Robot learns how to stand up on its own

Citation

(2003), "Robot learns how to stand up on its own", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930dab.005

Robot learns how to stand up on its own

Robot learns how to stand up on its own

Keywords: Robots, Walking

The study of how the human brain recognises objects and learns sensory motor skills is a "worthy goal in itself for research in many fields". That is the claim of the management team of the Kawato Dynamic Brain Project. The goal is to apply the knowledge to the computer program and robotic systems. In a recent step, the team succeeded in developing a robot that could learn by trial and error how to stand up on its own from a prone position.

The robot accomplishes this with the help of a computerised control system modelled on the mechanism, the brain is thought to use in learning new motor skills. In addition to promoting the advancement of theory in the field, the success has practical applications because any futuristic humanoid-like robot will need the ability to stand-up after it has fallen down. But this prototype robot is far from a humanoid. It is shaped like a long, thin pole with joints located in the middle, a drive mechanism, and a sensor to detect exactly which position it is in. It is also wired to a computer that performs the information processing work.

In learning to stand upright, the robot made numerous attempts, slightly changing its strategy each time until the top of the head was up as high as possible. After 920 tries, the robot had learned to stand up smoothly and remain there. The Kawato Project, which is headed by Mitsuo Kawato of the ATR Human Information Processing Laboratories, forms part of Japan Science and Technology Corporation's ERATO – the exploratory research for advanced technology program. The 5 year program was completed on schedule.