{"id":5692,"date":"2015-08-18T07:04:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T07:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=5692"},"modified":"2015-08-18T07:04:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T07:04:40","slug":"a-robot-that-mimics-human-reflexes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/a-robot-that-mimics-human-reflexes\/","title":{"rendered":"A Robot That Mimics Human Reflexes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ph.D.<\/a>
Ph.D. student Joao Ramos demonstrates the Balance Feedback Interface, a system that enables an operator to control the balance and movements of a robot, through an exoskeleton and motorized platform. ( Photo: Melanie Gonick\/MIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a bipedal robot that can react with human-like reflexes via a unique balance-feedback interface.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The interface is connected to researcher, Joao Ramos, Ph.D. student of MIT\u2019s Department of Mechanical Engineering, using an exoskeleton of wires and motors. Typically, robots react to balance shifts based on visual feedback from onboard cameras. This can be slow and result in the robot being able to carry out a task, such as bust through a wall, but then fall over. With this new interface the robot, named HERMES, mimics Ramos\u2019 moves and is able to punch through drywall, smash soda cans, and karate-chop boards in half, among other things, while maintaining balance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PRESS-HERMES-09-2\"<\/a>
The bipedal robot, HERMES. (Credit: Tony Pulsone\/MIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe processing of images is typically very slow, so a robot has difficulty reacting in time,\u201d Ramos said in a university press release. \u201cInstead we\u2019d like to use the human\u2019s natural reflexes and coordination. An example is walking, which is just a process of falling and catching yourself. That\u2019s something that feels effortless to us, but it\u2019s challenging to program into a robot to do it both dynamically and efficiently.\u00a0 We want to explore how humans can take over complex actions for the robot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How humans employ these split-second reflexes is not fully understood, and this research may provide an opportunity to learn about how humans master balance during complex tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, HERMES could ideally be used at a disaster site, able to walk around a potentially dangerous area while guided by a human remotely.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ramos, along with Ph.D. student Albert Wang and Sangbae Kim, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Center Career Development Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, will present a paper on the interface at the IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in September.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding balance<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ramos is able to instantly correct the robot\u2019s balance through a balance-feedback interface that is a large polygonal platform attached to his waist that is essentially the human body\u2019s center of mass. The researchers use sensors on the HERMES feet to determine the force exerted by each foot on the ground. When the robot encounters something, researchers translate the robot\u2019s center of pressure to the platform\u2019s motors, which then puts an equivalent amount of force on the exoskeleton connected to the human, pushing a person back and forth as the robot moves. Researchers determined the robot was in danger of falling if its weight shifted toward the edge of its feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, in an experiment, HERMES was struck in the torso by a hammer. A comparable force was exerted on the exoskeleton worn by Ramos, who instantly shifted his weight, causing the robot to do the same and catch itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe interface works by pushing harder on the operator as the robot\u2019s center of pressure approaches the edge of the support polygon,\u201d Wang said. \u201cIf the robot is leaning too far forward, the interface will push the operator in the opposite direction, to convey that the robot is in danger of falling.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hours of data collected regarding the human approaches for balance, may someday lead to new approaches for autonomous strategies for robots to keep from falling.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) provided funding for this research.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a bipedal robot that can react with human-like reflexes via a unique balance-feedback interface.\u00a0 The interface is connected to researcher, Joao Ramos, Ph.D. student of MIT\u2019s Department of Mechanical Engineering, using an exoskeleton of wires and motors. Typically, robots react to balance shifts based on visual feedback from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",600,400,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",600,400,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",540,360,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",95,63,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",639,426,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",96,64,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/bt1508_MIT-robot-human.jpg",150,100,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Research<\/a>","tag_info":"Research","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}