Operating Humanoid Robots in Human Environments

Depending on the autonomous capability of the robot and the familiarity of the robot system with the task and environment, the level of human intervention differs. This paper introduces a methodology which allows a human operator to seamlessly switch between the continuous control of motion using an analog input device and the discrete behavior control cooperating with the robot using symbolic commands. Using the proposed methods, a human operator is able to operate humanoid robots with high flexibility by only using a simple operation interface. Successful experiments operating humanoid robot HRP-2 in executing everyday tasks proved the high reliability of the proposed operation system.