At the DARPA Robotics Challenge finals, you will usually find many humanoid robots. After all, this is the direction much of our technology engineers are trying to go into the future.
But MIT’s new “Hermes” robot is a bit more graceful and human-like than the other entries this year. And perhaps it moves a little more smoothly because instead of trying to simulate human movement via algorithm, this robot is actually hooked up to a human controller. Indeed, the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering bot can, in fact, mimic the movement of its human controller but in order to operate the more delicate tactile functions—like moving and gripping with the hands and fingers—the human in control can use a joystick-like device instead.
Of course, while the machine might ape human movement it is certainly stronger than that of its human counterpart. The good news, then, is that the robot can likely be sent to perform missions in dangerous locations, particularly for search and rescue missions. And it will perform these missions while keeping personnel safe from harm.
Of course, while the machine might ape human movement it is certainly stronger than that of its human counterpart. The good news, then, is that the robot can likely be sent to perform missions in dangerous locations, particularly for search and rescue missions. And it will perform these missions while keeping personnel safe from harm.
“The human’s still going to provide that creativity, that problem-solving and that large-scale coordination of all the joints, but we’ve designed the robot to be stronger than a person, so we’d imagine that in the future we want to merge some level of autonomous control along with the human’s intelligence,” the researchers explain.
Of course, they plan to give the robot more autonomous control in the future as they continue to update the mechanics, the hardware, and, of course, the software.
source http://www.piercepioneer.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe-pfe0a9bDvWy74Jd7vFg
