Abstract
Historically, robots first found application in factories and plants. Until recently, the most noticeable examples of robot systems directly sold to the consumer were limited to edutainment systems (e.g., NAO [1]), automated chore robots [26], and social telepresence platforms [27]. Initially, telepresence robots consisted of a mobile base with an interactive screen. Today, following a trend of anthropomorphization of technology, human-like upper bodies have begun to replace those simple screens (e.g., Pepper [2] and R1 [3]) and share the same social communication modalities of humans, e.g., body posture, gestures, gaze direction, and facial expressions. Unfortunately, social robots are mostly designed to speak and make gestures and have limited capabilities when it comes to physically interacting with people and their surrounding environments.
Highlights
©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MAOMAGE are accelerating the diffusion of robots in real environments
To oper ate in different working scenarios and safely perform phys ical human–robot interactions, ALTER-EGO is powered by variable-stiffness actuators (VSAs), which exhibit a stiffness behavior similar to that of human muscles [8]
Most of the hardware and software technologies adopt ed, developed, and explicitly designed for ALTER-EGO are distributed under an open source framework and are available on the Natural Machine Motion Initiative (NMMI) website [31]
Summary
The design requirements of a robot used for assisting with the general activities of daily living differ substantially from those employed for industrial or specialized machines. Table 1) can be used to distill a set of functional variable-stiffness actuators, specifications [32] to motivate and guide the which exhibit a stiffness design of ALTER-EGO. Approach to the definition of robot requirements and specifications or to propose a robot that perfectly fits all these requirements. Half of all the 28 tasks require manipulation and most require physical interaction. The simultaneous presence of tasks 1) where the robot must push large, heavy objects, 2) where finesse and precision are important, and 3) where interaction force control is mandatory (e.g., because of safety) suggests impedance control in the robot arms.
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