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Humanoid robot Torobo.
Credit: Screengrab/ YouTube/Tokyo Robotics
A humanoid robot that can hammer a nail accurately to a piece of wood. Yes, you heard it right, and Tokyo Robotics has come up with such a robot named Torobo. The company has posted the video of the same on their website.
Torobo has been developed to accelerate research into industrial applications of full-body humanoid robots, the company said.
They further mentioned that Torobo can be used for research purposes on automation of tasks, involving active contact with people and the environment, as well as objects. It can also be used for research purposes on applications for next-generation force-controllable dual-armed robots, as well as applying machine learning to robots.
Tokyo Robotics said, “The instantaneous rebound force from the hammer is absorbed through a combination of the elasticity of the rubber material securing the hammer, the deflection in torque sensors and harmonic gears, backdrivability, and impedance control. This allows the nail to be driven with a certain amount of force.”
Coming to the features of Torobo, it has a height of 1660 mm, reach of 680 mm and a cart width of 625 mm. This makes it almost close to the size of humans.
The robot can lift 8 kg at the very least, and can lift up to 20 kg in favourable circumstances, paving the way for robotics R&D to further develop this and replace human work in future.
It has a configuration of 7-axis dual arms, 3-axis waist, 3-axis neck and 4-axis undercarriage. These features enable it to carry out tasks with a range of motion similar to that of human beings, both in living and working spaces.
Torobo is also equipped with torque sensors at all joints of the arms and waist. The joint torque control enables safe contact stops and force-controlling task executions, the company said.
The robot can also perform assembly tasks, cooking, and interact with humans safely due to this feature.
The robot is ROS-compatible, and because of this, the robot in Gazebo (a simulator for ROS) and the actual robot can be operated using the same program, as well as can be used to safely verify the robot's behavior. Functions like trajectory planning and self-interference detection using the software 'MoveIt!' have also been implemented in the robot as a standard, the company further stated.