Sept 22 (Thursday) Kojiro Matsushita (University of Tokyo)

Locomoting with less computation but more morphology

Abstract:

Biped walking is one of the most graceful movements observed in
humans. Today's humanoid robots, despite their undeniably impressive
performance, are still a long way from the elegance and grace found in
Nature. To narrow the gap between natural and artificial systems, we
propose to rely more on morphology, intrinsic dynamics, and less on raw
computation.  In our research, we introduce a series of simulated and real
"pseudo-passive" dynamic biped walkers in which computation is traded off
for good morphology, that is, adequate mechanical design and appropriate
material properties. These two factors are parameterized, and the resulting
solution space is explored in simulation. Interesting solutions are then
realized in the real world. Our experiments show that successful
pseudo-passive walkers with a good morphology locomote by converting
oscillatory energy into forward movement.