HUMA: A human-like musculoskeletal robot platform for physical interaction studies

In a real environment, robots must handle contact with various objects. However, it is hard to model the contacts in advance, since there are a huge variety of objects in our daily lives. Humans have the ability to handle such physical interactions in daily life and such an ability is realized by adapting the physical characteristics produced by the skeletal structure with large DoFs and its actuating system with redundant muscles. In this research, to realize the adaptability of the physical characteristics of a robotic system with commodity type mechanical parts, we developed an actuator network system (ANS) where the motion of multiple actuators are bound by mutually inter-connection. By implementing this system, the response of the robot against various external forces can be modulated or a joint with very large moving range can be realized. In this report, we produced a compliant human-like upper body robot using ANS and investigated the effect of it on the physical characteristic and then the feasibility of the data-driven prediction of the contact force requisite for physical interaction.