(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007)
Kagami, Satoshi; Nishiwaki, K.; Kuffner, James; Thompson, S.; Chestnutt, J.; Stilman, Mike; Michel, P.
Recently, research on humanoid-type robots has become increasingly active, and a broad array of fundamental issues are under investigation. However, in order to achieve a humanoid robot which can operate in human environments, not only the fundamental components themselves, but also the successful integration of these components will be required. At present, almost all humanoid robots that have been developed have been designed for bipedal locomotion experiments. In order to satisfy the functional demands of locomotion as well as high-level behaviors, humanoid robots require good mechanical design, hardware, and software which can support the integration of tactile sensing, visual perception, and motor control. Autonomous behaviors are currently still very primitive for humanoid-type robots. It is difficult to conduct research on high-level autonomy and intelligence in humanoids due to the development and maintenance costs of the hardware. We believe low-level autonomous functions will be required in order to conduct research on higher-level autonomous behaviors for humanoids.