Torque-Controlled Humanoid Robot

• Subject Area: Computer Science
• Term: Funded in 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 505888453

Human-comparable robotic capabilities of manipulation and locomotion, visual and multisensory perception, cognitive perception and understanding of the environment, physical human-robot interaction, learning at different levels from motor action to cognition, as well as their development and evaluation with humanoid robots represent major challenges for research in robotics and artificial intelligence. Despite great progress, these exciting areas of research have not been sufficiently explored either individually or in their interactions. The requested humanoid robot is intended to be the central research platform of the newly created interdepartmental laboratory for humanoid robotics at the Technical University (TU) Darmstadt. There, it will form a new and particularly fruitful interface for interdisciplinary research in robotics and the university-wide profile topics "Artificial Intelligence" and "Cognitive Science" of the TU Darmstadt with the participation of researchers who are particularly qualified in the aforementioned fields. A fully equipped humanoid robot, in particular featuring torque sensors in the joints, is required for the investigation of these interrelated research questions. For example, the interaction between the low-level control required for manipulation and locomotion and the abstract and symbolic state and action representations required for solving tedious tasks consisting of many intermediate steps can be investigated using the applied robot. These different levels of abstraction are mutually dependent. On the one hand, motor skills must be learned or refined with respect to abstract goals, and on the other hand, representations must be learned that efficiently summarize the main effects of learned primitives. Since the necessary motor and sensor abilities in combination with a high degree of manipulation and locomotion diversity are not provided by any of the robots available at the TU Darmstadt, the requested humanoid is indispensable for the investigation of such interrelated research topics. The required interdisciplinary expertise is excellently covered at the TU Darmstadt by the professorships "Simulation, Systems Optimization and Robotics", "Intelligent Autonomous Systems", "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning", "Psychology of Information Processing" and "Sport Biomechanics / Locomotion Laboratory", which are each firmly established, the junior professorship "Intelligent Robotic Systems for Assistance" and the independent junior research group "Interactive AI Algorithms & Cognitive Models for Human-AI Interaction", both led by emerging researchers, as well as the Centre for Cognitive Science.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Drehmomentgeregelter Humanoider Roboter
• Instrumentation Group: 2320 Greif- und Hebewerkzeuge, Verladeeinrichtungen
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Leader: Professor Jan Reinhard Peters, Ph.D.