This project, acquiring a mobile humanoid robotics platform as the centerpiece of a Human-Centered Robotics Lab, aims at assisting a broad population in need, based on the belief that the most suitable form of multi-purpose assistive machine for humans will be human-like. This new kind of robot, not highly accurate, stationary, single task machine with sensing abilities as for typical industrial applications, is richly equipped with multi-model sensing, a high level of dexterity, compliance for safe operation, and mobility. Endowed with the appearance and behavior of a social system appropriate for human environments, it can perform a large number of assistive tasks, autonomously or in collaborative instruction with humans. A humanoid robot instigates a variety of original research. Developing humanoid behavior advances robotics and automation technology while promoting interdisciplinary interaction with natural sciences
All major industrial countries around the world have started major funding initiatives in robotics. For instance, the European Union spends about 100-200 million Euros per year on robotics projects, Japan has spent billions of dollars in the last 10 years on assistive/humanoid robotics, and the US has just announced the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) that promises growth in funding. The focus of these programs is less on traditional industrial robotics research, but rather on on a new vision, called human-centered robotics (HCR). HCR is to develop the science and technology of human-robot interaction, with the aim of assisting broad populations in need, ranging in age, capability and context: in industry, hospitals, schools, elder care and other managed care facilities, inner city urban areas, and eventually homes. Targeted applications include assistance for the growing elderly population and for people with physical and cognitive disabilities, guidance of children and other at-risk populations on their commute, crowd and emergency response in densely populated areas, robotic rehabilitation and prosthetics, movement instructions for training, exercise, and entertainment activities, science education for children and minorities, search and rescue efforts in hazardous/disaster environments, and numerous others. These domains are typically understaffed due to the high cost of the number and/or training levels of personnel required for individualized assistance, or some domains pose significant health risks for humans. HCR opens a new chapter in robotics: it is not the highly accurate, stationary, single-task machine with minimal sensing abilities that is needed anymore, as in typical industrial applications. Rather, it is a new kind of robot, richly equipped with multi-modal sensing, a high level of dexterity, compliance for safe operation, and mobility to work in cluttered human environments. Endowed with the appearance and behavior of a social system appropriate for interacting with humans, it can perform a large number of assistive tasks, autonomously or in collaborative interaction with humans. The scientific challenge of realizing HCR is tremendous and requires research and education with simple introductory robots, to intermediate robots for advanced beginners, to advanced high performance robotic equipment for state-of-the-art research. The NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant titled "Acquisition of An Assistive Humanoid Robot Platform for a Human Centered Robotics Laboratory" addressed the realization of a physically capable humanoid robot for advanced research in HCR at a US university. Pictures of the upper body and lower body of the humanoid robot are given on this page. After an initial test phase, the upper and lower body will be joined to become a complete legged humanoid robot that will be used for a large variety of research projects in our labs, with the aim to create a fully autonomous, teachable, and human-friendly robot that can interact with humans in a natural way. This robot is one of the most high-performance robots in the world, it is unique, and it is the outcome of research at a US company (Sarcos) and US university research. In the vein of the acquisition and development of this robot and in order to provide an appropriate research and education environment, the Viterbi School of Engineering (VSoE) at the University of Southern California (USC) has also embarked on a radical revamping of the robotics education and infrastructure with the newly established USC Robotics Pipeline (see picture). The cornerstones of this education and research pipeline are labs and research infrastructure at various levels of sophistication. USC VSoE just invested in the purchase of 10 Aldebaran NAO small-scale humanoid robots, which will be used in undergraduate and graduate education, STEM related activities, outreach, and summer schools — USC aims to be the first university in the US to establish such a hands-on basic robotics education program at a Research 1 university with a thriving robotics research program. At the highest research level, individual labs at USC have very complex and sophisticated robot platforms for advanced Ph.D. research, including the Sarcos Humanoid. At an intermediate level, the USC Robotics Pipeline uses a wheeled assistive robot, the PR2 robot from Willow Garage. The NSF-MRI grant for our humanoid robot was the cornerstone for developing Human Centered Robotics at USC and the associated USC Robotics Pipeline for worldwide competitive research and education for the 21st century.
