In this short article, Technology Review tells us that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have built a new robot, named Cardea, which is able to push open doors and has the bottom half of a Segway scooter.
Cardea will be five feet tall with a torso, three arms, a variety of sensors, and a human-like head with expressive features and vision, and mounted on a Segway base.
Here is a rendering of the three arms of Cardea (Credit: Cardea project at MIT).
And here is another rendering of Cardea, rolling on the Segway (Credit: Cardea project at MIT).
The Segway scooter platform, with its dynamic balancing abilities, makes the arm practical. Like an inverted pendulum, the platform is able to move with balance regardless of the position of the weight it holds. This is important because when the robot arm moves, its center of mass shifts. Without dynamic balancing, a human-sized robot that has arms would require a much larger base.
You'll find more information in this MIT Tech Talk article, "First humanoid personal assistant will open doors."
And if you want all the details, go to the Cardea Project homepage.
Finally, here is a photograph of Cardea pushing a door (Credit: Donna Coveney).
Sources: Technology Review, November 11, 2003; and additional MIT web pages
3:45:38 PM
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