used as a template with respect to both gaits in the construction and control of legged machines. With respect to the segmented leg, the humanoid arrangement saves energy and ensures structural stability. With the quasi-elastic operation the leg inherits the property of self-stability, i.e. the ability to stabilize a system in the presence of disturbances without sensing the disturbance or its direct effects. Self-stability can be conserved in the presence of musculature with its crucial damping property. To ensure secure foothold visco-elastic suspended muscles serve as shock absorbers. Experiments with technically implemented leg models, which explore some of these principles, are promising.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Biologically inspired walking machines: design, control and perception.

This article presents a set of methods used to support the design and control of biologically inspired walking machines. Starting with a description of the general system design idea, an example for the design of the mechanical construction, a computer supported design procedure for the control architecture and the description of a three-dimensional world model to be used as knowledge base is given. The focus of this paper is on the engineering and integration process and the interrelation between the different phases of the design process.

Animals↗

Walking biped humanoids that perform manual labour.

The Humanoid Robotics Project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan realized that biped humanoid robots can perform manual labour. The project developed humanoid robot platforms, consisting of humanoid robot hardware and a package of fundamental software, and explored applications of humanoid robots on them. The applications include maintenance tasks of industrial plants, teleoperation of industrial vehicles, cooperative tasks with a human, guarding the home and office and the care of patients in beds.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Honda humanoid robots development.

Honda has been doing research on robotics since 1986 with a focus upon bipedal walking technology. The research started with straight and static walking of the first prototype two-legged robot. Now, the continuous transition from walking in a straight line to making a turn has been achieved with the latest humanoid robot ASIMO. ASIMO is the most advanced robot of Honda so far in the mechanism and the control system. ASIMO's configuration allows it to operate freely in the human living space. It could be of practical help to humans with its ability of five-finger arms as well as its walking function. The target of further development of ASIMO is to develop a robot to improve life in human society. Much development work will be continued both mechanically and electronically, staying true to Honda's 'challenging spirit'.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Walking: technology and biology.

If all the signs are to be believed, then the twenty-first century will technologically be characterized by machine walking and its relevant products, which possess all chances to become real bulk goods in the course of the next decades. With several university institutes and with Honda and Sony from the industrial side, Japan is today and without any doubt the leading nation in research and development of walking machines. The US and Europe follow at some distance. Walking machines will influence all areas of daily and industrial life and, with the fast evolution of artificial intelligence, will become a real partner of human beings. All relevant technologies are highly interdisciplinary, they will push the future technologies of all technical fields. The special issue on this topic gives a selection of walking machine research and development including some aspects from biology.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Biologically inspired adaptive walking of a quadruped robot.

We describe here the efforts to induce a quadruped robot to walk with medium-walking speed on irregular terrain based on biological concepts. We propose the necessary conditions for stable dynamic walking on irregular terrain in general, and we design the mechanical and the neural systems by comparing biological concepts with those necessary conditions described in physical terms. PD-controller at joints constructs the virtual spring-damper system as the viscoelasticity model of a muscle. The neural system model consists of a central pattern generator (CPG), reflexes and responses. We validate the effectiveness of the proposed neural system model control using the quadruped robots called 'Tekken1&2'. MPEG footage of experiments can be seen at http://www.kimura.is.uec.ac.jp.

Animals↗

Biped walking robots created at Waseda University: WL and WABIAN family.

