Development of Amphibious Humanoid Platform for Sensor-based Behavior Acquisition of Whole-body Manipulation Tasks

Abstract

To build a software platform for research on control and simulation methods for robots that can operate in multiple environments, we need a robot platform that we can use to verify behavior in real diverse surroundings such as land and water. Even though robots need much freedom and perception to work and move around in diverse environments, the more challenging the environment to adapt to, such as underwater or outer space, the more limited the resources we can bring to the environment. In this study, we propose a humanoid robot system that we can use to study the acquisition of whole-body manipulation tasks based on sensor information in water as well as on land by constructing the humanoid with force, vision, and posture perception and multiple degrees of freedom that can use its limbs in various ways such as walking, swimming, and working depending on the condition. As examples of sensor-based whole-body manipulation tasks, we conducted walking experiments, box carrying experiments, remote-control-based wiping experiments in the water, and swimming experiments with object tracking on the water's surface. We discussed the effects of the underwater environment, compared the experimental results between the land and underwater environments, and showed that we could use the proposed robot system to study the acquisition of whole-body manipulation movements in multiple conditions.