ARPIOS: Anthropomorphic Robotic Platform for Intuitive Operation and Service

Abstract

The proposed effort will focus on the research and development of a lightweight, lowcost humanoid platform that is easy to transport, deploy, operate, and maintain. Though there have been a number of efforts to develop a humanoid robot that can be used as a research platform, their use has been very limited outside the laboratories in which they were developed. Their use is limited because these robots are heavy, complex, and difficult to deploy and operate. To promote and accelerate the development of humanoid robotic platforms that can be used in the field, the PI believes that it is critical to maximize the run time of the robots. By deploying and operating the robots in the field as frequently as possible, operators can gain experience with these robots and provide helpful feedback to researchers. For this to happen, it is important to have a low-cost humanoid platform that is easy to transport, handle, deploy and operate. This platform, however, would also need to be able to perform some useful tasks and be upgradeable and expandable to use the latest component technologies. Based on our extensive experience in developing and using humanoid robots, we propose to develop a new class of humanoid robot called ARPIOS (Anthropomorphic Robotic Platform for Intuitive Operation and Service). The key focus of ARPIOS is to make it as easy as possible to transport, deploy, operate, and maintain so people can easily and effectively use it for useful tasks in the field. By utilizing interchangeable revolute modular series elastic actuators (SEAs) and a simple mechanical structure, ARPIOS will be very lightweight (85 lb estimated) and easy to deploy and maintain. ARPIOS will be very easy to operate using a user-friendly human-machine interface, requiring minimal training to use. Smart design features such as mechanically lockable joints, integrated caster wheels, and multi-point support handles will all make handling and transporting the robot significantly easier. ARPIOS will be developed in multiple stages and the capabilities of each version of ARPIOS will be demonstrated with a series of scheduled demos. This will allow us to showcase the progress of the ARPIOS project and use ARPIOS in the field during the early stages of the project. We strive for ARPIOS to serve as a general research platform to further push research for state of the art humanoid robotics.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Aug 12, 2016
Source ID
N000141512064

Entities

People

  • Dennis Hong

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • University of California, Los Angeles

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Robotics and Automation.
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
  • Autonomy