2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of Humanoid Robot for Resisting Falling Down Impact with Hybrid Soft Sensor Exterior for Both Shock Absorbing and Stress Deconcentration

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22650037
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Perception information processing/Intelligent robotics
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	YOSHIKAI Tomoaki 東京大学, 大学院・情報理工学系研究科, 特任講師 (60436558)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2011
Keywords	知能ロボット / 衝撃吸収外装 / 関節保護機構 / 発泡成形分布外装
Research Abstract	The aim of this research is that to clarify the method to construct a robot with whole-body exterior and self-protective mechanical frame for resisting falling down impact. As a result of this research, we have developed a small humanoid robot which can absorb a shock and lower contact stress by newly developed whole body soft exterior, which is a hybrid structure of shock absorbing gel and thick urethane foam. Also, small torque limiter for joints of the robot is developed. Using the developed robot, it is confirmed that the shock due to the collision with floor caused by falling down action from the top of the 70cm table is lowered by the proposed structure, and the robot can resist the falling down impact.