Humanoid Robotics [TC Spotlight]

H umanoid robotics is an emerging and challenging research field that has received significant attention during the past years and will continue to play a central role in robotics research and many applications of the 21st century. Regardless of the application area, one of the common problems dealt with in humanoid robotics is the understanding of humanlike information processing and the underlying mechanisms of the human brain in dealing with the real world. The development of cognitive robots relies on artificial embodiments having complex and rich perceptual and motor capabilities. This leads to robots with rich sensorial inputs and complex actions that are necessary to develop higher cognitive processes. These aspects are, thus, particularly supported by humanoid robots, i.e., embodied robots that perceive, understand, and act in the real world in close interaction with humans to perform a wide range of tasks in different applications. Humanoid robots are associated with the idea of robots that are as versatile and flexible as humans and whose physical appearance is similar to that of the human body. Beyond physical resemblance, humanoid robots are meant to resemble humans in their actions, reasoning, and communicating about the world. The development of such robots requires coordinated and integrated research efforts that span a wide range of disciplines such as learning theory, control theory, artificial intelligence, human– machine-interaction, mechatronics, perception (both computational and psychological), and even biomechanics and computational neuroscience. It has been increasingly recognized by industry and research community that robots for personal use must become more humanlike to have a chance of being accepted by nonspecialists. This is reflected in national humanoid robot projects occurring in Japan, Korea, and Europe, and in various extensive research programs in the United States. Major Japanese companies, such as Honda and Toyota, have already developed humanoid robots. Although these platforms have not yet been turned into commercial products, it is clear that robots becoming part of our future personal and professional environments will need to possess many humanlike features. One of the reasons for this interest is the belief among many that intelligent and social robots will provide a growth industry as well as enhance the creation of new, humancentered technologies to improve the quality of life for humans. Another reason is that intelligent and social robots represent a key application of today s technology from an economical and societal point of view. The research on building such systems will both engage in the production of these new technologies and also contribute to the education and training of individuals who will be able to exploit these new technologies. Over the past few decades in humanoid research, an encouraging spectrum of science and technology has emerged that leads to the development of highly advanced humanoid mechatronic systems that are endowed with rich and complex sensorimotor capabilities. These include ASIMO, HRP2, HRP-4C, Toyota’s partner robot, DB, CBi, ARMAR, iCub, HUBO, WABIAN, KOBIAN, Twendy-One, Justin, NAO, DARwIn-OP, Lola, REEM, Robonaut-R2, and Petman, to name a few (Figure 1). Although the current systems are technologically advanced, they are not able to learn in an open-ended way and their behaviors and lifelong learning and interaction capabilities are still limited. However, these and other developments motivate and strengthen research and development efforts toward the next generation of humanoid robots, which will play a key role in providing assistance to humans of all ages in different situations, as well as in understating human behavior and human performance, and thus will lead to the improvement of the quality of life for humans. The Humanoid Robotics Technical Committee (HR-TC) was established with the mission of advancing science, technologies, and engineering of humanoid robotics, as well as engaging in education and outreach activities. The major activities of the HR-TC are reflected by the firmly