A humanoid robot with muscles, joints

A team of scientists is building a robot with bones, muscles and joints to make it act more like living people, a tech site reported recently.

 

The team behind the Eccerobot aims to make robots with movements that are more rounded and not so robotic, Mashable reported.

 

It said the completed robot model now is a half-torso that sits on a mobile platform, with arms with parts that detect strain.

 

Bones are made from a thermoplastic material that morphs into shape with heat.

 

The robot can hold objects, shake hands and lift its arm smoothly, it added.

 

Eccerobot's creators include the University of Sussex, the Artificial Intelligence Lab of the University of Zurich and the University of Belgrade.

 

Mashable said the Eccerobot, having muscles and bones including forearm rotators and shoulder blades, will allow complex movements and may address some limitations of stiff robotic bodies.

 

“You can use the passive compliance to make it absorb the energy in the right way to allow for safe interaction and to store energy in the muscles to produce fast movement,” it quoted Hugo Gravato Marques with the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Switzerland, as saying in a YouTube video.

 

Mashable said present robots are built with standard engineering techniques with stiff parts.

 

But the Eccerobot may use muscles and tendons and walk and move their arms with more speed and rhythm, it added.

 

The Eccerobot's other parts include high-speed, high-definition cameras for eyes, and an audio-detection system that allows for voice commences.

 

So-called “force-sensitive-resistors” on its fingertips and palms allow for touch.

 

The future

 

Mashable said the next step is to improve the robot’s movement, interaction and controlled manipulation.

 

It said the scientists believe this will pave way for a new era in robotics. — TJD, GMA News