Human Emulation

[RobotServicesGroup]

We have started a new project at RobotServicesGroup.com that we are calling Human Emulation. We want to determine how closely robot motions mimic human motions. We have standardized the testing of robot motions for comparisons against humans, and other robots. In our first test, we examine the forward walking motion of a Robonova-1, without any gyros on a vinyl tile floor. Future tests could include; adding gyros, testing other robots, testing on different floor surfaces, and testing motions other than just walking.

Please check out the results at http://www.robotservicesgroup.com/Emulation1.html

[RobotServicesGroup]

Robots-Dreams.com has posted a video showing a foot race between some I-sobots. http://www.robots-dreams.com/2007/11/i-sobot-worlds.html It appears that they covered approximately 3 body lengths in about 30 seconds using about 37 steps. These are just rough estimates, but it would appear to be better than the results we got on the Robonova. Of course, the I-Sobots are using a continuous walking cycle, and they come with a gyro while the Robonova has neither of these.

We can't wait to test other robots and compare them against our initial Robonova test. Right now the user voting for our next test has "test a different robot" in the lead with more than 50% of the vote. "Add a gyro to the Robonova" is in second place with over 25% of the vote.

Be sure to visit http://www.robotservicesgroup.com/Emulation3.html and cast your vote (near the bottom of the page) to see what we will test next!

[RobotServicesGroup]

To continue with our Human Emulation project, we have performed a new test. This time we focused on turning 180 degrees to the right or left. Our test subject is the same Robonova-1 we used for our forward walking test.

How long do you think it takes for a Robonova-1 to turn around?

To find out, please check the results at http://www.RobotServicesGroup.com/Emulation4.html

[RobotServicesGroup]

We have continued the work on our Human Emulation project by testing an I-Sobot.
We subjected the I-Sobot to all of the same tests we did on the Robonova-1 to see which robot does a better job of mimicing Human Motions.

Which one do you think will do better?
The $300 I-Sobot or the $1,000 Robonova-1?
The results may surprise you.

You can find all the details at http://www.robotservicesgroup.com/Emulation1.html

Don't forget, you can take either one of these robots for a test drive and check out the walking and turning motions for yourself.
Sign up today for your FREE Robot Test Drive at http://www.robotservicesgroup.com/TestDrive.html

[RobotServicesGroup]

Robots-Dreams.com has a video of a Manoi AT01 which moves at blazing speeds. The robot is able to cover a distance equal to 3 body lengths in roughly 5 seconds, taking about 20 steps, with very little variance from side-to-side. This blows away the performance we saw from the Robonova-1 and the I-Sobot we tested. In fact, the robot is so fast, it is almost equivalent to Human speed! Check out this video:

http://www.robots-dreams.com/2008/03/dr ... -to-s.html

Unfortunately, it took the expertise of Dr. GIY and some upgraded servos to get this performance. The bright side is that near Human performance is possible! We only hope that this kind of fluid movement will come as standard equipment on robots of the future so that those of us who are not as talented as Dr. GIY can enjoy similar results.

[RobotServicesGroup]

We continue our Human Emulation testing by subjecting our KHR-1 to the same forward walking and 180 degree turn tests that we have already performed on the Robonova and I-Sobot. Which robot do you think will be the winner? The cheap robot with continuous motion? The more expensive robot? Since the KHR-1 is the first robot ever produced, more than 4 years old, how can it possibly compete with the newer robots?

Find out all the details on our summary pagehere.

The individual results for the KHR-1, including videos of each walking test, are available here.

And analysis of the data for all three robots is here.

[RobotServicesGroup]

Ray mentions a new robot available in Japan called Melissa in this thread. When we watched the videos it looks like Melissa has some great human emulation skills.

The forward walking motion appears to take 11 steps and 4 seconds to move 1 body length. Our standard test is 3 body lengths, so it is possible that Melissa could take 33 steps and 12 seconds under our test. While the number of steps is just average, 12 seconds would be the fastest time of any robot we have tested.

Surprisingly, Melissa was able to turn 360 degrees using 10 steps in 5 seconds. Our Human Emulation test for turning is only 180 degrees, so Melissa should be able to turn with 5 steps in 2.5 seconds, which is nearly identical to our Human score! The truly amazing thing is that Melissa performs this turn with only a single servo in the torso for rotation, rather then two servos at the waist.

This robot has great potential. Check out the forward walking video here and the turning video here. You can also check all of our Human Emulation tests here.