This paper proposes the mechanism and control of the biped humanoid robots WABIAN-RIV and WL-16. WABIAN-RIV has 43 mechanical degrees of freedom (d.f.): 6 d.f. in each leg, 7 d.f. in each arm, 3 d.f. in each hand, 2 d.f. in each eye, 4 d.f. in the neck and 3 d.f. in the waist. Its height is about 1.89 m and its total weight is 127 kg. It has a vision system and a voice recognition system to mimic some of the capabilities of the human senses. WL-16 consists of a pelvis and two legs having six 1 d.f. active linear actuators. An aluminium chair is mounted on two sets of its telescopic poles. To reduce the large support forces during the support phase, a support torque reduction mechanism is developed, which is composed of two compression gas springs with different stiffness. For the stability of the robots, a compensatory motion control algorithm is developed. This control compensates for moments generated by the motion of the lower limbs, using the motion of the trunk and the waist that is obtained by the zero moment point concept and fast Fourier transform. WABIAN-RIV is able to walk forwards, backwards and sideways, dance, carry heavy goods and express emotion, etc. WL-16 can move forwards, backwards and sideways while carrying an adult weighing up to 60 kg.

Artificial Intelligence↗

The experimental humanoid robot H7: a research platform for autonomous behaviour.

This paper gives an overview of the humanoid robot 'H7', which was developed over several years as an experimental platform for walking, autonomous behaviour and human interaction research at the University of Tokyo. H7 was designed to be a human-sized robot capable of operating autonomously in indoor environments designed for humans. The hardware is relatively simple to operate and conduct research on, particularly with respect to the hierarchical design of its control architecture. We describe the overall design goals and methodology, along with a summary of its online walking capabilities, autonomous vision-based behaviours and automatic motion planning. We show experimental results obtained by implementations running within a simulation environment as well as on the actual robot hardware.

Artificial Intelligence↗

The TUM walking machines.

This paper presents some aspects of walking machine design with a special emphasis on the three machines MAX, MORITZ and JOHNNIE, having been developed at the Technical University of Munich within the last 20 years. The design of such machines is discussed as an iterative process improving the layout with every iteration. The control concepts are event-driven and follow logical rules, which have largely been transferred from neurobiological findings. At least for the six-legged machine MAX, a nearly perfect autonomy could be achieved, whereas for the biped JOHNNIE, a certain degree of autonomy could be realized by a vision system with appropriate decision algorithms. This vision system was developed by the group of Prof. G. Schmidt, TU-München. A more detailed description of the design and realization is presented for the biped JOHNNIE.

Artificial Intelligence↗

How to make an autonomous robot as a partner with humans: design approach versus emergent approach.

In this paper, we discuss what factors are important to realize an autonomous robot as a partner with humans. We believe that it is important to interact with people without boring them, using verbal and non-verbal communication channels. We have already developed autonomous robots such as AIBO and QRIO, whose behaviours are manually programmed and designed. We realized, however, that this design approach has limitations; therefore we propose a new approach, intelligence dynamics, where interacting in a real-world environment using embodiment is considered very important. There are pioneering works related to this approach from brain science, cognitive science, robotics and artificial intelligence. We assert that it is important to study the emergence of entire sets of autonomous behaviours and present our approach towards this goal.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Parameter estimation by reduced-order linear associative memory (ROLAM).

In a series of papers we have shown that nonlinear parameter estimation by linear association provides accurate estimates of the parameters in complex systems described by nonlinear differential equations even in the presence of additive white noise of considerable power. The technique is based on linearly associating the system's output with a set of parameter values spanning the region of interest. When an actual output is measured, the system's unknown parameters could be estimated by a matrix inversion. The size of the inverted matrix, being equal to the length of the output vector, poses a limiting factor upon the generalization of the technique. In this paper we propose a modification which requires the inversion of a matrix whose dimension equals the number of model parameters. The modified version is called reduced-order associative memory (ROLAM). The technique is applied to two complex lumped-parameter nonlinear models: the Van der Pol relaxation oscillator and the passive neuron model of the granule cells. Results validate ROLAM as a parameter-estimation tool which is especially suited in cases where the number of parameters is large, the number of samples in the observation signal is high, or when on-line parameter estimation is required. It is also shown that ROLAM provides an optimal parameter estimate in the special case of single-parameter nonlinear models.

Algorithms↗

Machine creation.

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Computer Graphics↗